Long Story Short

Long Story Short: Dwelling in the Good News of the Great Story, Dillon T. Thornton (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, 2022)

Dillon Thornton’s title to his book, Long Story Short: Dwelling in the Good News of the Great Story, grabbed my attention. In his introduction he outlines his goal, “I will tell the story of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation… I hope it will read more like a story and less like a textbook. In order to make short story short, I’ve exercised the discipline of selectivity. This book is not intended for the highly motivated ministry practitioners but for crazy-busy parents and plumbers, for elementary teachers and engineers; for software developers and construction workers. This book is for the ordinary, everyday follower of Jesus….” I’ve written this book with the hopes that it might be the first book about the Bible you’ve ever read, and that, in reading it, the Spirit will awaken you to God’s gracious and persistent plan. Christians, as we will discover together, are not just storytellers; we are story dwellers. And this marvelous truth changes everything” (pp. x, xi).

This is a noble endeavor, but this introduction already contains theological constructs about the work of the Holy Spirit that will make little sense to an enquiring “newbie.” The challenge to keep this introduction to the Bible accessible to the ordinary person in 55 pages is the selection of content. As a retired clergy person, I have found that constructing a message for a 10 minute sermon is much more challenging than preaching a regular sermon that is greater in length. It’s all about brevity, concise and pertinent content; what you choose to say. This book is written around the Biblical timeline. I understand why. However, as to the content, the understanding of our relationship with God and what it means found in the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Prophets, and Paul’s many letters for example, is visibly absent. I would have set aside most of the exposition of the Book of Revelation in order to bring some of that content to the “ordinary, everyday follower.” It is the matter of choosing your content.

We all live in a story. God’s story not only comes to us in proclamation but comes to indwell within our individual stories. It is about God transforming, shaping, creating who and whose we are within God’s redeeming work for us and in us. It is most clear to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is what I most appreciated about what this book sets out to accomplish. In a number of ways, the author succeeds in bringing this to us.

 I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.