The result is more than magnificent -- it's momentous. Here is the entire, grand story of the Bible, retold with exciting detail and passionate energy, and peopled with characters that live, breathe, and feel....

The valley beneath her feet was lovely, patchy green and yellow, divided into the plots of the farmers, the wheat and barley just springing up.

Oh, she felt so sad. Yes, and at the same time happy. Excited. Not content, really. Scared.

Mary bowed her head, buried her face in her arms, and wept.

Suddenly a hand seized her shoulder in a very strong grip. In the same instant thunder crashed at her ear. She jumped and would have tumbled from the cliff, but for the hand that held her.

The thunder said, "Hail!"

Mary opened her eyes, terrified. There was no one there. No one there, no person, no hand at all -- but a dazzling pillar of light, its base upon the rocky hill, its pinnacle endless in the heavens.

The light said, "Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you".

Mary before the angel Gabriel ... Jesus laughing with a Samaritan woman ... Wangerin portrays human faces and emotions, real places and events, to help the reader feel what it waslike for each person to be caught up in the events of a particular time and place.

From Abraham wandering in the desert to Jesus teaching the multitudes on a Judean hillside, The Book of God follows the biblical story in chronological order. Priests and kings, apostles and prophets, common folk and charismatic leaders -- individual stories offer glimpses into an unfolding revelation that reaches across the centuries to touch us today.