Ryken's Bible Handbook [Hardcover]

Leland Ryken (Author), Philip Ryken (Author), James Wilhoit (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2005

This book gives students of the Bible a quick overview of every book in the Bible. Leland Ryken's distinctive trait is a literary approach to the Bible—understanding the Bible as literature. The three authors help shed light on understanding the Bible as the inspired Word of God and as literature by looking at the Bible's different literary genres: poetry, narrative, wisdom literature, story, parables, and more.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 672 pages
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (October 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0842384014
• ISBN-13: 978-0842384018
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #390,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best One-Volume Bible Study Tool that I Have Found, March 27, 2010

By 

John A. Bird (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ryken's Bible Handbook (Hardcover)

Are you overwhelmed at the thought of trying to read and understand the Bible? Maybe you've never read any of it and you don't know where to start. Or perhaps you have been reading the Bible for years, but you are ready to dig deeper and move to a new level of understanding. Either way, Ryken's Bible Handbook is the tool for you.

Ryken's goes book-by-book through the Old and New Testaments. A fact sheet--listing the format, purpose, author's perspective, audience, unifying theme, and special features--gives the reader a quick overview of each book. After that, the authors discuss the challenges of each book along with advice on how to meet those challenges. The literary form, the story, the characters, the key doctrines, and tips for reading, teaching, and applying each book are just a few of the other topics discussed.

The main purpose of Ryken's Bible Handbook is to teach students how to study the Bible for themselves. It is "not simply a summary of biblical content," but a "book of methodology." A major emphasis of this handbook is the importance of considering the genre of each book of the Bible: "[T]his book can accurately be called an introduction to the genres (types of writing, such as story, proverb, or genealogy) that make up the Bible, along with guidelines for interpreting each genre." Dispersed throughout the handbook are one-page articles on each of the major biblical genres and keys to understanding them.

Other helpful elements of Ryken's include: a one year Bible reading plan, articles on various biblical topics, full color maps and charts, and a terrific overview of the entire Bible in a chapter titled, "The Bible as a Book."

Ryken's is the best one-volume Bible study tool that I have found. As J.I. Packer said, "All who aim to be discerning biblical Christians will appreciate it enormously." I recommend it to students and teachers alike.

Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, October 14, 2010

By 

Jeff "ScriptureZealot.com" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ryken's Bible Handbook (Hardcover)

This book was provided as a review copy from Tyndale House Publishers.

This book is for teachers and students of the Bible and I think it would also be good for parents to use with their kids. Even though it's over 600 pages long, it's a smaller sized reference book and isn't comprehensive or meant to be. It's a concise handbook on how to read and study each book of the Bible. Anyone familiar with studying the Bible will benefit from this book.

Each chapter is devoted to a book of the Bible and includes things such as Author's Perspective, Audience Perspective or Implied Audience, Special Features, Challenges Facing the Teacher or Reader of the Book, How to Meet the Challenges, Form, Genre, Structure, Outline, Timeline, Characters, How To Apply the Book, Key Verses etc. Don't let that overwhelm you. Each part is concise and very useful and not every chapter has every one of those.

I especially like The Most Common Misconceptions of the Book since this is one thing I've been working on for a few years now whether it's books, passages, verses, etc. I also like Perspectives which are quotes on the book at the end of each chapter by various authors and scholars and somewhere in each chapter there may be a quote dealing with a subject of the book. I also like various Did You Know? inserts which are short factual items related to the book that are helpfully shaded in gray (see below).

Also sprinkled throughout the book are one page articles on the major genres of the Bible and other topics anywhere from How We Got the Bible at the beginning to Apocalyptic Writing in the end. My one complaint is that these articles don't look different enough from the rest of the book. It's easy to keep reading and not always realize it's the start of the article. The typeface is different but that's the only thing that sets it apart other than the title. A border or shaded background would be helpful.

The very idea of a "Christless sermon" appalled Charles Spurgeon and in the same vein this handbook always looks for how OT books point to Christ but doesn't press the point too far if it's scant.

There has to be some interpretation in a book like this but as far as I can tell it's very neutral. Since my theological outlook is the same as the authors', I may not be able to discern that as clearly as others. In any case, I can't imagine anyone not benefiting from this book.

Part of the reason this review took so long is because I read each chapter before reading each book of the Old Testament this year (in addition to having surgery right in the middle). This was very helpful. It gave me a "heads up" on things to look for without telling me how to interpret it or without it being a commentary that I would want to read after reading that book of the Bible.

This is the only book that I can remember reviewing where I really don't have anything negative to say other than the formatting issue of the article inserts. I often even try to find something negative so that I don't sound like a shill for the publishers that provide review copies for me. I like it that much.

4.0 out of 5 stars Really nice Bible study resource!, September 5, 2010

By 

T. Giampietro "Tommyg" (Nashville) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ryken's Bible Handbook (Hardcover)

The best part of this book is that Ryken has written it as a literary guide to the Bible. He explains in detail the different types of literature found in the various books of the Bible. Knowing the hows and whys of the different literary genres deepens one understanding of the text...which is the whole point of Bible study in the first place.

The section on the Psalms and poetry is worth the price of this book! Highly recommended!