Donkeys and Kings

Description:
What do talking donkeys, fasting lions, and wolves playing with sheep have in common? They are all found in the Bible. Author Tripp York and illustrator Zak Upright bring to life eight different stories about animals as discovered in Scripture. York spins a different account on these stories (such as the flood, Jonah, as well as Daniel and the lion's den), by attempting to imagine what it might mean to understand these narratives from the perspective of the animals. Though the short stories in this collection are written for children, adults will take much from them as they attempt to provoke the readers to new ways of understanding some of the most popular stories in the Bible.

Endorsements:
""With this book Tripp York participates in that venerable 'truth-by-parable' Christian tradition, in which sage storytelling trumps both clever systematic logic and avalanches of information. The literary genre may be 'fiction,' yet York's non-human eye-witnesses reveal again the genius of the biblical narrative. Readers are, therefore, invited to see once more the scandalous biblical message-a gospel too 'absurd' for the self-assured, too 'weak' for the self-reliant, and too 'unsophisticated' for the self-righteous.
--Dr. Richard C. Goode
Lipscomb University

""In the playful spirit of Aesop, and with a touch of Lewis's 'deeper magic,' Tripp York imaginatively glimpses the eternal through this strangely familiar menagerie of talking animals--fellow creatures in our great journey with God.
York's quirky, contemporary narrative voice and his creative openness to the teleology of God's ubiquitous movement among His creation offer readers a rare and meaningful opportunity to reconsider the power of God's Word with fresh eyes and responsive hearts.""
--Jeffrey D. Frame
Trevecca Nazarene University


About the Contributor(s):
Tripp York is Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Elon University, in Elon, North Carolina. He is the author of The Purple Crown: The Politics of Martyrdom (2007) and Living on Hope while Living in Babylon (Wipf & Stock, 2009).