The Dream of God

Book excerpt: A beloved teacher helps modern people live the Bible’s message more fully. Respected teacher and author Verna Dozier explores the ways that humanity and the institutional church have strayed far from Jesus’s original message. To help us get back on track, she examines the Bible: a theological and historical record of hundreds of years in which two communities of faith (Jewish and early Christian) explored their own life experiences. Our task now is not to ask which interpretations are correct, but to ask “what did it mean to them” and “what does it mean for us?” Dozier encourages us to see Christianity not as creed or institution, but as “the vision of a new possibility for human life rooted in an ancient understanding of God and lived out by a Nazarene carpenter.” Through adept storytelling and study, Dozier reawakens our sense of calling and our desire for truth. This new and revised edition includes a new foreword by Sophfronia Scott and a study guide.