Understanding the Bible in 90 Minutes --- NEW!

 
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I would like to introduce you to my latest little book, Understanding the Bible in 90 Minutes (79 pp in paperback, also available in Kindle).

Would you like to learn what the Bible is all about, but find the book itself a little daunting, way too long, or you have no idea where to start? Need a quick introduction for a Bible course or a religion course? Then Understanding the Bible in 90 Minutes is written just for you. This book is designed to explain the basics of the Bible, what each of its parts contains, how they fit together as a whole, and what it all means.

Whether you are looking from the outside-in, wanting to learn what the key text of the Christian faith is all about, or whether you are on the inside wanting to learn the basics of what the Bible says and means, this book will serve your needs perfectly. It will equally serve interested people of all faith backgrounds, no faith, or new converts. It can also work for basic Sunday Schools and other Christian educational settings.

For Christians, “the Bible” is “the Book.” It is the book of all books, the most important book there is. Most who read it seriously find it at once challenging and comforting, transcendent and accessible, imposing and intimate, frightening and safe, demanding and giving, life-changing and life-reaffirming. You will certainly not regret the time you devote to learn­ing about it. This book will help you understand the overall picture of the whole Bible, in its parts and as a whole, as efficiently as possible. The aver­age reader should be able to read it all in only about 90 minutes.

Understanding the Bible in 90 Minutes is perfect for all introductory needs and a few others. It can be used for:

  • Homeschool Bible courses

  • Sunday schools (in fact, I may actually do an online, 12-lesson Sunday school course on it myself!)

  • Family devotions

  • World religions courses (to cover the Bible part)

  • Bible colleges

  • Christian schools

  • Evangelism and outreach

  • Earnest inquirers into Christianity / the Bible

  • Anyone seeking to understand the whole Bible in a brief space of time!

Understanding the Bible in 90 Minutes covers every major section of the Bible, and comments directly on many of the individual books of the Bible. It breaks down the following classic sections:

  • The books of Moses

  • The Historical books

  • The Wisdom books

  • The Prophets

  • The Gospels and Acts

  • The Letters / Epistles

  • The Revelation

Better yet, the book explains themes, doctrines, and imagery that repeat through Scripture, tying the 66 books together as a coherent single book and message. It is for good reason, after all, that the Bible begins with a creation, a garden, a tree of life, rivers of water, and a marriage, and then ends with a new creation, a tree of life, a river of living water, and a divine marriage! In this book, you will learn why, and you will learn a lot about the grand saga that takes place in between.

The lessons not only include a basic understanding of all the parts of the Bible, but also basic doctrines such as the creation humanity, the fall of humanity and its effects on individuals and society, the promise of a Redeemer, the place of the law, the nature of the Kingdom of God, the work of Christ, the nature of the Body of Christ, the work before us as a church, and bit of “end times” discussion, and more.

For those interested in evangelism, outreach, or even the discipling of your children, Understanding the Bible in 90 Minutes includes a clear gospel presentation derived verbatim from the gospels and Paul’s letters (particularly Romans)—yet without being a “beat you over the head” “preachy” tract. Rather, it puts the gospel presentation naturally, organically in the context of the overall message of the whole Bible and of the nature of the Kingdom of God in Jesus Christ. It all makes perfect sense!

People from other faith backgrounds can profit from this quick read as well. Atheists can see the organic nature of the Bible’s message in a coherent, literate, rational, level-headed message. Muslims can appreciate the unique, one-and-only nature of Christ as presented from the earliest biblical promise to Adam and Eve, through Abraham, and ending once-for-all at the cross-resurrection, and end of the apostolic era. Jews as well can see how the Christian worldview in Christ develops organically from the law, prophets, and other writings of the Tanakh, and perhaps gain a new perspective from their fulfillment in the Gospels and especially Revelation. Secular and liberal readers will be able to appreciate that, while written from a conservative view, the presentation is candid and sensitive to the fact that some Christians view different parts of the Bible and its doctrines differently.

This little book contains all of this and much more, all in the space of only about 80 pages (paperback), and it can be read in only about 90 minutes.

About me and this book:

I have had this project in mind for a long time, especially for when it came time to introduce my own children to the overall nature and content of the Bible. I waited a little longer to write it, but I had to do so! I simply could not find anything like it that suited all my expectations. Other books that came close to the content were too long for this purpose. Others that were shorter reads were too superficial. So, I wrote it myself.

Ironically, I think I just so happen to be unqiuely qualified to write such a book. I am a conservative theologian, trained in a conser­vative seminary, but I have also studied widely in liberal and other traditions. I have been active in Christian ministry, scholarship, and biblical interpretation for over twenty years, actively writing and pub­lishing for over a decade. I earned a Master of Divinity degree from Reformed Episcopal Seminary in 2007 and a Ph.D. in Dogmatics and Christian Ethics from Pretoria University (South Africa) in 2012. I have authored or edited over twenty books, some of them directly on biblical interpretation.

I also have experience with many denominational backgrounds: Lutheran, Pentecostal, Charismatic, non-denominational, Baptist, Reformed, Presbyterian, Church of Christ, Reformed Episcopal, Anglican, and a few others. I have also preached and taught at con­ferences and in churches on three continents. I would like to think I have a developed a broad understanding of how many traditions of Christians think and feel regarding the Bible. I hope that I have learned a sensitivity to them both to understand them well and to explain them fairly. While some of my conclusions may not concur with the mainstream of some of these groups, I like to think that I represent them all fairly at the same time I offer a few of my own insights gleaned along the way.

I wrote this book mainly because I saw the need for a basic and brief introduction to the Bible, and I could not find one that satisfied me. In fact, I could hardly find a brief overview of the whole Bible like that at all. There are many people, however, who may be curious as to what the Bible is all about—whether nonbelievers, those from other religious backgrounds, students of all sorts, or beginning Christians, and more—for whom tackling the whole Bible up front may seem like a daunting task. I hope to have succeeded in this goal: to provide a short, simple overview of the Bible, in its parts and as a whole coherent message, that can be read in about 90 minutes.

Get your copy of Understanding the Bible in 90 Minutes today, in paperback or Kindle.

Joel McDurmon