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Original Sinners
Why Genesis Still Matters
John R. Coats

Free Press
October 2010/ ISBN 14391022104
Nonfiction/Religion
Amazon

Reviewed by Willie Elliott


John R. Coats gives us a new and entertaining account of the early icons of the New Testament in Original Sinners: Why Genesis Still Matters. Coats tells the same story, but in his account, we see these great men on a human level. The author's purpose, which he states bluntly, is to connect with these stories at a primal level. He does a terrific job in accomplishing this task.

Coats, in several of the stories, makes a connection with the biblical characters and his own life and the lives of those around him. It is not his aim to lower the esteem of these great characters but to put them in human terms that we can identify and relate to. In other words, these stories, in a different time and place are about you, me and and us. They are stories about life.

Some stories are what I would at first call far-fetched. For example in the story about Ham seeing his father Noah, the author suggests, there might have been a case of homosexuality. Then he has what documentation to back up his claim.

To illustrate how the book is about us, Coats tells us that Jonah did what most of us would do when asked to do something we don't want to do—run away. Does this makes us see Jonah as less of a heroic man? No, it makes us see him in light of what a human being would do. What we learn from from these stories is that despite these men's high callings, they were just that—men and acting in a human way.

Each of the stories rather than detract from the understanding of the material adds more understanding. This is an interesting book and should be read whether you accept or reject his interpretation.

Reviewer's Note:

 

Reviewed 2011
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