Customer Reviews

Biblical Literacy: The Essential Bible Stories Everyone Needs to Know

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you know little or nothing about the Bible, this book might earn a 5-star rating.

If you are relatively familiar with the Bible, even in a general sense, this book might well earn a 1-star rating.

Hence, a somewhat shaky 3-star review.

For those who are not familiar with the Bible, this book, as promised in the subtitle, "The Best Bits Without All the Boring Bits," is an excellent summary of the Bible, its key stories and terms that influence our culture, speech and interaction with each other on a daily basis.

If, however, you are generally familiar with the Bible and are looking for ways and examples on how it has shaped our cuture, this book is long on scripture and short on examples of cultural influence. In that sense it is woefully lacking and long on scripture, primarly a retelling of the old familiar, even semi-familiar stories.

The introduction to the book and introductions to the Old and the New Testaments and certain books therein are good and well worth reading, though a Biblical literalist will have trouble with them.

The Glossery of Key Biblical Words and the collection/explanation of Familiar Phrases and Images at the end may the best, most useful and generally informative part of the book.

Not a great book, but not a bad one. The less you know about the Bible, the better it is; the more you know about the Bible, the more lacking it is.

So, take your choice: To read or not to read, that is the question!!!

This book is an excellent introduction to the Biblical text and stories for those who are not familiar with them and a good review with pertinent questions for those who know it well to think through and discuss with others. We have enjoyed it.

Beal's latest book is a wonderfully insightful read that will keep you thinking and laughing long after you close the cover. Not only for people of faith, this book will open your eyes to how biblical texts are used throughout culture. The "asides" add to one's cultural education - a must for anyone who desires to be relevant. Beal is an excellent writer who will engage your brain and your soul.

I asked my sister for this book for Christmas and just finished reading it. As a non-Christian in a world heavily painted by the stories of the Bible, I had tried and failed three times to read the Bible. This book was the perfect solution. It is written as a compromise between that book's archaic writing style and a more fluid, modern approach, making it much easier to understand the stories themselves. All of the key myths are there and are introduced with a short, relevant background that helps explain what you're about to read and presents some broad questions to consider while reading (I didn't find those very useful, but could be nice for others). Alongside Edith Hamilton's "Mythology" (Greco-Roman mythology primer), these two much-highlighted books are definitely keepers, and I'm certain that I'll be coming back to consult them both repeatedly in the years to come. Definitely worth reading!

This book provides a good survey of the Bible that skips over the parts which cause many people to struggle with maintaining focus. For readers who have not had as much direct reading in the Bible as they may have wished, the selections provide a fairly comprehensive overview that can be read in reasonably short amount of time. Naturally, one can quibble about the selections chosen by the author but on the whole they are good and representative of the parts from which they were selected. I personally would have selected the story of Gideon over that of Jepthath and I thought too much space was given to Revelation. Likewise, some excerpts from Nehemiah or Ezra would have been nice. But considering the breadth of the content, it is inherent that opinions will differ with respect to what should have been put in and what should have been omitted. The book has several sidebars that provide comments and ask questions about the various excerpts. I thought the author did an excellent job with the excerpts from Isaiah and the discussion about the gospel accounts is quite good. Overall, the author provides information that enables the reader to understand the excerpts in a sound context. For readers with little experience reading the Bible, this book will be a good resource for increasing familiarity with what the Bible actually says and, if desired, a good starting point for exploring other parts.

We are using this book in the adult Sunday School class in our church. Very helpful in understanding who we are and where we came from. Helps us to enjoy the bible more. The great price at Amazon enabled all of us to purchase one.

Beal's contribution in this book is highlighting the stories, phrases, and even individual words which have been absorbed from the Bible by Western English-language culture. The fact that he noted up-to-the-minute allusions to biblical literature helps make this book intriguing for an audience which might be otherwise indifferent to the Bible. Beal tried to interest the reader in the actual biblical narratives; he often quoted extensively from the Bible. The advantage is that someone without a Bible on hand would be able to read the original text. The disadvantage is that this practice fattens the book unnecessarily for readers familiar enough with the Bible to look up the passages on their own.

Over all, Beal has made a useful contribution to a reading public that is increasingly biblically illiterate.

Beal's Biblical Literacy challenged me to think about these stories that I thought I already knew. There were many reminders, but many surprises as well. Informative and fun!

I gave this to my son and he loved it. It created a spark that led to other research into his faith.

My mom wanted to get this for my Dad, but couldn't order it for him as she doesn't have her own email and knew he'd find out. You all made it possible for me to order it and have it shipped to her without him ever finding out. Thanks! He loves the book!