Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Gem from CWR, 27 Jan 2008
I am told that the average time a devotee of Harry Potter took to read the last and final 605-page book was 3½ days. The Lord of the Rings trilogy takes up to a fortnight if you stop occasionally to sleep, eat or wash. So why do we gasp in admiration when someone says, "This year I'm going to read the whole of the bible cover to cover, complete"
Well one reason is the bible is a little longer, the plot is quite simple, but the understanding is much harder. So if your new years resolution was to read the bible in a year, then I might have a very good suggestion. Read "Cover to Cover Complete, by Selwyn Hughes and Trevor J. Partridge, (well Selwyn and Trevor didn't actually write it, it is in fact the inspired word of God). This book is a one year chronological reading plan with full bible text.
One problem with a non-structured reading plan, where you are just given large chunks to read, jumping about the bible with a book in the old and then a book in the new testament is that it can be quite confusing, The difference with this book is that it takes you chronologically through the bible following the time line and order in which things happened. Obviously it starts with a portion of Genesis, as it is the first book in the bible and first book of the law, but then slots in Job, the eighteenth book of the bible and first book of poetry and wisdom. Why? Because Job probably predates Abraham and so that is where it fits. As you march on through Genesis, parts of Chronicles, Exodus and Numbers are inserted in the correct places to make the bible flow and really help with understanding. At the end of each very manageable days reading, there is a pause for reflection to help draw together the thoughts of the day.
The end of the book is.......I'll leave you to read it, or ask me in a few months time. I do hate people that pick up a book and turn to the end to see how it ends.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good Bible reading plan but somewhat flawed, 28 Jan 2009
A well laid out plan for reading the Bible in a year with manageable chunks for each day. The way it follows through chronologically is interesting and helps maintain momentum. As a Brit I was disappointed, however, that it uses an American version of the Bible with American spellings. My main problem though is with the short "Thought and Contemplation" for each day, it rarely seems to relate to the day's reading and is usually very banal and slightly too evangelical for my comfort zone. I would also like more from the compilers on their sources supporting the chronology and more diagrams (eg: family trees etc) would enrich the whole book creating a more theological experience.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Does not treat the Bible the respect it deserves, 28 Jul 2009
I got really excited about this when it came out and I bought it at the beginning of the year so I could try and do the Bible in a year thing.
After 6 months, I've given up.
Why? Well, the idea of going through the Bible chronologically is interesting and the translation used (Holman Christian Standard Bible) is a good one: close enough to mainstream versions such as NIV to be familiar, but with some differences that help you experience the text in a new way.
But actually working through it is utterly, utterly frustrating. The chronological approach is so strictly adhered to that it completely interrupts the flow of many of the stories. Never mind chapters appearing out of sequence (which I could understand), verses appear out of sequence: there are several examples of one verse appearing after the verses that it actually precedes (eg: in chapter x, verse 30 comes first, then 32-34, then 31). Sentences are chopped up, often left uncompleted.
This actually makes it harder to follow the flow of the Bible and the stories that make it up. For some reason, the stories of Samson and Samuel are mingled together. I'm not sure that this is even chronological; but more than that, it makes both the stories nigh-on impossible to follow.
To me, this is a poor way of treating the Bible: it's not a collection of verses that we can chop up and mix around as we choose; it's a collection of stories that were put together in a particular way (under God's inspiration) for particular purposes. The fact that same story occurs in, say, Kings and Chronicles, doesn't mean they were meant to be read together: the authors of those books included them as part of the flow of their books for particular reasons. This chopping and changing doesn't help those stories and, I have to say, doesn't respect the integrity of the Bible.
Each day's reading is accompanied by a little comment for "thought and contemplation". However, these are horribly twee and cliched, that often inspired guilt in me, not worship or a desire to seek God further for my life. I found it best to ignore it.
So while this may be a new way of reading the Bible, I don't think it's a good one. There are better plans for reading the Bible in a year out there - many of them for free.
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