The Untold Story of the New Testament

An Extraordinary Guide to Understanding the New Testament

By: Frank Viola

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

The New Testament is often hard to understand. A major reason is because it is not arranged in chronological order. Paul’s letters, for example, are arranged by size rather than chronologically. This makes the New Testament a bit like a Chinese puzzle. For this reason, one famous Bible scholar said that reading the New Testament letters is like hearing one end of a phone conversation. This audiobook reconstructs the other end so that you can understand virtually every word.

The Untold Story of the New Testament Church is a unique Bible handbook that weaves Acts and the Epistles together chronologically, creating one fluid story. This epic volume gives listeners a first-hand account of the New Testament drama that is riveting and enlightening. It includes dates, maps and background information about the people, the cities and the events of the first-century Church using a “you-are-there” approach.

Get up-close and personal with apostles Paul, Peter, James and John and learn of their personal struggles. Understand the circumstances behind each inspired letter they penned. Watch the chaotic swirl of first-century people and events fall into place before your very eyes. Discover what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” really was. Learn what happened to all the apostles after the book of Acts was finished. Be ushered into the living, breathing atmosphere of the first century and uncover the hidden riches found in God’s Word.

©2005 Frank Viola (P)2010 christianaudio.com

Great supplement

Not a replacement to the New Testament but a great supplement of things going on to have a better understanding of how the New Testament came to be formed.

Great book

Was great to hear the Bible as it happened. Listened to Pagan Christianity first, so was good to hear how the church was formed vs what we have now. Narrator also did a great job, have listened to other books read by him.

Great supplement!

This is not a replacement for reading the New Testament books in full. It IS, however an excellent supplement to them. Having a brief overview of each story as well as the events in a linear timeline is extremely helpful. Most people read the Bible in short small parts at a time in study form and out of contextual order. This resolves that. It doesn’t give ALL of the specific details of everything you already know. Instead it tells the summary story of the New Testament in chronological story form EXACTLY as it advertises. Highly recommend it to those who HAVE read the New Testament.

Amazing context

I’ve never had such rich context about the New Testament before. It makes the cherry picking proof texting of so many Christian scholars seem frankly silly. The story of the early days of the church is a beautiful and tragic tapestry. Well worth a listen.

Masterfully painted backdrop to the new testament

An excellent tool to understand why certain topics are addressed in NT letters. Also to help realize the conditions believers and the apostles were living in.

A great presentation of the New Testament church

Although Frank has recently said that he finishing an expanding version of this book, I was still very impressed with the way that origional version takes the story of the New Testament and brings it alive. I can't wait for the updated version!

Historically and Contextually Accurate!

A must read for all believers! It will have you examining the new testament with clarity that you did not know was possible!

eye opening

I remember a pastor once preached, the Bible can not mean what it never meant. Meaning while you can always get fresh revelation, it is our responsibility to understand the context in which scripture was written to test that revelation. This book, is easy to follow. I love how it puts the new testament in context. I can actually visualize the early church. His account shows us how what we're dealing with in today's church is nothing new. Therefore, if we apply the solutions that scripture already laid out for us, I think the modern church would fair better. Knowing the historical context in which Paul writes also dispells any argument in my mind of contradiction. Each letter was written to a specific culture with specific concerns that he was addressing. Definitely a great tool to read in addition to the Bible itself. Highly recommend for anyone desiring greater knowledge, understanding, and faith.

I feel I better understand the New Testament after listening to this book.

I feel I better understand the New Testament after listening to this book.

Great book. I highly recommend.
I plan on buying a physical copy for my library.

Like listening to someone tell you a story

What did you love best about The Untold Story of the New Testament?

Most of the time when I listen to audio book, I feel like someone is reading a book to me. But listening to this was like listening to someone tell me a story. The story was a chronological history of the Christian Church during the first century of it's existance. Of course Acts was like a backbone, but events and discussion for the other NT books fleshed out the story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Untold Story of the New Testament?

There were no big suprises for me.

What about Michael Kramer’s performance did you like?

He was a good story teller.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not particularly, but I did listen to this while driving on an eight hour trip.

Any additional comments?

I will share this with others.