The Story Ripples of the Bible

by Elisabeta Karp, Zhava Glaser (Foreword by)

Overview

The Bible is more into showing than telling. When it wants to teach important and prophetic truths, it takes its time telling (true) stories. And storytelling in Scripture works like a ripple effect. It sets off a current of events and experiences that repeat, expand, connect, develop, and slowly move toward something--or someone. Bible stories build Bible prophecy. The beloved stories readers grew up with, like David and Goliath, also contain frequent flashbacks to past stories so as to foreshadow the future. As the grand narrative progresses from the Old to the New Testament, these recycled stories and their developing patterns eventually shape into a silhouette ready for the Messiah to step into as the perfect match. So, like Jesus' disciples on the road to Emmaus, readers must take another listen to the biblical authors narrating their stories because, through them, they are making the greatest prophetic connections that will cause hearts to burn for truth. As people discover how the Bible's stories ripple toward Messiah, their own stories will, too.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798385222360
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	06/25/2025
Pages:	156
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.44(d)

About the Author

Passionate about reclaiming the literary genius of the Bible, Elisabeta Karp is dedicated to helping believers balance biblical faithfulness with a fearless excavation of the literary aspects of the sacred Scriptures. She holds a Master of Divinity in Messianic Jewish Studies from Biola University (2019) and a Master of Arts in Philosophy of Religion from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (2016). She has been teaching and preaching for years and travels often to speak in churches and conferences.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“It’s taken me far too long to see the Bible as God’s story. Elisabeta Karp is a writer and teacher who helps me see how God has woven both Old and New Testaments together, pointing us all toward Messiah Jesus. Elisabeta takes us on a profound journey of messianic prophecy, showing us how all of the Bible is purposeful, intentional, and woven together as God’s grand story.”

—Esther Fleece Allen, author of No More Faking Fine: Ending the Pretending



“The Bible is many things, one being Israel’s family diary. Having long advocated for looking at Scripture with a narrative lens—a typically Jewish approach—I was immediately struck by Elisabeta Karp’s presentation. She brings a creative hermeneutical approach to biblical interpretation in her easy-to-read book. Those wishing to better grasp God’s word and connect the dots between the Old and New Testaments will find her work very helpful. Happy to commend.”

—Jeffrey Seif, Executive Director, Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations



“In the pass of Cirith Ungol, the wise hobbit Sam turns to his friend Frodo and reflects, ‘I wonder what sort of tale we’ve fallen into?’ The question instantly clears the fog and reminds us, with shocking clarity, that each of us finds ourself in a story far more profound and magnificent than our own. It is within this heart-pounding premise that Elisabeta Karp shows us not only the Bible’s grand story, but the countless ripples that resonate throughout. Having studied the Bible for nearly fifty years, I was shocked and delighted by all that I learned from The Story Ripples of the Bible. May you be similarly captivated, and may the ripple effect of your own devotion spill into the lives of all whom you encounter!”

—Scott Brown, Missionary, Chosen People Ministries



“In our late modern era, people are looking for more than left-brain analytical, abstract thinking. They want more than lectures, outlines and bullet points. They are hungry for stories. The genius of the Bible is that it is the grand and true story of the world. Long after all the dissertations have been written, defended, and collected dust on shelves, these stories will continue to resound, reverberate, and ripple to the end of time. With her master metaphor of ‘story ripples,’ Elisabeta Karp has illuminated for us the inspired dynamic of Scripture, and the supernatural providence of God in ‘HisStory.’ The Creator drops these stones—of the archetypal stories of real events recorded in the Hebrew Bible—into the deep waters of history. And when their waves and ripples hit you and me, we are immersed in the same primordial flow of living water that was God’s relational activity with his earliest people. Karp helps us understand how the mother of all Bible studies on the road to Emmaus must have transpired (Lk 24:27). How did Jesus explain how Moses wrote of him? Surely messianic prophecy is not merely stated predictions in propositional form but also embedded in the stories of the Torah and the Hebrew Bible, as they pre-figure the Messiah. The church will not be successful in fulfilling her mandate to win the Jewish people to Messiah (Rom 11:11-14) by philosophical apologetics or systematic theological discourse. She will need to re-tell their stories showing how they inherently point to Messiah Jesus. With fresh language and insights into the deep patterns of story, Karp’s work demonstrates the unity of the Bible as one book, with waves going in one direction, toward the Messiah and the consummation of his kingdom. Whether we are communicating with younger late modern Westerners, the majority non-Western world, or the Jewish people, we need the biblical communication dynamics of Karp’s The Story Ripples of the Bible.”

—William Bjoraker, co-author with Tom Steffen of The Return of Oral Hermeneutics: As Good Today as It Was for the Hebrew Bible and First-Century Christianity

Editorial Reviews

It’s taken me far too long to see the Bible as God’s story. Elisabeta Karp is a writer and teacher who helps me see how God has woven both Old and New Testaments together, pointing us all toward Messiah Jesus. Elisabeta takes us on a profound journey of messianic prophecy, showing us how all of the Bible is purposeful, intentional, and woven together as God’s grand story.”

—Esther Fleece Allen, author of No More Faking Fine: Ending the Pretending



“The Bible is many things, one being Israel’s family diary. Having long advocated for looking at Scripture with a narrative lens—a typically Jewish approach—I was immediately struck by Elisabeta Karp’s presentation. She brings a creative hermeneutical approach to biblical interpretation in her easy-to-read book. Those wishing to better grasp God’s word and connect the dots between the Old and New Testaments will find her work very helpful. Happy to commend.”

—Jeffrey Seif, Executive Director, Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations



“In the pass of Cirith Ungol, the wise hobbit Sam turns to his friend Frodo and reflects, ‘I wonder what sort of tale we’ve fallen into?’ The question instantly clears the fog and reminds us, with shocking clarity, that each of us finds ourself in a story far more profound and magnificent than our own. It is within this heart-pounding premise that Elisabeta Karp shows us not only the Bible’s grand story, but the countless ripples that resonate throughout. Having studied the Bible for nearly fifty years, I was shocked and delighted by all that I learned from The Story Ripples of the Bible. May you be similarly captivated, and may the ripple effect of your own devotion spill into the lives of all whom you encounter!”

—Scott Brown, Missionary, Chosen People Ministries



“In our late modern era, people are looking for more than left-brain analytical, abstract thinking. They want more than lectures, outlines and bullet points. They are hungry for stories. The genius of the Bible is that it is the grand and true story of the world. Long after all the dissertations have been written, defended, and collected dust on shelves, these stories will continue to resound, reverberate, and ripple to the end of time. With her master metaphor of ‘story ripples,’ Elisabeta Karp has illuminated for us the inspired dynamic of Scripture, and the supernatural providence of God in ‘HisStory.’ The Creator drops these stones—of the archetypal stories of real events recorded in the Hebrew Bible—into the deep waters of history. And when their waves and ripples hit you and me, we are immersed in the same primordial flow of living water that was God’s relational activity with his earliest people. Karp helps us understand how the mother of all Bible studies on the road to Emmaus must have transpired (Lk 24:27). How did Jesus explain how Moses wrote of him? Surely messianic prophecy is not merely stated predictions in propositional form but also embedded in the stories of the Torah and the Hebrew Bible, as they pre-figure the Messiah. The church will not be successful in fulfilling her mandate to win the Jewish people to Messiah (Rom 11:11-14) by philosophical apologetics or systematic theological discourse. She will need to re-tell their stories showing how they inherently point to Messiah Jesus. With fresh language and insights into the deep patterns of story, Karp’s work demonstrates the unity of the Bible as one book, with waves going in one direction, toward the Messiah and the consummation of his kingdom. Whether we are communicating with younger late modern Westerners, the majority non-Western world, or the Jewish people, we need the biblical communication dynamics of Karp’s The Story Ripples of the Bible.”

—William Bjoraker, co-author with Tom Steffen of The Return of Oral Hermeneutics: As Good Today as It Was for the Hebrew Bible and First-Century Christianity

From the Publisher