I recently finished reading Greg Koukl’s new book, The Story of Reality.  In fact, I read it twice – and I rarely read a book more than once.  Koukl contends that while most Christians know most of the bits and pieces of the Christian worldview, few know how to put those pieces together in a coherent fashion to form a truly Christian worldview.  They may have a lot of knowledge about the Bible’s contents (micro-level understanding), but few understand the overarching Biblical storyline (macro-level understanding).  The Story of Reality sets out to tell that story, breaking it up into five major areas: God, man, Jesus, cross, and final resurrection.

Koukl sums up the storyline as follows: The quick version of the story goes like this: “[God] created everything from nothing, including the most valuable thing in all creation: man.  But something went terribly wrong and human beings got themselves into a lot of trouble.  So God initiated a rescue plan.  He entered the world he created by becoming a human being, just like us – the man names Jesus.  To rescue us from our problem, Jesus did something utterly unique that culminated on a cross.  How people respond to what he did will determine what will happen to them at the final event of history, the resurrection.”  This summation, however, does not do the book justice, as it is filled with so many illuminating details and additional topics including the problem of evil.

The book is rather unique in that it’s a beautiful mix of theology and apologetics.  It explains the Bible’s theological story line while also defending it against objections and demonstrating its explanatory superiority against competing worldviews.

It’s also an easy and engaging read, which is saying a lot given the number of complex topics addressed in the book.  Truly, it’s a lot of meat in a tiny package.  I would highly recommend this book for both Christians and non-Christians alike as a great explanation of and apologetic for Christianity.

See also: The Story of Christianity from Beginning to End: Putting the Pieces Together