The Story We Live By - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
Author: Revd. Dr. R. Allistair Campbell
Reviewer: Heather Russell
Publisher: The Bible Reading Fellowship
THE BOOK, The Story
We Live By A Reader's Guide to the New Testament, is written by Rev. Dr. R. Alistair Campbell, a Baptist minister who currently lectures in Biblical Studies at the United Theological College of the West Indies, Jamaica.
The book, the author submits, is an attempt to answer the following questions concerning the New Testament: What are these writings? How did they come to be written? and what do they say to us today?
GOSPEL
Part One of the book examines the story of Jesus Christ as detailed in the four Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. Each book is studied and the message, context, content and style analysed in an effort to determine differences in emphasis.
It is Dr. Campbell's supposition that the author of Mark was the first to pen the writings about Jesus, and the other Gospel writers, especially Matthew and Luke, improved on his account. The writer provides evidence from which readers can draw their own conclusions.
Dr. Campbell emphasises, however, that the varying portrayals of the life and times of Jesus Christ, (in Luke as prophet and saviour and in Matthew as the teacher of Israel), results in a composite that captures the essence of His message, which is the story we live by.
APOSTLES
Part Two details the story of the church and reviews the Acts of the Apostles, which chronicles the rise of the Christian movement after Jesus Christ's death and resurrection.
It also includes a study of the letters written by the apostles on their journeys to such cities as Thessalonica, Corinth, Ephesus and Rome.
In his analysis of these books Dr. Campbell includes a 'For Us' section, which seeks to answer question three of the book's third raison d'être, that is, the New Testament's relevance to us today.
In concluding his study on the first letter to the Corinthians he writes, "Although different from us in many ways, the Corinthians' problems were very much like ours. They lived in a materialistic, competitive society ... They wrestled with how to maintain their own boundaries while still being relevant to the society round about them."
Part Three, 'Living By the Story', is an analysis of the remaining books of the New Testament and focuses on such issues as the call to faith in Hebrews as well as the objections to the faith in Second Peter.
Dr. Campbell points out that the arguments against the faith as outlined in Second Peter are almost the same today as they were in the time of the apostle Paul.
Part Three concludes with an exposition on the Book of Revelation, which tells of end of time events.
The Story We Live By is a scholarly look at the books of the New Testament and should, therefore, be especially useful to Bible students and others interested in the story of Jesus Christ and how His message of love and obedience can be applied today.
