I head again this week for very lengthy trip to South Africa and Namibia. 9 conferences 1 staff retreat, 5 consults, 6 cities 2 countries. It is going to be a ball. In keeping with the trip, this weeks blurb on the new book releasing March 1 is from Stephan Joubert, Professor of NT at the University of Pretoria. Stephan is a dear friend and the one responsible for introducing Static (my second book) to the SA audience several years ago when I did a rather extensive book tour there. Thanks Stephan.
“As one of the sharpest and most eloquent theological minds of our day, Ron Martoia in this delightfully well-written book invites us into a new, conjunctive stage of faith where paradox, society and God can exist in peaceful tension. From a new vantage point, where the Bible is no longer viewed as an owner’s manual to make everything hum but as a classic, we are challenged to live the biblical text through new conversations we engage in with the text. The jazz metaphor serves as another equally helpful image to convey the meaning of the dance of improv where the Bible becomes the score that we, in the company of other Jesus-followers, constantly immerse ourselves in. In this way the Bible comes alive through the music we are making with our lives. This masterful book by a modernday prophet in blue jeans will open up fresh new pathways for all who wish to finally replace their dated reading maps of the Bible.”
Stephan Joubert
Extraordinary Professor of New Testament studies. University of Pretoria, and editor echurch/ekerk
Rob Wegner is a friend and colleague and has just posted a very generous review of Improv. He is doing incredible things at Granger Community Church one of the churches in the United States really getting it done. Thanks Rob!
I just finished reading a pre-release of Ron Martoia’s new book, The Bible as Improv.
Ron’s new book will shock and surprise all of us who grew up hearing the Bible taught as a series of short stories with a moral lesson attached. Bible as Improv compelling calls us out of a myopic, modernistic approach to atomize the Bible into timeless principles into a broader, wide-eyed approach that allows us to experience the breath-taking scope of the entire Story of Scripture within it’s own untamed voice and context.
Be prepared to have your assumptions questioned and unnoticed filters stripped away. If that sounds too dangerous, then this book isn’t for you. However, if you’re ready to immerse yourself in God’s Story, embrace that Story with the entirety of your life and then MOVE that story forward in history, then grab this book and start reading.
Ron is one of my mentors, so this will probably be far from an objective review. But, interestingly enough, that is one of the points of this book.
[read more...]
The Bible as Improv will release in March only 60 days away. You have heard from Mark Batterson and from Dwight Friesen at Mars Hill. Now thanks to another friend who has weighed in. I love Alan and his wife Deb (in fact their new co-authored book on discipleship is up on Amazon Untamed)
Here is what Alan had to say about The Bible as Improv.
“Ohh, this book is going to kickstart many hot conversations! And why not? Surely the Bible, of all books, ought to stimulate serious dialogue. If it doesn’t we should wonder whether it is being read properly. Here Ron provides us completely unconventional, and deliciously controversial, look into about how we interpret the Scripture, or rather, how we allow them to interpret us. Agree or disagree, it is bound to get us excited about the Bible again.”
Alan Hirsch
Author of The Forgotten Ways and co-author of Untamed (with Debra Hirsch). Founder of Forge Mission Training Network.
Last week I thanked Mark Batterson for his blurb on my forthcoming The Bible as Improv this week it is Dwight Friesen, Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle and author of Thy Kingdom Connected, that gets thanked.
“If you have ever witnessed a jazz ensemble breathe fresh life into a classic Miles Davis piece, then you have a sense of what Ron Martoia is inviting us to through The Bible as Improv. Faithfulness and playfulness dancing together toward fullness of life; immersion in the history of the art, keen awareness of prior interpretations, skilled with one’s instrument, thoughtful study of the charts, interpreters playing off one another in community and with the audience. The Bible as Improv is a beautiful exercise in practical biblical hermeneutics.”
A blog review was just posted last night…
“Ron Martoia wants to change how we read the Bible. In fact, he believes, we’ve been reading the Bible wrong for a while now…”
full review here
A little pre-release review here and here
The galley copies for The Bible as Improv went out a couple weeks ago and the reviews and blurbs so far have been great. From here until the release date the beginning of March I will be posting a blurb by someone and giving you a quick nugget from it.
Pride of place in the blurb world this time around is going to Mark Batterson of National Community Church and author of “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day,” “Wild Goose Chase” and his latest “Primal,” for his short pithy statement.
“This book will change the way you read The Book!”
Zondervan liked what he had to say so much Mark’s one liner made it to the top of the front cover. It is great credibility when leaders like Mark stamp your book with a blurb, blog about it and tell others about it. Mark thanks.
[read more...]
I head again this week for very lengthy trip to South Africa and Namibia. 9 conferences 1 staff retreat, 5 consults, 6 cities 2 countries. It is going to be a ball. In keeping with the trip, this weeks blurb on the new book releasing March 1 is from Stephan Joubert, Professor of NT at the University of Pretoria. Stephan is a dear friend and the one responsible for introducing Static (my second book) to the SA audience several years ago when I did a rather extensive book tour there. Thanks Stephan.
