A Great Unfolding Drama in Word and Life

ABSTRACT: Many theologians appreciate the rich and varied genres of the biblical text, the written Word of God, as a great unfolding drama. They imagine we who follow Jesus today as characters in the same unfolding drama, performing the next Act in real life. We do this, they suggest, by drawing on the biblical manuscript to guide our performance and listening to God’s Spirit as he now writes the text upon our hearts.

In our book, 'Shocked by Blessing: stories of the awful grace of God', Rod Thompson and I paired memorable biblical narratives with memorable narratives of followers of Jesus Christ today. What did we discover about the mark, the thumbprint, of the divine playwright on the characters we interviewed, as they sought to ‘perform’ this current Act in real life?

Carolyn Kelshaw has published three books, one of which ('Shocked by Blessing: stories of the awful grace of God', co-authored with Rod Thompson) was shortlisted for the 2009 Australian Book of the Year Award. She has published poetry and articles in anthologies and journals, run creative writing workshops and edited non-fiction and academic works. She has been the CEO of two Australia-wide non-profit organisations and holds a Diploma in Christian Studies and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing.