Telling God S Stories with Power: Biblical Storytelling in Oral Cultures - Paperback

by Paul F. Koehler (Author)

Biblical Storytelling in Oral Cultures

This is a complete and practical introduction to storying, especially for people who want to learn about using biblical storytelling in cross-cultural contexts and who want to train others to become storytellers. It includes many fascinating accounts of the responses of tribal people to the first proclamation of the gospel through storytelling.
The result of years of research and field testing, Telling God's Stories with Power is a product of the author's own journey as he confronted the challenges of teaching the Bible in parts of the world where people are unaccustomed to a Western style of learning.
Full of innovative and groundbreaking insights, this study is packed with ideas, explanations, and constructive suggestions stated in clear and simple language. Throughout the book there are extensive examples from the storytellers' own experiences. Tracing the movement of the biblical stories across multiple generations of tellers and listeners, storytelling is found to be superior for knowledge transfer and for bypassing resistance to the gospel in oral contexts, thus presenting clear evidence of the effectiveness of biblical narrative among oral learners.

Author Biography

Paul Koehler's experiences serving with a large indigenious church-planting organization in South Asia led him to begin a search for a more effective way of communicating the Bible. The program that he developed has trained storytellers from a wide range of people groups. As a result of hearing the Bible stories, many people came to faith in Christ and more than 200 congregations were planted. Paul Koehler has a M.A. from Fuller School of Intercultural Studies and a D.Min. in Biblical Storytelling from United Theological Seminary.