Friday, August 13, 2010

Through the Bible, Through the Year

Through the Bible, Through the Year, John Stott

This great book by Stott is designed as a daily bible reading guide. He has used the church calendar as his framework and divided biblical history into 3 periods, taking 4 months of the year to cover each one. Each week is devoted to a theme or a book of the bible, which are then expanded by the 7 daily readings for the week.

I am reviewing it now, because if you are interested in starting it when he starts, it is designed to start at the beginning of September.

The four months from Sept-Dec are the 1st period, which covers the Old Testament to the coming of Christ.

The 2nd period runs from January to April and covers the whole story of Jesus, arranged so that you are reading the accounts of Jesus birth soon after Christmas and the events of his death and resurrection around Easter.

The 3rd period is May to August and includes all the events after Pentecost, Acts, the letters to the churches and Revelation.

I am just about to finish it, and I have really enjoyed it. I haven't used it as my only bible reading for the year, but have read it as well as my normal bible reading plan (previously discussed here). It's often provided some extra understanding of a passage or part of the bible, or an insight that I never would have thought of.

For those who would like to get their head around the whole bible, but find actually reading it is a bit of a challenge, this might be a good starting place, as his comments help to frame everything. If you would like a preview, you can view the book online here.

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