30 Days to Understanding the Bible

As Max Anders himself testifies, getting through the Bible without knowing what you're doing is a daunting and nearly impossible task, even for lifelong believers. That's why he wrote 30 Days to Understanding the Bible, a guide that assumes no prior knowledge of Scripture, it's major characters and themes, essential Christian doctrines, or even how many smaller books comprise what we call the Old and New Testaments.

Pairing readable text with a workbook format, Anders begins with the most basic data, provides a crash course on the geography of Bible lands, and presents the narrative arcs of both Testaments. At every stage, readers are asked to test their knowledge before reading the appropriate passages; once they're read Anders' text, they complete a variety of reinforcement exercises. These range from identifying places on maps, to summarizing books, to answering historical questions.

Section Three takes a different approach, and introduces the major doctrines of the Bible. Anders avoids denominationally divisive concepts, but seems on the whole to take a Reformed Baptist approach, tackling the doctrines of God, man, salvation, eschatology, and others. An appendix provides supplements to the main text, including overview charts, a teaching plan for using the book in groups, and reproducible images for teaching particular portions of the text.

30 Days to Understanding the Bible is unique among Bible survey books. While it assumes no prior knowledge of the Bible or biblical doctrine, it doesn't insult readers, nor does it present a bunch of theological jargon for you to untangle. For these reasons, and for the intense user-involvement element, Anders' book is excellent for advanced elementary students, older kids, and even adults who want to broaden and deepen their understanding of God's Word. Highly recommended!

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.