universal history, the history of the whole of creation and the history of the human race. And therefore a unique interpretation of the human person as a responsible actor in history. That is unique. There is nothing else in the whole religious literature of the world to put alongside it.3 Those words, from the mouth of a Hindu scholar, sum up one of the most crippling problems in the church today: failing to grasp the biblical narrative as the true story of the world. As a result, Christians feel