An accessibly written evangelical handbook to the books of Scripture.
A simplified, book-by-book guided tour of the Bible.
Downey’s concise, upbeat nonfiction debut takes aim at the intimidation factor of reading the Bible, presenting a detailed breakdown of the Old and New Testaments. Each chapter gives a narrative summary followed by several discussion questions that seem designed to get readers thinking about how the Bible reading relates to their own personal experiences with faith. The author opts to use the present tense in her summaries, which makes the stories more active and easier to follow, as when she writes, “Second Chronicles ends with Cyrus, the Persian king, conquering Babylonia about fifty years after the fall of Jerusalem. Cyrus announces he is letting the Jewish people go and return to Jerusalem after a total of seventy years in exile.” The book contains clear, simple maps of key locations, and Downey supplements her accounts with nonbiblical material from ancient-world historians Flavius Josephus and Eusebius of Caesarea. It all makes for a very smooth, inviting outline of the Bible, but non-Christian or nonreligious readers should be aware of the book’s evangelical perspective, as it presents the Bible as a unified narrative that always trends toward the wisdom and mercy of the Christian God—even the parts that the author acknowledges were written long before Christianity existed. This view consistently colors the biblical explanations; for instance, in the chapter on Exodus, the book tells readers that “Moses is very old at this time and will die before entering Canaan” without mentioning that God forbids Moses from reaching the region. This viewpoint makes the book serviceable for Christian study groups, but it bars it from any kind of critical use.
An accessibly written evangelical handbook to the books of Scripture.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5127-7228-9
Page Count: 110
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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