Our brother Mark Whitters recently published a book, Memoirs of an Unfinished Tale. Here’s a bit about the book:
What if Luke had to reteach the basic lessons of his history of the early Church? How would he communicate his point while livening up the details for someone who either was not present for the actual event or had not paid sufficient attention the first time he wrote Acts of the Apostles?
This is Luke’s résumé for a younger and still eager Theophilus. He reenacts stories and replays events almost as a performance before the audience’s eyes. He knows that history is not a dry memorization of facts nor a chain of events, but a compendium of vital lessons that guide growth and change. History unfolds as episodes, cohering around an intelligible theme with drama and suspense. Not unlike a play, it requires imaginative performance to both entertain and provoke an audience to react.
This is a fresh way of presenting the Bible, a method based on a rapidly growing movement in college and university classrooms called “reacting.” It is in line with more traditional ways of understanding Scripture as performed in the context of liturgy. At the same time this book challenges individual with creative poems and illustrations and a built-in system of application questions for daily readings.
Watch the video below to see how one group used this approach for the Gospel of Luke:
Performative Bible Study from Evan Kresta on Vimeo.
Read more on Mark’s website or purchase the book here.
