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Big Ideas Simply Explained

The Bible Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained

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The stories, events, and teachings contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelations explained with accessible text and bold graphics.

The Bible Book explores the ideas and beliefs key to the teachings of the most widely printed religious book of all time. This highly visual book highlights more than 100 of the most important Biblical passages and explains their theological significance and key concepts. Profiles of primary figures-from Adam and Eve, to Peter and Paul-and places of the Bible, such as Jerusalem and Rome, add context to the scriptures. Essential theological concepts, such as the Trinity, God's omnipresence, and the salvation of Jesus' death, are explained in detail. Infographics illuminate the most significant concepts clearly and simply. The Bible Book is perfect for anyone with an interest in religion and the foundational text of Christianity and Judaism.

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 20, 2018

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About the author

D.K. Publishing

9,125 books2,067 followers
Dorling Kindersley (DK) is a British multinational publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 62 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a consumer publishing company jointly owned by Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA and Pearson PLC. Bertelsmann owns 53% of the company and Pearson owns 47%.

Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including Eyewitness Travel Guides), arts and crafts, business, history, cooking, gaming, gardening, health and fitness, natural history, parenting, science and reference. They also publish books for children, toddlers and babies, covering such topics as history, the human body, animals and activities, as well as licensed properties such as LEGO, Disney and DeLiSo, licensor of the toy Sophie la Girafe. DK has offices in New York, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne.

Source: Wikipedia.

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5 stars
109 (43%)
4 stars
94 (37%)
3 stars
40 (15%)
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4 (1%)
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
Profile Image for Emma.catherine.
868 reviews144 followers
September 21, 2023
I am honestly gutted that this book has come to an end 😭 I have been using it for my morning Bible study every single day since May. It has become part of my day and I will miss it dearly, despite having another Bible study book lined up.

I can’t speak highly enough of this book. It takes you through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, breaking down everything into plain English. Due to my dyslexia I have really struggled through reading the Bible and truly understanding it, whereas this book has broken it all down and is PACKED full of important quotations, scriptures, themes, core ideas and key figures, in a way that is very engaging. The author has cleverly used bold graphics and the whole book is fantastically laid out, making it so easy to follow and really grasp the true meaning of Christianity ✝️

Whether you are new to reading the Bible or a long serving Christian, or even just want to know a little more about some key events in the Bible, I would highly recommend this book to anyone!!

I know I will cherish it and come back to it again and again!
Profile Image for Alex.
353 reviews44 followers
December 12, 2020
The Bible is important to history and literature and I wanted to get a better idea of what's in it. I don't have the patience to read the whole thing, and I didn't want to be preached at or talked down to. DK does its usual job of giving us the highlights of a subject, with lots of illustrations and fact boxes.
Profile Image for Earl Grey Tea.
732 reviews34 followers
December 16, 2024
This is the book I have been looking for to learn about the Bible. Most books I have found about the Bible focus on faith, not the history and context.

The Bible Book discusses history, context, and different interpretations from within the faith. With this background information, it makes it much easier to understand the writings of the Bible. While not every single aspect of the Bible is covered in this book, I don't have to read lines upon lines of who begot whom, who begot whom, who begot whom, and so on.

I didn't feel like D.K. Publishing was trying to convert me to or steer me away from Christianity. Just like The Islam Book, the focus is to help outsiders (and those within) better understand the religion.

This book is not a substitution for the Bible. Instead, it is an amazing foundational resource to help understand an important book in human history.
533 reviews4 followers
May 28, 2018
Lots of sacred art pictures with captions. Seems mostly objective and surprisingly accurate, stating Christianity's traditional beliefs and comparing them with Judaism and Islam. However, wrong when stating that baptism is needed for salvation as a Christian view.

Unfortunately, the book uses BCE instead of BC.

By and large, it seems to be what it claims to be—an overview of the Bible.

Here is a quote at 50%—
....as the NT confirms, Jesus was completely without sin...Jesus therefore has nothing to repent for, yet still asks for baptism. The general consensus is that, in this case, the act of cleansing is merely symbolic. . . He is symbolically cleansed in order to commence His ministry and is now ready to encounter the forces of darkness.

A very helpful, but non-linked, Index at end. A decent overview of the Bible. I certainly don’t agree with everything here, but the book was surprisingly orthodox on most things. I learned some basic things I did not know.
Profile Image for Omar Hernández González.
50 reviews
December 30, 2021
Nice explanations and quotes

Great explanations of the Biblle for believers and non believers
It accounts the mayor histories of the bold and new testament.
It gave me a new perspective about what religion and church should be
Profile Image for Anders Brabaek.
74 reviews201 followers
July 25, 2020
This was a disappointment.
It didn't bring in contextual analysis - in what setting and political environment did the author's write. It avoided textual criticism. It avoided discussing the many hidden contradictions.
Profile Image for Douglas Reedy.
396 reviews5 followers
June 24, 2019
Enough facts for everyone.

This book contains many interesting and informative facts. From Eden to End Tmes, the people who help create this book didn't miss much.
4 reviews
March 25, 2024
Today I finished The Bible Book by Dorling Kinserley to great joy. I see the Bible as such a neat book and worth reading for its cultural impact alone, but the Bible is also big and often difficult for many to read and commit too. Thankfully this book exists and I would recommend it to anyone, no matter your knowledge of scripture, to help aid in understanding the Bible. This book uncovers meanings, shows key Biblical themes and messages, gives famous and lesser known stories light, is visually pleasing, and contains great photos, info-graphs, paintings, and quotes. One of such quotes is a genius one from Victor Hugo, showing the Bible's influence on culture, "England has two books, the Bible and Shakespeare, England made Shakespeare, the Bible made England." My only nit-picks with the book is the usage of B.C.E. and C.E. and the some of the extra photos and graphs on the page that sometimes just took up space without adding much content. Nevertheless I liked this book a lot and rate it 5 stars or 9.5/10.
Profile Image for Meaningless.
87 reviews1 follower
April 7, 2025
Note about me: I am an agnostic with my primary belief background being atheistic, however, most of my friends, family, and social groups are Christian; as such, I have deep admiration and love for them. I have only read the Bible up to the point of the various creative plagues in Egypt, which includes swarm of loci and I think a river of blood?

This book has taught me basically everything I needed to know to have constructive conversations with my Christian social circles. I love how it summarizes long stories and sections in the Bible, while adding context around them. Many things in the Bible are products of it time, which can make the world feel alien to ours, this book bridges that gap.

Couldn't recommend this book enough. Understanding how Christians think, and how Christian ideas dominate our society is crucial for thriving in this human ecosystem.
Profile Image for Hanna.
315 reviews39 followers
April 7, 2023
This took way too long to read
Other than my reading slumpness
This was super informative and well written
I enjoyed the images they included as well as the decision to include certain verses that accompanied the explanation and original infographic style art
I appreciate how they give historical context for when the Bible was written and what certain passages might have meant for people in that time
I liked how events were brought back to what it relates to in Christian beliefs as well as how the event or sections of the Bible are held in certain religions and not others- this was a lot of info to present in a relatively small book
48 reviews
September 25, 2021
This book definitely has some great information on each chapter of the Bible. And it has great timelines to keep you on track bc let's face it, until you read the whole Bible a few times over, the timelines are a bit confusing. It has fun facts on each page. Just a really great addition to your Bible study.
439 reviews
September 30, 2018
An excellent book for young adults or folks who wish to start learning more about the Bible.
Profile Image for Sohail.
473 reviews12 followers
December 29, 2019
Too brief, and biased (most of the embarrassing and controversial parables have either been censored, or moved to a glossary-like section called directory at the very end of the book).
Profile Image for Chris Haleua.
22 reviews1 follower
September 11, 2020
Art as the best part

Didn’t agree with everything but they made a sincere effort to describe the doctrine and historical context without getting into sectarian debate.
2 reviews
March 9, 2024
This book is best resource for understanding history, culture and spirituality.
357 reviews
October 2, 2024
A nice, objective look at the Christian Bible. The book is informative, without being overbearing or high-handed. A nice resource for anyone interested in a high-level look at Christianity.
Profile Image for Grant Keegan.
241 reviews
August 7, 2022
DK has created one of the most amazing and informative series of books I have read in a while. The Big Ideas Simply Explained series is very attractive and informative, and this companion book was the perfect resource to help me understand the most important concepts and ideas during my journey of not only reading but truly understanding the Bible.

While going over this massive book, I knew I needed to have a couple points of reference in order to take the stories and ideas from the old and new testaments, and most importantly, do it in an objective and neutral way. With this book, I not only understood what happens in each book and chapter but also its significance to the Christian faith.

Something I really appreciate about the Bible Book is that takes a neutral stance on the subject with an important degree of skepticism. This is very important as analyzing the Bible from a historical perspective, analyzing why some books and passages were written works to piece together the backstory and context behind these events. It presents each belief in a way that can be understood stating that it is what the Bible claims, not an objective perspective.

It also draws from historical research and information from different theologians, scholars, and anthropologists. This is valuable as it allows people from any faith read and form their own conclusions. In the end, I liked the way information is presented, and although I don’t agree with most of the Bible, having a resource to understand the most influential book in western society is appreciated.

Final Score: 72/100

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Profile Image for Angela Watts.
516 reviews3 followers
May 18, 2019
Will ALWAYS LOVE to look THROUGH this BOOK and LEARN!!!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews

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