Survey of the Old Testament [Hardcover]

Paul N. N. Benware (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2004

In Survey of the Old Testament, with an overview of individual books, Paul Benware helps readers see the magnificent unity and the central theme of the Old Testament. Benware also helps readers understand God's covenant promises to Israel.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

DR. PAUL BENWARE (B.A., Los Angeles Baptist College, Th.M., Dallas Theological Seminary, Th.D., Grace Theological Seminary) is currently teaching in the Bible department at Southwestern College in Pheonix, Arizona. A former faculty member of the Los Angeles Baptist College (now the Master's College) and Chicago's Moody Bible Institute, Dr. Benware has continued to be involved in several local churches, often holding pastoral or staff positions. Dr. Benware is the author of seven books including Understanding End Times Prophecy, The Believer's Payday, surveys of both the Old and New Testaments, and a newly published commentary on the Book of Daniel, as well as numerous articles published in journals and magazines. Dr. Benware lives with his wife, Anne, in Litchfield Park, Arizona. They have four children and six grandchildren.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Moody Publishers; 2003 edition (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802424821
• ISBN-13: 978-0802424822
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #737,924 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul N. Benware (BA, Los Angeles Baptist College; ThM, Dallas Theological Seminary; ThD, Grace Theological Seminary) is professor in the Biblical Studies Division at the Philadelphia Biblical University. Dr. Benware also wrote Survey of the Old Testament, Survey of the New Testament and The Believer's Payday. He is married and has four children and five grandchildren.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent study of the New Testament, November 11, 1998

By 

Bruce Robinson (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Survey of the New Testament (Everyman's Bible Commentary) (Paperback)

Paul Benware has written an excellent review of each book of the Christian Scriptures (New Testament). He discusses the authorship, date, purpose, outline, themes and summary of each book. This survey is written from a Fundamentalist Christian point of view. For example, the author belives that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written by authors with those names. A liberal Christian would not find this book to be particularly helpful.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for conservative Christians, May 26, 2004

By 

Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Survey of the Old Testament (Hardcover)

If you are a conservative Christian with strong fundamentalist leanings you will find this an excellent survey of the Old Testament books. If you are not then you will probably find difficulty with many portions of it. However, you may still find value in the large number of photographs, charts, tables, and graphs.

The author does an excellent of distilling chapters of information into tables that clearly show the relationships. For example, he has illustrations of the chronological relationship between the Old Testament books (no the Bible does not have them in chronological order), God's covenants with Israel, and a chronology of Israel's judges. Hardly a page goes by without a picture, illustration, chart, or other visual aid to help the reader understand the author's comments. However, some of the pictures belong more in a tourist pamphlet than a serious Bible survey book. (For example, there are pictures of places "tradition" assigns as significant, like the "burial place" of Samuel. There is no evidence of this being factual but even in the Middle Ages traders recognized the value of having a religiously significant location within your city. So, many "traditional" sites suddenly sprang up.) Fortunately these sorts of pictures are few in number when compared with the large number that enhances the text.

While the mainstream or more liberal Christian may find something of value in the charts and tables, "Survey of the Old Testament" is really recommended mainly for conservative Christian readers who will find it a valuable resource strongly slanted toward that belief system.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Guide to Scriptures., March 19, 2004

By 

tvtv3 "tvtv3" (Sorento, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Survey of the Old Testament (Hardcover)

Most Christians enjoy reading the Bible. However, just about everyone who reads the Bible has trouble understanding how all the different names, concepts, dates, numbers, etcetra fit into the overall picture. For people who don't own a study Bible that explains many of these textual references, Paul N. Benware's SURVEY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT is a great book to have. The book is very compact and rather small, making it easy to carry around. It's written in modern English and is easy to read. It's full of pictures, charts, and diagrams as well as a brief overview of each book of the Old Testament. Even for those who have a study Bible and are familiar with the Old Testament, SURVEY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT is a nice companion piece to have as a reference. After all, you can't always chug Strong's Concordance, a book of Ancient Atlases, and other materials with you everywhere you go. But you can bring along this small companion piece.