The Greatest Story Ever Told, by Bear Grylls 

‘An imaginative telling of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus told through several eyes’

The Greatest Story Ever Told
By Bear Grylls
Hodder and Stoughton
ISBN: 979-1-399-82014-1
Reviewed by: Jeannie Kendall

The subtitle of the book is ‘An eyewitness account’ but in fact it is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus told through several eyes: Mary Jesus’ mother, Thomas, Simon, John and Mary of Magdalene. Bear has drawn heavily on the gospels with additional dialogue to produce a rounded whole. He has left all the words of Jesus exactly as they are found in the Bible. He has clearly used historical information (for example around the nativity stories) which bring an authenticity to the imaginative account.

This kind of will suit some readers more than others. In some parts it jarred a little with me, but I was grateful in others, such as his avoiding any of the false implications sometimes drawn from Mary of Magdalene being freed by Jesus.

It would make a good gift, especially as it is beautifully bound, for someone who is interested and enjoys this kind of writing, and at the end of the book he helpfully points to sources to find out more about Jesus.

 

Jeannie Kendall is a ‘retired’ Baptist minister, speaker, trainer and a former co-leader on the Pastoral Supervision course run by Spurgeon’s College. She is the author of four books: the fourth of which, on Psalm 23, is due out next year, and is currently working on a fifth