Oursler's Old Testament

The religious tales of Fulton Oursler might have been popular with children a generation or two ago. It is a commentary on the times that his latest volume, a breezy popularization of the Old Testament entitled The Greatest Book Ever Written (Doubleday; $3.95) will probably be a hit with grownups.

Author Oursler, 58, a Reader's Digest editor and onetime newspaperman, knows from experience what people want to hear about, and how they want to hear it. His rewrite of the New Testament, The Greatest Story Ever Told, has sold nearly 1,500,000 copies and is still going strong.

In turning his attention to the Old Testament, say his publishers, Oursler "attempts no rationalization or modernization of the original text . . . nor does he supplement the narrative with his own explanations or interpretations." But the technicolor in which his prophets, priests and kings appear is a bit of an interpretation in itself. Excerpts:

"Adam opened his eyes and looked into the face of his Maker . . . In that unique moment when 'man became a living soul,' Adam could feel no fear. There was welcome for him in the Creator's steady gaze.

"God, compassionately watching his newly created man in the garden, said to Himself: 'It is not good that man should be alone' . . . Once again God dreamed the Creator's dream, making a new wonder for His creature.

"A weakness stole through the thighs of Adam, unmanning him so that, to his own astonishment, he sank down into the cool grass and leaned his back against a boulder of grey granite . . . Now the first patient in the world was fully under the initial anesthesia, ready for the original surgery." When he came to, there stood Eve, "on small, bare feet in the cool grass."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.