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The Bible in 100 Pages: Seeing The Big Picture In God's Great Story
This crisp, clear summary provides a handy reference tool enabling the reader to see how the Bible fits together. Despite its many authors and vast time frame, there is a core narrative that runs throughout the text. Each of the fifteen chapters focuses on a key theme, taking the reader progressively from Genesis to Revelation. Chapter One covers Genesis 1-11: God has deliberately made us to be creatures dependent on their Creator. Adam and Eve rebelled against His rule, as did Cain. Abel, Seth and Noah submitted to it. This is the big picture of displayed in the Bible: Will you try to be your own god or will you serve the Creator God? The author’s style is punchy and engaging and the text is fast-paced and succinct. It is sure to be a hit with readers keen to get to grips with the wider narrative of the Bible.
- GenresChristianityChristian
112 pages, Paperback
First published June 20, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 11, 2014
Moore introduces the Bible as a book of themes, and when read in this way the big picture does emerge more clearly. Written in a straightforward style, which makes me feel that I'm sitting across the table from the author having a personal discussion, we're taken through the Bible in logical book sections, with a timeframe and theme for each one.
Although this is naturally more of an overview, don't make the mistake of thinking it's more like Cliff's Notes. There's a lot of extra detail, cultural, historical or temporal explanation, and new connections made. I never thought of God's clothing of Adam and Eve, and the beginning of blood sacrifices, in this way before, and it now makes sense to me.
It's useful, and interesting, to see the time period covered by each book; one of the tricky things for me is keeping track of how old people were at certain points, or putting events in proper historical context, and that obstacle was removed here. Moses had to do 40 years of personal exile in the desert before he was a fit leader for the Hebrew exodus - he's not the young man often pictured, nor was Isaac a little boy, or Daniel a young man when he was thrown to the lions. Abraham's test was as much a test for his son - the 25-year old Isaac had to willingly submit to his ancient father - and Daniel was an old man at that point.
Throughout the text, Moore reminds us that God chooses ordinary people (nobodies, zeroes) to be His heroes because they admit He is God and they are not. He makes memorable points, with appropriate cultural references to help the reader to remember the connection. He explains the background and writing styles/conventions of the disciples, and what was going on at the time, but never fails to come back to the theme of each chapter or diverges into irrelevancy.
It's wonderfully accessible, concise yet rich in detail, and never loses sight of the main message. It's driving me back to my Bible to reread and annotate passages with my new understanding. Highly recommended, whether you're a new or existing believer or just someone who wants to know more about what the Bible says but doesn't want to trudge through 1200-odd pages.
The biggest problem I had was with the ARC's formatting - the footnotes were intermingled with the text - but I'm certain that won't be an issue with the finished product.
Disclaimer: I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Although this is naturally more of an overview, don't make the mistake of thinking it's more like Cliff's Notes. There's a lot of extra detail, cultural, historical or temporal explanation, and new connections made. I never thought of God's clothing of Adam and Eve, and the beginning of blood sacrifices, in this way before, and it now makes sense to me.
It's useful, and interesting, to see the time period covered by each book; one of the tricky things for me is keeping track of how old people were at certain points, or putting events in proper historical context, and that obstacle was removed here. Moses had to do 40 years of personal exile in the desert before he was a fit leader for the Hebrew exodus - he's not the young man often pictured, nor was Isaac a little boy, or Daniel a young man when he was thrown to the lions. Abraham's test was as much a test for his son - the 25-year old Isaac had to willingly submit to his ancient father - and Daniel was an old man at that point.
Throughout the text, Moore reminds us that God chooses ordinary people (nobodies, zeroes) to be His heroes because they admit He is God and they are not. He makes memorable points, with appropriate cultural references to help the reader to remember the connection. He explains the background and writing styles/conventions of the disciples, and what was going on at the time, but never fails to come back to the theme of each chapter or diverges into irrelevancy.
It's wonderfully accessible, concise yet rich in detail, and never loses sight of the main message. It's driving me back to my Bible to reread and annotate passages with my new understanding. Highly recommended, whether you're a new or existing believer or just someone who wants to know more about what the Bible says but doesn't want to trudge through 1200-odd pages.
The biggest problem I had was with the ARC's formatting - the footnotes were intermingled with the text - but I'm certain that won't be an issue with the finished product.
Disclaimer: I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
March 28, 2016
Whatever you feel about the Bible; work of fiction or word of God, there's little denying that it is a sizeable work, frequently running to over one thousand pages in print editions. Just as an example, the two study bibles I have in different translations both have a page count of over two thousand. Either that, or it's printed in a tiny font to keep the thickness of the printed work down and to make it look a little less imposing at first glance, but also making it virtually impossible to read at a quick glance, becoming as much like an eye test as a test of faith. Either way, a handy summary of the Bible would certainly be a lot easier, as well as a lot quicker, to read.
Phil Moore is more used to expanding on the Bible, rather than shortening it. He has spent the last few years writing some excellent commentaries of a number of books and sections of the Bible. This "Straight to the Heart" series of Bible commentaries have proved very popular at my own church's bookstall and the list of titles in the series is ever increasing. This time, however, rather than taking the Bible on a book or an author at a time, here he separates it into sections based on the period of time the events written about occurred, as far as it is known.
This approach certainly means every book of the Bible is touched upon, if only briefly. However, it does also mean that many of the smaller books, particularly those considered to be the minor prophets in the Old Testament and many of the letters from the New Testament do get somewhat rushed through or lumped together and only receiving the most basic of nods. Admittedly, something like this was always likely to happen with such an ambitious idea as contracting the whole Bible into just 100 pages. It reminds me of the way the minor plays are a little hard done by in the Reduced Shakespeare Company's "Complete Works", although not nearly as funny.
The thematic groupings are a little more successful, although again there is some shoehorning of books of the Bible to fit into the themes. However, unlike with the treatment of the individual books, each theme is given a roughly equal page count here, which makes the book a much more even read on a thematic basis.
The greatest aspect of the book is the passion it is written with. It's obvious from the large and increasing number of commentaries Phil Moore has written and is writing that he had the utmost love and respect for the Bible. That comes across here, as well as the knowledge that Moore has gained from years of studying the Bible through writing his other books. Yet this has not made him one dimensional or insular, as many of his cultural references are up to date, if occasionally a little clunky and potentially likely to date as time goes by, and his writing is always very clear and flows well enough to be readable and this is a decent summary of the entirety of the Bible, whether you believe it is the Word of God or not.
Phil Moore is more used to expanding on the Bible, rather than shortening it. He has spent the last few years writing some excellent commentaries of a number of books and sections of the Bible. This "Straight to the Heart" series of Bible commentaries have proved very popular at my own church's bookstall and the list of titles in the series is ever increasing. This time, however, rather than taking the Bible on a book or an author at a time, here he separates it into sections based on the period of time the events written about occurred, as far as it is known.
This approach certainly means every book of the Bible is touched upon, if only briefly. However, it does also mean that many of the smaller books, particularly those considered to be the minor prophets in the Old Testament and many of the letters from the New Testament do get somewhat rushed through or lumped together and only receiving the most basic of nods. Admittedly, something like this was always likely to happen with such an ambitious idea as contracting the whole Bible into just 100 pages. It reminds me of the way the minor plays are a little hard done by in the Reduced Shakespeare Company's "Complete Works", although not nearly as funny.
The thematic groupings are a little more successful, although again there is some shoehorning of books of the Bible to fit into the themes. However, unlike with the treatment of the individual books, each theme is given a roughly equal page count here, which makes the book a much more even read on a thematic basis.
The greatest aspect of the book is the passion it is written with. It's obvious from the large and increasing number of commentaries Phil Moore has written and is writing that he had the utmost love and respect for the Bible. That comes across here, as well as the knowledge that Moore has gained from years of studying the Bible through writing his other books. Yet this has not made him one dimensional or insular, as many of his cultural references are up to date, if occasionally a little clunky and potentially likely to date as time goes by, and his writing is always very clear and flows well enough to be readable and this is a decent summary of the entirety of the Bible, whether you believe it is the Word of God or not.
June 11, 2016
In the introduction to his book, The Bible in 100 pages: Seeing the Big Picture in God’s Great Story Phil Moore gives us some numbers on the Bible:
“It was written across 2,000 years by at least 44 different authors in 3 languages in 9 countries in 3 continents.” In addition it is made up of, “66 books, 1,189 chapters and 31,102 verses.” All of which can make the Bible, for many, a daunting and often impenetrable book to read.
Instead what is offered up here is a 100 page overview of the Bible, covering every period, tracing the arc of God’s redemptive plan from creation to new creation, revealing time and time again how it centres around the person of Jesus.
One minor niggle I had was with the phrase ‘Jesus is the true and better…’ not because I think there’s anything wrong with it especially if you happen to be called Tim Keller, but it has perhaps become too much of a signature phrase.
However, being influenced by Tim Keller is not a weakness in my book and well, Jesus is the true and better Adam, Moses, Joshua, David, Israel, …and such a neat little phrase is hard to beat!
The size of the book, the length of the chapters and the language (adapted as it is from a sermon series) all make this a very accessible book. It is ideal for the person who has some idea of the Bible, who maybe remembers some stories as a child and has been going to church for a short time and wants to take a first step into finding out more.
However it turns out it may not be so ideal for the person who knows absolutely nothing about Christianity. A friend gave the book to one of his colleagues at work to read and her comment was, there was just so much that was new, so many new names, new dates that it was hard to take it in and then it moved on. For her, the book was too fast paced and too condensed. Interesting.
If you enjoy reading you’ll get through this book in one or two sittings and that is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. It is obviously intended as a small first step that should lead to other steps, including of course, reading the Bible itself.
Yet it is almost too fast, over too quick to perhaps truly whet the appetite but the Bible in 165 pages is not such a good title.
Having said all that it is going onto the shelves as a book to readily give away to students, commuters and anyone else looking for a quick-fire, sure-footed and trustworthy introduction to the big picture of God’s great story.
*Full disclosure: I know Phil Moore personally but he offered me no financial incentives for reviewing his book. Hint, hint Phil.
“It was written across 2,000 years by at least 44 different authors in 3 languages in 9 countries in 3 continents.” In addition it is made up of, “66 books, 1,189 chapters and 31,102 verses.” All of which can make the Bible, for many, a daunting and often impenetrable book to read.
Instead what is offered up here is a 100 page overview of the Bible, covering every period, tracing the arc of God’s redemptive plan from creation to new creation, revealing time and time again how it centres around the person of Jesus.
One minor niggle I had was with the phrase ‘Jesus is the true and better…’ not because I think there’s anything wrong with it especially if you happen to be called Tim Keller, but it has perhaps become too much of a signature phrase.
However, being influenced by Tim Keller is not a weakness in my book and well, Jesus is the true and better Adam, Moses, Joshua, David, Israel, …and such a neat little phrase is hard to beat!
The size of the book, the length of the chapters and the language (adapted as it is from a sermon series) all make this a very accessible book. It is ideal for the person who has some idea of the Bible, who maybe remembers some stories as a child and has been going to church for a short time and wants to take a first step into finding out more.
However it turns out it may not be so ideal for the person who knows absolutely nothing about Christianity. A friend gave the book to one of his colleagues at work to read and her comment was, there was just so much that was new, so many new names, new dates that it was hard to take it in and then it moved on. For her, the book was too fast paced and too condensed. Interesting.
If you enjoy reading you’ll get through this book in one or two sittings and that is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. It is obviously intended as a small first step that should lead to other steps, including of course, reading the Bible itself.
Yet it is almost too fast, over too quick to perhaps truly whet the appetite but the Bible in 165 pages is not such a good title.
Having said all that it is going onto the shelves as a book to readily give away to students, commuters and anyone else looking for a quick-fire, sure-footed and trustworthy introduction to the big picture of God’s great story.
*Full disclosure: I know Phil Moore personally but he offered me no financial incentives for reviewing his book. Hint, hint Phil.
June 8, 2016
This was trying to show you the big picture of the bible as it applies to us personally. That's OK but I was rather hoping for something that dealt with an overview of the bible from the point of view of God's people as a whole. Having said that, I did enjoy hearing someone's take on the bible .
This was made from a series of talks and some of the talks are more illuminating than others.
This was made from a series of talks and some of the talks are more illuminating than others.
June 28, 2020
Starting outs
This is a great book for those just starting to dig into the word of god and gain a better understanding of how the books of the bible come together to form the whole bible.
I would recommend it to both older Christians and those just starting out.
This is a great book for those just starting to dig into the word of god and gain a better understanding of how the books of the bible come together to form the whole bible.
I would recommend it to both older Christians and those just starting out.
December 18, 2024
A very quick overview from a Christian perspective that is meant to influence rather than inform.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews