Inside The Bible: A Guide to Understanding Each Book of the Bible

by Kenneth A. Baker

This book is a popular introduction to each of the 73 books of the Bible designed to help the reader grow in the knowledge and love of God's Word. The introduction to each book includes the time frame and author, the theme, a summary of the contents and some comments about the context in which it was written, the theology of the book, an outline, and a prayer taken from the book. Fr. Baker provides quick access to essential information the daily or occasional reader of sacred scripture should find helpful.

The book may also be of help to more advanced students who wish to refresh their memory of a particular book of the Bible. By carefully reading Inside the Bible one can have a thumbnail summary of each book of the Bible at his fingertips.

"Many Catholics revere the Bible without reading it. They find themselves paralyzed, not knowing where to start reading. Fr. Kenneth Baker comes to the rescue. In brief synopses of the 73 books he guides new readers through the threshold and shows them how they can move forward on their own.

Genres: Religion, Catholic, Scripture

373 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1998

About the author

Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J. is a Roman Catholic priest in the Society of Jesus. Besides his pastoral duties as a priest he has served as a professor of theology and a university president. He has also worked to bring the message of the Roman Catholic Church into more forms of communication media, most notably as editor-in-chief in the magazine the Homiletic and Pastoral Review which has been called "one of the most important magazines for priests in the English speaking world".

Reviews

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baker, a Catholic priest, ex-college president, and scholar, wrote this 1998 volume which summarizes each of the 73 books of the Catholic Bible in a uniform format, intending it as a guide for general study. My copy has been here on the shelf unexamined for maybe 20 years until I picked it up again yesterday and found it very useful in answering a couple of questions.

Because the Catholic Old Testament contains 46 books - 7 more than the Protestant version - there are these extra books that are included, but which may be ignored as desired by a non-Catholic user. The New Testament books are in agreement at 27.

I found the summaries and outlines to be rich with basic information and easy to digest as well as only sparsely sprinkled with some of the author’s religious ardor. It was obvious, however, that because of their generally consistent format and length that some books were covered in more detail than others - the longer ones getting relatively less attention and the shorter ones more.

However, for anyone wanting to read a quick overview of any single book in the Bible, this guy will certainly do the trick. And for a general comprehension of the entire Bible or major sections of it, it can serve equally well as a companion guide.

[Kevin W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief, but helpful 5-page explanation/summary of each book of the Bible. Not very thorough- more a companion to the Bible than a commentary. For something more scholarly on the Old Testament, I’d recommend Pitre and Bergsma’s “A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament.” For the New Testament, I’d recommend the series “Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture.”

[Julie Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my go to books for good Biblical overview. It covers basics like author, date, theme. outline, and summary. There's also a brief theological overview which can be quite helpful.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though written by a catholic and included several books found only in the catholic bible, it was a good guide to the gist of the books in the the Bible.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good overview of the entire bible. It only spends about 5 or 6 pages on each of the books in the bible and tells you when it was written and the background and why and what it says in a nut shell. It really helps put the bible in perspective.

[Wanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great overview! Very nicely ties the Old Testament together with the New. The outlines were a nice bonus feature.

[Sam Miran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great broad summaries to books of the bible and how they fit into salvation history