A palpable God: Thirty stories translated from the Bible with an essay on the origins and life of narrative

Reynolds Price's superbly written "A Palpable God" is a unique and fascinating look at the power of narrative as expressed in the Bible. Price's introductory essay is an exploration of the genre of narrative in human history and how it helps us communicate not only stories but also values and our shared cultural heritage. The stories of the Bible are special in that they describe for us the Covenant of the Hebrews with a loving yet often terrifying and mysterious Old Testament God, and a renewed Covenent with the God of the New Testament. In the thirty stories that follow the long introduction, Price provides a simplified translation of each based on the oldest, typically Greek version he can find. The translation from Greek into its most literal English produces an effect that is like seeing the stories for the first time. Minus the literary flourishes of the King James Bible or other, more modern vernacular versions, we have a different sense of the power of the original narrative. These versions seek to provide what the characters in the stories say, not what they have been interpretated as meaning. Price's translations are powerful in their simplicity of narrative, placing the burden of interpretation directly on the reader. This book is highly recommended to those who would wish to understand the "more palpable God" implied by Price's approach.

Some one has to reprint Price's Biblical work. It's too precious and profound, too meaningful. We can't lose it. Price has written some of the most beautiful and illuminating words about scripture that I have ever read. Read his work on the gospels. Treasure it. Anne Rice, New Orleans, La.

Having read this book, I can't for the life of me comprehend why it is no longer in print. In addition to an introductory essay that aspiring storytellers of all stripes could benefit from-novelists, short storyists, playwrights, etc.-it contains fresh translations of Bible tales we all thought we knew from Sunday school. In Price's hands these once-familiar tales become strangely exotic, as though we were reading them for the first time. Yet their clarity of language and immediacy of purpose inspire and illuminate our understanding, making them especially accessible for those who see the King James Version a beautiful but archaic piece of poetry. Price's translations of Mark and John in his THREE GOSPELS led me to seek out this hard-to-find volume. Though known for his fine fiction, Price is shortchanging us with his all too infrequent forays into the world of biblical literature. After finishing THREE GOSPELS and A PALPABLE GOD, one wishes Price would undertake his own translation of the entire Old and New Testaments and cast a new light on a book sadly seen as old and dusty by so many.