As researchers gather data and report their results, Bible teachers are not surprised. The research data supports what Bible teachers have known for years: children and adults know less and less about the Bible and how it might affect their lives. While changes year over year aren’t dramatic, the most recent study from Barna Research about Bible engagement, commissioned by the American Bible Society, shows that just 5% of American adults consider themselves Bible-centered.
Seeking to engage younger people with the Bible led Peggy Consolver to combine her decades of storytelling skills and in-depth chronological Bible reading into creating biblical fiction that brings the Old Testament to life as HIS-story.
Her own participation in archaeological digs and Middle Eastern travel continues to inform her writing in The Star Namer and the Unchosen, her action-packed book and the sequel to Shepherd, Potter, Spy—and the Star Namer. The books are fiction set in the Old Testament in the time of Joshua that interweaves Biblical accounts of God’s action on behalf of the Israelites as well as other peoples they encounter.
In the first book, which just won an award, the reader is introduced to the family of a Gibeonite potter, who was already curious about the unknown Star Namer and began to see a correlation with the God of the Hebrews. The potter led his people to align themselves with the Israelites in order to survive and to learn more about the Hebrew God.
In the sequel, there are new issues in Canaan as factions war and seek to take control of Jerusalem, as recorded in Joshua 10 and Judges 1. Continuing to be true to scripture and authenticated by archaeological research, Consolver describes the books as “Bible studies disguised as novels,” a description that has been well-received by Christian parents of older kids.
However, with swords flashing and battles raging in the Old Testament accounts, this story also seems tailor-made for gamers of all ages. Consolver’s books would also make a rich addition to Bible curriculum in a home school setting or Christian school, and could be a wonderful read-aloud family devotion for all ages. The books are so well researched the first one received an endorsement from two noted Bible scholars in the areas of Old Testament History and Biblical Archaeology. Consolver not only studied the Biblical passages and works of other scholars, she also traveled to the Holy Lands to see the lands and the archaeological finds for herself. All that research culminated in an accompanying interactive study guide Digging Deeper Into HIStory: A Study Guide for Shepherd, Potter, Spy—and the Star Namer, to further bring the story alive for a digital generation.
“But learning more about these people and their way of life shows us these were real people in God’s story, people like us. This helps us see God works in our lives, too.”
Travel and in-depth Bible study inform her writing, as does her own background. Consolver has traveled to the area where the Gibeonites lived and has worked on an archaeological dig in the Palestinian West Bank. Consolver grew up on a wheat farm in southwest Oklahoma, one of six kids who were all expected to work and contribute.
Consolver’s first title, Shepherd, Potter, Spy — and the Star Namer, just received a Gold Medal for Christian Fiction in the 2020 Illumination Book Awards. The Star Namer and the Unchosen [ISBN: 978-1-949572-44-5], like Shepherd, Potter, Spy — and the Star Namer [ISBN: 978-1-942587-9-5] is available wherever fine books are sold, and from online retailers. The interactive study guide, Digging Deeper Into HIStory: A Study Guide for Shepherd, Potter, Spy—and the Star Namer [ISBN: 978-1-942587-67-5] is available as an e-book with links and other helps provided on her website, https://www.peggymiracleconsolver.com.
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Consolver is also the author of a children’s pop-up picture book called Kacey’s Question: “Who Will I Marry?” All of her books have been published by Carpenters Son Publishing.
A Dallas-area resident, Consolver has taught Sunday school for 37 years and is a speaker and design consultant in Texas Garden Clubs. She and her husband have two children and five grandchildren.