Takeaway: We as Christians need to continually search for meaning in scriptures.
This was a free book on kindle a couple months ago. It has 33 short stories/parables with a page or so of explanation. These are intentionally attempting to retell Jesus’ parables (or at least follow the form) in a modern form. Some of them are good. Some of them seem to be intentionally unorthodox to try get a reaction.
In general I approve of trying to find meaning in scripture. But there does not seem to be a lot of focus on trying to be true to the story as much as being true to the form. When I finally got past the fact that Rollins was intentionally trying to give new meaning I got a lot more out of them.
There are a few that I really disagree with and I think verge on the unbiblical. But the majority communicate orthodox Christian truth in a way I had not considered before. I think that was the purpose of Jesus’ parables. So Rollins should be given some real credit for both the attempt and the results.
Some of the explanations get a little heady and there were a couple that I thought the descriptions detracted from the story. But in other cases I would have never understood what the story was about without the explanations.
I would really recommend this book if you find it for free like I did. If you are paying for it…well, maybe try to borrow it first. This book is lendable if you have a kindle, (and Lendle.me has copies available to borrow).
Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition
