Telling God’s Stories with Power
Paul Koehler's experiences serving with a large indigenious church-planting organization in South Asia led him to begin a search for a more effective way of communicating the Bible. The program that he developed has trained storytellers from a wide range of people groups. As a result of hearing the Bible stories, many people came to faith in Christ and more than 200 congregations were planted. Paul Koehler has a M.A. from Fuller School of Intercultural Studies and a D.Min. in Biblical Storytelling from United Theological Seminary.
The result of years of research and field testing, Telling God's Stories with Power is a product of the author's own journey as he confronted the challenges of teaching the Bible in parts of the world where people are unaccustomed to a Western style of learning.
Full of innovative and groundbreaking insights, this study is packed with ideas, explanations, and constructive suggestions stated in clear and simple language. Throughout the book there are extensive examples from the storytellers' own experiences. Tracing the movement of the biblical stories across multiple generations of tellers and listeners, storytelling is found to be superior for knowledge transfer and for bypassing resistance to the gospel in oral contexts, thus presenting clear evidence of the effectiveness of biblical narrative among oral learners.
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Readers interested in orality and church planting movements will find this volume extremely helpful.
Tom Steffenprofessor of Intercultural Studies, Biola University
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For those working with primary oral learners this book is a must read!
Avery T. Willis, Jr.executive director, International Orality Network
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I wish this book had been available when I was living and working among a non-literate people in Nigeria.
Charles H. Kraftsenior professor of Anthropology and Intercultural Communication in the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary
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This book describes the extraordinary energy unleashed by teaching oral culture people to tell the stories of the Bible by heart to their family and friends in their villages.
Thomas E. Boomershine, PhDfounder of the Network of Biblical Storytellers
Illustrations
Tables
Overview
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. A World of Orality
Oral vs. Literate Learning Styles
Literacy and Illiteracy Orality in India
Oral Stories in Peasant Cultures
Section One: Theoretical Foundations
3. Orality in the Bible
Transmission of Biblical Knowledge through Storytelling
Jesus' Example
Paul
4. The Development of Biblical Storytelling
Chronological Bible Storying
Where Next?
Two Kinds of Thinking
5. Stories and Learning
The Educational Role of Stories Literacy and Orality
A Church-Compatible Training Model
The Affective Aspect of Learning
The Power of Discovery
The Value of an Example Praxis
The Importance of Transfer
6. Theological Foundations of Storytelling
A Pentecostal Theology
An Experiential Christianity
Whose Theology?
Felt Needs
Section Two: Training Storytellers
7. The Storytellers
A Pilot Project
The Oral Bible Project
A Systems Model of Training
Description of the Participants
8. The Story Training
A Standard Day; Accountability
Learning to Tell the Stories
Story Selection
Structuring a Story Track
Remembering the Stories
Story Scripting
Performing the Story
Story-songs
9. The Product
The Biculture Learning Model
Generation 1
Generation 2
Generation 3
Generation 4
The Adult Education Component
Section Three: Findings from the Research
10. Outcomes that Emerged from the Program
Verbatim Reports from the Participants
Application of Story
Comparisons of Storytelling with Other Methods
The Interface of Orality and Literacy
Identification with Bible Characters
Faith
Felt Needs
The Burning Bus
Other Felt Needs
Field Leaders' Questionnaire
Comprehensive Examinations
The Exam Findings
Conclusions
11. Case Studies
Felt Needs
Leading to Conversion
Mangal Kisku Bilion Soren
Transformed Lives
Somarsing's Story
Rubilal's Story
Anil's Story
12. Conclusion
The Oral Bible Project
A Look Back
A Look to the Future
Areas for Further Research
Congregational Research Ethnomusicology
Issues to Be Resolved
An Oral Theology
Institutional Schooling or the Oral Bible Model?
Appendices
A. Where Stories Were Told
B. Two Accounts of Violence Against Christians
C. Sample Field Report Form with Mnemonic Symbols
D. Stories Learned
E. Facial Expressions That Portray Human Emotions
F. Story-song Examples
G. Comparisons of Storytelling with Bible School Training
H. Comparing Storytelling with Other Methods
I. Themes in the Verbatims
J. Case Instance Examples: 1. Application of Story; 2. Barren Women Who Conceived; 3. Conversion; 4. Financial Need; 5. The Dead Raised; 6. Is This a Real Story?; 7. Peace in Human Relationships; 8. Felt Need for Help with School Exams; 9. Nonliterates and Story Learning; 10. Application by Storytellers; 11. Resistance to the Gospel Overcome
K. Comprehensive Exam Scores
L. Multiple Choice Questions
End Notes
Index of Authors
Index of Verbatims by Theme
Index of Topics
References
Author
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Paul F. Koehler
Paul F. Koehler
Paul Koehler's experiences serving with a large indigenious church-planting organization in South Asia led him to begin a search for a more effective way of communicating the Bible. The program that he developed has trained storytellers from a wide range of people groups. As a result of hearing the Bible stories, many people came to faith in Christ and more than 200 congregations were planted. Paul Koehler has a M.A. from Fuller School of Intercultural Studies and a D.Min. in Biblical Storytelling from United Theological Seminary.
- Pages: 332
- Publisher:
William Carey Publishing
William Carey Publishing
- Binding: Paperback
- Publish Year: 2010
- Vendor: William Carey Library
