LUKE OUT!
By George Humphrey
Monarch Books. 222 pages £7.99
ISBN 1 85424 678 X
Luke Out! comprises 25 stories retold from Luke’s gospel mirrored by 25 stories about the Robinson family. The pairs of stories cover related themes. The stories are well expressed for this age group and the contemporary stories relate well to children’s lives with relevant moral messages. The book could be used for school or church groups. However, I have serious reservations about the interpretation of the Bible stories.
The stories are used to draw moral lessons, rather than for the meaning given them by their context, thus missing the major message of God’s plan of salvation. Classic liberal interpretations are there; for instance, the feeding of the 5,000 is about sharing. Details are added to the stories, presumably to make them ‘better’, but I think many would find this unacceptable and unnecessary. Some interpretations are factually incorrect, such as where he has Mary and Joseph hearing from an angel on the same night.
