Framing Our Stories: Introduction and Overview

© 2026 Dane M. Bundy. All rights reserved.

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Biblical integration can be challenging! We may be confident God has everything to do with what is going on around us. We may know if we look hard enough we can see truth, goodness, and beauty even in unlikely places. 

But when thinking about things like movies or novels from a biblical perspective, it can be difficult to connect the story with biblical ideas in an organic way. Slapping on a Bible verse may be easy, but real biblical integration is not. 

Today I'd like to share an approach to biblical integration pieced together through years of teaching and thinking called Framing Stories with God’s Story (or just Framing from now on). The approach works best for Christians who learn well through images and stories, and it is best applied to content that is based in narrative, like fiction or film.

The goal of the Framing approach is to help you “see” the stories you’re thinking about against the backdrop of God’s Story. Like a set for a play, God’s Story frames the action on stage, placing the actors and their story in proper context. 

The Four Steps

The Framing approach has four key steps centering on a simple tool: an illustration of the redemptive framework of God’s Story, serving as a commonplace to capture insights. We will work through them in the following months. The steps are:

Step 1: Capture God’s echoes

Step 2: Identify the plot and structure

Step 3: Note the motivational journey of the hero 

Step 4: Reflect on the interplay between God’s Story and the story at hand

We will first explore the illustration of God’s Story. 

The Unified Cosmic Story

A life-changing insight I learned many years ago is that the Bible tells one-overarching, unified, and true story about what God has done, is doing, and will do in the cosmos. To simplify it, we often speak of  movements or chapters in the grand Story God is telling: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New creation. 

Creation and Fall tell of God’s creation of the world, including his image bearers, who sadly rebel against God and usher in the fall of humanity. But in Redemption and New Creation, God reveals his loving plan to restore what was lost, redeeming his people from their sin and restoring creation to its intended glory. The Story culminates in the Son of God’s life, death, and resurrection. Those who receive his gift of salvation by grace will live with him forever in his Kingdom, while those who reject Him will live eternally separated from Him for punishment of their sin.

Do not forget—humanity is not the hero in this cosmic drama, but Jesus is, for “all things were created through him and for him” (Col. 1:16). The Story is about the glory of God.

Inside this metanarrative fits all other stories–the stories of our own lives in human history and the stories we tell in the realm of the imagination. Because we bear the image of God, our stories of literature and film carry echoes of God and His Story.

Next month, we’ll explore Step 1 in which we’ll learn how to listen for God’s Echoes in the stories around us. For more insights on thinking biblically about story, culture, and the imagination subscribe to our monthly newsletter here.

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Dane Bundy is President of Stage & Story and Director of Fine Arts at Regents School of Austin.