Epic of Eden

The Epic of Eden by Sandra Richter is a marvelously put together book that has not only helped me understand the events in the Old Testament chronologically but has also given me valuable insight. The way Richter wrote this book was sublime. Richter utilized good language, maps, charts, and examples that tremendously helped me understand and connect all the dots. It’s very exciting!

The Epic of Eden explains the events that took place chronologically starting with Adam and Eve in Eden all the way to when the New Jerusalem was firmly in place. However, this is not a book that blandly just tells the events that happened and places them on a timeline; this book digs deeper. The Bible’s purpose according to Richter, is to “tell the epic tale of God’s ongoing quest to ransom his creation. And to, thereby, give each generation the opportunity to know his amazing grace” (15). This book aims to follow that purpose in its reading. It constantly reminds the reader of how gracious our heavenly father is. Also, this narrative seeks to explain the events of the Old Testament without imposing our perspectives and culture on it. Similarly, the author reminds us that the Old Testament is “not intended as an exhaustive ancient world history, or a guide to the biology and paleontology of creation, or even a handbook on social reform” (15). The Epic of Eden most definitely does not fall into one of those categories. It is important to know the Old Testament story because “it is your story.” According to the author, “the church does not know who she is, because she does not know who she was” (17). Many people think that the Old Testament is not as important to New Testament faith. The goal of Richter in writing this book is to “deal a mortal blow to the dysfunctional closet syndrome.” The Old Testament is just as important as the New Testament! It is chalked full of incredible messages, stories, covenants, scriptures, and overall shows that God of the Old Testament is same as God of...