Customer Reviews

CliffsNotes The Bible

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What I liked most about the CliffsNotes version of the Bible over The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Bible, Third Edition and The Bible for Dummies is that it takes a no-frills approach. The other two are humorous and certainly entertaining, but also a bit distracting for me.

The one drawback I've noticed is that, in true CliffsNotes fashion, these are simply summaries without verse cross-referencing and not quite the step-by-step stories that are given in "Dummies" and "Idiot's". I'd say this book would be better suited for those who already know the Bible fairly well to be used for high-level commentary and "big picture" analysis.

While this one is absolutely worth picking up, I'd also recommend getting either of the two others for a more user-friendly tool.

I'm a pastoral studies student and this book has been a jewel for all my related classes. If I have to read something in the Bible I read the section in the cliff notes book 1st then i grab the bible and read it.

It helps a lot to put what I'm reading in the Bible into perspective. The author has some excellent commentaries.

I have to admit it that I had read very little of the Bible earlier in my life. But Cliff Notes you might ask?

Yes, Cliff Notes. If you want a good, concise introduction to the very long, complex and even intimidating book that is the Bible, this is a good one. After reading the Cliff Notes, I felt confident enough to make a reading plan and actually completed reading important (to me) books of the Old Testament and all the New Testament; it tool a while, but I managed. The background I got in the Cliff Notes helped a lot.

None of my friends knew this existed. They all want one. Great background of the scriptures, brings greater understanding. I love it. A great Christmas Gift!

Not as easy to read as I expected. However, the book does hit on the important things to remember without need of excess memorization.

I was a good bit confused when I saw that Cliffs Notes had published a Notes on, of all things, the Bible. I mean, coming from someone who reads their Bible often, I never thought someone would need a copy of the Notes to understand the Bible.

That being said, I found the Notes interesting, to say the least, but not really saying anything I didn't already know. For those of y'all out there who are having trouble understanding some particular Bible passages, I would recommend this to you... but make sure you've actually read the passage first. You might have learned something- you just didn't know it.

Wow, I really have to say--this is one Cliffs Notes that I can appreciate. It actually has a purpose. This is the perfect book for those of us who are forced by parents and sunday school teachers to read the Bible on penalty of everlasting suffering and torment. I wish this was available when I was growing up...it is the perfect tool to decieve those that would try to force us to read the incomphrensible gibberish that is the Bible. And frankly rounding out at just under 100 pages, I can say that this is about as much of the Bible that I can bear. Easy to read and understand and without the mind-altering, brainwashing side affects. A+, highly recommended!!!

I buy Cliff Notes all the time mainly because of the definitions provided at the end of each few chapters. All Cliff Notes contains definitions to help readers understand the vernacular of that period. Rarely do Cliff Notes give definitions for modern words that we can just look up in the dictionary. More often, definitions are given to explain what words/phrases meant in that books particular time period. For example the term "making love" today means the physical act of sex, but only 50 years ago it merely meant to woe/court someone into a romantic relationship.
Even today.many words/phrases have completely different meanings depending on the country you are in. So I cannot imagine that words and phrases didn't mean something totally different 2000 or so years ago, in a country halfway around the world. Also everytime a book is translated from one language to another, meaning is often lost or changed. If someone from the Christian Era suddenly appeared in todays culture (we'll just assume that they can speak English), I somehow doubt they would understand any of our colloquial expressions. If the Bible Cliff Notes cannot help in these areas, can anyone suggest a book that can? I would merely like to understand what the Bible is trying to say.
PLEASE NOTE: MY RATING OF 2 IS ACTUALLY MEANINGLESS.....THAT IS UNLESS THERE ARE NO DEFINITIONS.