Review of The Epic of Eden
The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament. Sandra L. Richter, InterVarsity Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-8308-2577-6
Albert Einstein once said “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” This is an extremely powerful quote, and I will seek to convey its strength, as applied to our lives as Christians, upon the careful review of Sandra L. Richter’s The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament. Richter designed this text as merely a tool by which we might further our understanding of the Old Testament narrative. With one minor glitch in her system, Richter handled the task as that of an expert in the field would - with patience, attention to central detail, and arresting dialogue designed to pull the reader in and leave them starving for more.
Richter prefaced The Epic of Eden with a mind-boggling introduction that left no doubt in my mind that this was going to be an enlightening read, and I don’t say this casually. The second definition of the word enlighten, according to Merriam-Webster, is “to give spiritual insight to”, and Richter disguised a promise of enlightenment within the initial pages of this text. As a perfect example of this concealed assurance, Richter states that the end result of a church not knowing their Old Testament history is that “The church does not know who she is, because she does not know who she was”(17). These words resonate with the threat of a Christian identity crisis, while at the same time, the promise of an assured, powerful, Christian identity.
One of the more profound ideas in Richter’s Epic of Eden is her use of an effective metaphor is chapter one. “…we need to get past the great barrier – that chasm of history, language, and culture that separates us from our heroes in the faith” (21). This comparison seems to collect all of the hesitancies, the reservations, and the relative fear in understanding the Old Testament, and places them in a neat little package
Albert Einstein once said “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” This is an extremely powerful quote, and I will seek to convey its strength, as applied to our lives as Christians, upon the careful review of Sandra L. Richter’s The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament. Richter designed this text as merely a tool by which we might further our understanding of the Old Testament narrative. With one minor glitch in her system, Richter handled the task as that of an expert in the field would - with patience, attention to central detail, and arresting dialogue designed to pull the reader in and leave them starving for more.
Richter prefaced The Epic of Eden with a mind-boggling introduction that left no doubt in my mind that this was going to be an enlightening read, and I don’t say this casually. The second definition of the word enlighten, according to Merriam-Webster, is “to give spiritual insight to”, and Richter disguised a promise of enlightenment within the initial pages of this text. As a perfect example of this concealed assurance, Richter states that the end result of a church not knowing their Old Testament history is that “The church does not know who she is, because she does not know who she was”(17). These words resonate with the threat of a Christian identity crisis, while at the same time, the promise of an assured, powerful, Christian identity.
One of the more profound ideas in Richter’s Epic of Eden is her use of an effective metaphor is chapter one. “…we need to get past the great barrier – that chasm of history, language, and culture that separates us from our heroes in the faith” (21). This comparison seems to collect all of the hesitancies, the reservations, and the relative fear in understanding the Old Testament, and places them in a neat little package