My latest BookSneeze book is The Chronological Guide to the Bible from Thomas Nelson.
This year I am reading and following a blog set around The One Year Chronological Bible from Tyndale. While looking for this a friend and I also came across The Chronological Study Bible from Thomas Nelson. When the companion Guide came available I realized it would be a great addition to my library. I am very pleased with the contents of the Guide.
I read the entire Old Testament last year and found it very interesting to read through the books all at once. I was curious what it would be like to read the the books on the kings and the books by the prophets all in chronological order. This Guide is a great companion to provide some context. It can be used to guide your reading order with any Bible.
The book itself is small, but high quality. I love those thick glossy reference book pages with vivid colors. The introductions do a great job of explaining how one goes about putting the Bible in chronological order. Issues and concerns are well addressed so the user knows what they are getting. Each section is about a different epoch and describes the state of the earth, a list of and description of the books of the Bible that relate events during that epoch, and major points of history and of the biblical accounts. There is also a chronological reading guide for each epoch or sub-epoch. These are placed in each chapter. My one recommendation would be to repeat all of those as an appendix.
The level of detail is really wonderful, and the format makes it very approachable with time lines, lists, and well delineated sections of informational paragraphs. In reading the first few epochs, I found the text a little heavy on showing how other cultures had rituals or explanations that were very similar to the Bible. I agree with the facts and think the finding is interesting. But sometimes the book seemed to interpret the biblical event as just another instance of this, rather than as relating the people of God acting as God directed. This doesn’t happen too often, and other sections are much clearer in this respect.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
