EDWARD “Bear” Grylls, adventurer and TV personality, has written more than 100 books. His writings range from tips for survival in hostile environments to children’s fiction. They also include Christian devotional books and a manual on developing sound and “God-glorifying” mental health. In this new book, he scales the highest summit of all: the life of Jesus. If Bear were to have written only one book, the dust jacket says, it would be this one.
It is structured as short, first-person narratives from eyewitnesses to the life of Christ. All names are de-Anglicised: Jesus is Yeshua; the witnesses are Myriam, Ta’om, Simon, Yohanan, and Myriam of Magdala; locations include Yerushalayim and Beit Lechem.
Each chapter offers a personal account of an episode seen up close. The result is a retelling of the gospel in small bites, sticking closely to the canonical Gospels. This approach will be familiar to anybody who has experienced Ignatian Bible contemplation or narrative preaching — both of which enter imaginatively into the mind and emotions of a biblical character and explore the sights, sounds, and smells of the scene.
No doubt Grylls’s primary intended audience is the majority of the public, who have little familiarity with the Bible. But for some, this book could have a more specific use. Many of these short narratives would be ideal as readings in church at key moments in the Christian year — particularly services for schools and uniformed organisations, where the Grylls branding might add a little frisson. The text is close enough to the original to feel respectful, and different enough to make listeners sit up and take notice. The account of the Magi, for example, is rich in imaginative detail — such as the gift of gold being in the form of an armlet decorated with winged creatures.
In among the vivid cameos lurk a few anachronisms. After the annunciation, Myriam comments: “My eyes were so wide, they felt like saucers.” This begs several questions — not least because it assumes familiarity with china tea sets. Also, the English idiom of eyes’ growing wide like saucers refers to something that another person notices. So, for Mary to say that her own eyes “felt like saucers” means either that she realised that her eyes shared the inner emotional life of a saucer, or that they felt the way eyes feel when they have become saucers. Either way, a bit odd.
The occasional howler aside, Grylls offers an accessible, moving introduction to the life of Jesus for the uninitiated, plus a handy survival resource for local church leaders navigating the challenging terrain of civic services.
The Revd Mike Starkey is a London-based writer, and former Head of Church Growth for Manchester diocese.
The Greatest Story Ever Told: An eyewitness account
Bear Grylls
Hodder & Stoughton £14.99
(978-1-3998-2014-1)
Church Times Bookshop £13.49