Ralph Milton's Adult Bible Stories

 

These stories are part of an ancient Hebrew tradition called the Aggada that tells us that the best way to understand a story is to re-tell it in your own words. Even better, bring your own imagination and experiences into your own retelling.

Stories are not meant to be “understood” in some rational, analytical way. They are not history. They are not “lessons.” Stories speak to the heart and soul. They are meant to connect with our life experiences.

The stories in the Bible do that so powerfully.

When we allow those stories lives, we allow the spirit of God to speak to our souls. It is through stories that we can most truly know the mind of God.

Permissions

  • These stories are all intended for use in churches and other non-profit gatherings. Or just to read for the fun of it. There’s no charge for their use, and you are free to adapt them to your own situation. Do whatever you need to make them fit. No further permission is needed.
  • But if you want to publish them in some way, in print or on the internet, please get in touch with Wood Lake Publishing.

 

Stories are for telling

  • These are Bible stories. Bible stories were originally told and retold and passed on from person to person, group to group, generation to generation. Even the stories in the Gospels. They were part of an oral tradition. They were meant to be told by one person to another or to a group. They were changed and adapted by many story-tellers before they were written down, and even then we often have them in several versions. I’m part of that ancient biblical story-telling tradition, and so are you. We take the stories from the Bible and we add our own imagination and interpretation. Some of us write those imaginative interpretations into books and online resources like this one. 

 

Power of Stories

  • Stories are at the very heart of the Gospel. Jesus told stories constantly and so did the writers of the Hebrew Scriptures. Unfortunately, they are often neglected in favour of propositions about our faith, which is a bit like offering a hungry person a recipe for a tasty dish, without giving them anything to eat.
  • I’ve gone into some depth on this subject in my book The Gift of Story which you can order here.

 

Reader’s Theatre

  • Some of these stories are presented as Reader’s Theatre, which is a way of acting out the stories that works particularly well in churches. There are no sets or costumes. The actors stand behind lecterns and carry all the power and emotion through their voices and hand gestures.
  • Reader’s Theatre, like all story-telling, can be a colossal flop if it’s not well-rehearsed and well done. Because the actors don’t move around, you need to work harder to keep up the pace. Among the ways to pick up the pace is to allow absolutely zero time between one speaker and the next. They should almost be overlapping.
  • If you’d like to see a good demonstration of Reader’s Theatre, look at some of the StoryFest videos.

 

More on how to use this resource here.

 

Ralph Milton's Adult Bible Stories are Available for FREE DOWNLOAD

For More Info and to Download Stories Click Here.