Customer Reviews

Thompson Chain-Reference Study Bible (KJV, Red Letter; Burgundy Bonded Leather)

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

 

 

This Bible makes it easy to follow topics throughout the Bible to see what the Bible has to say about all of the issues that we deal with daily. It makes it easy to find what you need in the Bible. My wife and I have had this Bible for years and it has been a powerful blessing daily. I teach Bible Study and find the chain reference system to be a great tool for quickly finding facts in the Bible on any given topic. This Bible is also a powerful tool for preparing sermons or any Christian talk that you may need to give. This Bible is available in several translations.

For your convenience the review is divided in two parts: the first, "About the Printing", addresses the rather controversial issues and criticism with current Kirkbride Bibles. The second part, "About the Content", is the review of the Bible itself.

ABOUT THE PRINTING.

If you have any experiences with the new editions that Kirkbride making you already know that finding a proper-quality Thompson is not as easy as one would expect. If you are unaware of what the critics say when they give Thompson Bibles bad reviews my wish is that this review might even slightly justify the criticism.

The thing is, most people who purchase Thompson Bible are not disappointed with the quality of the context itself--that is, it is the KJV, and people purchasing the KJV are usually searching for a King James translation. And when they purchase a Thompson Bible they most likely purchase one because of the chain reference system and other supplemental materials it provides. Most people have testified how useful these things are, and I am sure that such testimonies have brought you here, wondering which Thompson to buy.

Thus, the problem is not in the content but rather the presentation. The people giving negative reviews are disappointed with the decline in quality of the Bibles Kirkbride has been producing for the past five or so years. I have not owned so new a Kirkbride and cannot call judgment whether it is true or not (the problems mostly have to do with bad binding, bad printing and inferior paper quality) , but it was enough to avoid buying a Thompson that was produced during the new century. I was shopping at the Kirkbride's webstore, and because of a payment hassle (suddenly they were charging me for thirty dollars extra) I canceled the order because of the bad experience. I wanted to play it safe and hunted down an edition that was printed in 1988. I wanted this edition to be free of the quality issues. So I ordered the edition whose ISBN-10 is 0887071511 (available through both from the US and UK sites) and waited.

Well, what I received was the centennial edition printed in 2007, in large print (although the print is not that large, but thanks to the wide margins the text does not appear crammed). Not exactly what I thought I was ordering, yet now that I have used it for some time, the spine has not broken down. I simply had no energy to return this anymore, and as a positive, this one is thumb-indexed. Yet I admit the paper has been bound very shoddily--my compromise is not to move it around too much and keep it home as a study Bible for desktop use. But it goes without saying that those looking for a portable edition are not going to be well-served neither by the large-print edition nor the binding as the spine does not look strong enough to handle much moving around without giving up on the pages. Unfortunately I can only attest to the fact that if the Amazon page says that it is a 1988 edition it merely means that it is the "1988 Edition of the Fifth Improved Thompson Chain-Reference Bible in the King James Version[.]" ("Preface to the Thompson Chain-Reference Bible, p. v) edition they are using.

I take one star because of the rather shoddy quality of the binding and because of the paper. I should say that there is nothing wrong with the typeface.

ABOUT THE CONTENT.

Now that we have discussed the obvious short-comings of the printing, no one should doubt the value of the Bible itself. And for me it is worth having for all the trouble it took to buy it, and I would not want to be without it. I am writing shortly about the system and content in case you wonder what the Thompson Reference system really means: this I will assure that those who are interested in the Thompson would not be discouraged after the review for lack of knowledge. If you already own one, I beg your pardon if I review things you already know. In that case you may skip straight to the "Conclusion" of this review.

Now I will explain, in short, what the Reference System does. If you have ever used a reference Bible you may have an idea what this is about: The Amplified Topical Reference Bible, for example, collects topics to the end of the book by far-ranging topics. This is similar yet beyond comparison, because the topics are numerous: there are 4452 numbered items, which is a huge amount of information.

How this differs from anything you may have used (for example the ordinary verse references you may have in the centre-column of your Bible or in footnotes at the bottom of the page) is that, as its name implies, it links the topics into a chain. Thus, when we start reading Genesis, for example, we will have a two-column text with wide margins (at least the large-print edition I use). In the margins there is information next to the corresponding verse. Thus, for example, Genesis 1:1 has a marginal note that reads "884 Creator (1), Ex. 20:11". Above the reference it reads "p.p. Jn. 1:3, He. 1:10". What does it mean, then? In such a small space the chain link has been given to you. The number "884" is called the pilot number, which, if you turn to the Chain Index (there are conveniently thumb-indexed), you may trace the whole chain (it runs in a numbered order, of course). The number thus corresponds to the chain number in the index. The number in parentheses refers to a topic that has been divided into further chains. The first subcategory for "Creator" is "Creator of the Natural Universe". The reference to Exodus 20:11 is the forward reference in the chain, and this is basically how you go through your Bible, following to the next passage. This does not work backwards. The "p.p. Jn. 1:3, he. 1:10" denotes, as you might have guessed, to parallel passages, which at this case are naturally those that deal with the Creation of heaven and earth. This is basically how you can study through the Word of God. Jesus' words are printed in red in this particular edition, including those in the Revelation (some of my Cambridges do not do this).

After the Book of Revelation there is the Index to the Topics, which can be searched alphabetically or in a numbered order: alphabetically if you wish to find a certain topic you have in mind and numerically if you want to find it based on your Bible reading--then you go to the chain directly by the pilot number. This would be sufficient for me, yet there are many other useful features. I will number them and underneath the whole entry give a short explanation as to what they include, if not obvious from the titles:

Features besides the Topical Index. (cf. p. 1325)

1) A Text Cyclopedia
2) Bible Readings
3) Outline Studies of the Bible
4) Studies of Prominent Bible Characters
5) Bible Harmonies and Illustrated Studies
6) Archaeological Supplement
7) Concordance
8) Colored Bible Atlas

The Text Cyclopedia (1) includes helpful, pragmatic tips for Bible study, the General Index (alphabetically indexed) and the Topical Index (numerically). The Special Bible Readings (2) are a continuation of the Topical Index, which gives "a wide range of subjects for general use in private devotions and public services" (p. 1571). Thus, a wonderful help in preparing devotionals or readings. Then there are the condensed outlines of every single book both in the Old and New Testaments, periods in history during the Biblical events and a more detailed analysis of each book (3). This is followed by Character studies (4) that includes maps and wondeful information on not only the people but what they did and influenced. With Noah, for example, there is information about the structure of the Ark; with Abraham a map of his journeys. Then what follows is a list of prominent figures in the Bible that translate their name into English and also give some information as to what their occupation was.

The Bible Harmonies and Illustrated Studies (5) is one of the most treasured segments of this volume. There are the Messianic prophesis of the Old Testament on the right-hand side column and then on the left the passage from the New Testament that proves its fullfillment. There are even more detailed maps (in black-and-white and handrawn, which in some cases make them very hard to read) and of course the Harmony of the Gospels (which shows you events from Jesus' life and then lists the gospels in which they were depicted. This is not a small Harmony but a very comprehensive one, which should be treasured.

We move to the Apostolic era and have information about the missionary journeys. Then we proceed to what is again some of the most interesting material in the volume: archeological information. Here in these supplements we have some wonderful knowledge about either places, cities or objects of antiquity. It has been compiled by G. Frederick Owen. Then there is the Jewish calendar, a glossary of oblique terms in the KJV, and a concordance.


CONCLUSION.

I believe in Christ. The Bible is God's Word for us, and we should not merely read it--we should study it with the Spirit of God as our teacher. The Thompson Chain Reference Bible gives a wonderful opportunity for that. I look forward to the countless hours during which I am able to refer to this particular Bible.

My intention has not been to exhaust you to the point of boredom but to offer a service to those who want this kind of knowledge--that is, why to choose this study Bible apart from any other? The thing is, I do not want to discourage you from buying other study Bibles. Yet rarely do we have something this comprehensive in a single volume.

Thus the dilemma of the consumer, who in this case is most likely a Christian wanting to devote more fully to the life in Christ, is as follows: are you willing to invest a rather large sum of money for a product that may not be of as high quality as they have used to be in the past, yet on the other hand which has so many riches for a Christian? As I have already stated, there is nothing wrong with the Bible itself except that Kirkbride has not adjusted their prices correctly to amount to the quality problems they are having. Thus you might want to buy one second-hand, which makes it more difficult to monitor the edition you are getting. The choice is yours, of course, yet although I have criticized the edition rather heavily I would still recommend buying this whole-heartedly, as it not only has the power to change your life (as any Bible has), it is a reference tool that you can use for your whole life--if the edition does not fail. Please also note that I have had no problems with the Bible just laying on my table and being ransacked for information, at least not yet. Of course, the right thing to argue is that a book should not wear out with such use. Let us hope it does not.

This is a hard decision that ultimately you have to make for yourself. The advice I can give you, however, is as follows: firstly, search around the Web and your friends and Christian bookshops and see whether you can find a Thompson that you can evaluate for yourself with your own hands. Even better, look for an edition that would be printed even in the late eighties. (This is what I thought I did) Secondly, evaluate the possible function you are going to use it for: if you are looking for a portable Bible, you should have hands-on experience with it and especially then follow my first advice. If you, like me, happily keep it on the desktop for the studious evenings and do not mind leaving it home for sermons and services (I, for one, have the already-mentioned reference edition of the Amplified Bible for that). Thirdly, be careful what you order and whence.

God bless,
Antti

Combining the The Thompson Chain-Reference Study Bible (TCRSB) with the most accurate translation of the Bible - NASB - was a stroke of genius! The TCRSB is probably the only study Bible that does not attempt to influence its readers by biased or slanted notes. You can study topics, characters, etc without having to read unnecessary notes. It takes you verse for verse, passage by passage through thousands of topics. This is a must have study Bible!

This was supposed to be a large print edition. Their definition of large certainly is different than mine. I would call it a small to tiny print. I would never have bought it if I had seen the print size.This is a very large bible with much blank space on both sides of the page which makes it much larger than it needs to be.