Allan J. McNicol is A.B. Cox Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Austin Graduate School of Theology, USA.

• PrefaceIntroduction and AcknowledgmentsSection I1. Does the Bible Render a Unified Story?2. The Rise and Fall of the Grand Narrative3. The Bible as a Coherent narrativeSection II4. The Emergence and Preservation of God’s Endangered Promises to His Marginalized PeopleSection III5. Jesus and the Restoration of the People of God6. Matthew: The Transformation of the People of God7. At the Last Moment: A Welcome to the Gentiles from an Unlikely Source8. Luke-Acts: In Defense of the Restoration of Israel9. The Markan Mystery of the Gospel10. Exiles and Aliens in the World: Key Non-Pauline letters11. Ecclesiology and the Johannine LegacySection IV12. Conclusion: The Master Story of ScriptureIndex

Allan McNicol dares the unthinkable. In the maelstrom of postmodern ambivalence about truth and its attendant multicultural naïveté, McNicol asserts that The Book, the Jewish and Christian Bible, unfolds a unified “realistic” narrative of the one God’s calling, sustaining, and consummating a special “people of God” through God‘s irrevocable “promises”. McNicol constructs his meta-narrative through the dynamic of the unimpeachable “character” of God, that has too often not been assigned its decisive role as the central plot motivator that coalesces, coordinates, and finally crafts the unity of the Bible precisely through its great diversity of traditions and cultural influences. A must read for any who desire to make the Judaeo-Christian claims of the Bible a vital contender for a hearing amidst the cacophony of “truth-claims” in today’s “public square”.

Allan J. McNicol is A.B. Cox Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Austin Graduate School of Theology, USA.

• PrefaceIntroduction and AcknowledgmentsSection I1. Does the Bible Render a Unified Story?2. The Rise and Fall of the Grand Narrative3. The Bible as a Coherent narrativeSection II4. The Emergence and Preservation of God’s Endangered Promises to His Marginalized PeopleSection III5. Jesus and the Restoration of the People of God6. Matthew: The Transformation of the People of God7. At the Last Moment: A Welcome to the Gentiles from an Unlikely Source8. Luke-Acts: In Defense of the Restoration of Israel9. The Markan Mystery of the Gospel10. Exiles and Aliens in the World: Key Non-Pauline letters11. Ecclesiology and the Johannine LegacySection IV12. Conclusion: The Master Story of ScriptureIndex

Allan McNicol dares the unthinkable. In the maelstrom of postmodern ambivalence about truth and its attendant multicultural naïveté, McNicol asserts that The Book, the Jewish and Christian Bible, unfolds a unified “realistic” narrative of the one God’s calling, sustaining, and consummating a special “people of God” through God‘s irrevocable “promises”. McNicol constructs his meta-narrative through the dynamic of the unimpeachable “character” of God, that has too often not been assigned its decisive role as the central plot motivator that coalesces, coordinates, and finally crafts the unity of the Bible precisely through its great diversity of traditions and cultural influences. A must read for any who desire to make the Judaeo-Christian claims of the Bible a vital contender for a hearing amidst the cacophony of “truth-claims” in today’s “public square”.

Allan J. McNicol is A.B. Cox Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Austin Graduate School of Theology, USA.

• PrefaceIntroduction and AcknowledgmentsSection I1. Does the Bible Render a Unified Story?2. The Rise and Fall of the Grand Narrative3. The Bible as a Coherent narrativeSection II4. The Emergence and Preservation of God’s Endangered Promises to His Marginalized PeopleSection III5. Jesus and the Restoration of the People of God6. Matthew: The Transformation of the People of God7. At the Last Moment: A Welcome to the Gentiles from an Unlikely Source8. Luke-Acts: In Defense of the Restoration of Israel9. The Markan Mystery of the Gospel10. Exiles and Aliens in the World: Key Non-Pauline letters11. Ecclesiology and the Johannine LegacySection IV12. Conclusion: The Master Story of ScriptureIndex

Allan McNicol dares the unthinkable. In the maelstrom of postmodern ambivalence about truth and its attendant multicultural naïveté, McNicol asserts that The Book, the Jewish and Christian Bible, unfolds a unified “realistic” narrative of the one God’s calling, sustaining, and consummating a special “people of God” through God‘s irrevocable “promises”. McNicol constructs his meta-narrative through the dynamic of the unimpeachable “character” of God, that has too often not been assigned its decisive role as the central plot motivator that coalesces, coordinates, and finally crafts the unity of the Bible precisely through its great diversity of traditions and cultural influences. A must read for any who desire to make the Judaeo-Christian claims of the Bible a vital contender for a hearing amidst the cacophony of “truth-claims” in today’s “public square”.