One must always be careful when using words like "Whole" and "Everything" when titling or describing any kind of guidebook, especially when it covers something as deep and immense as the Bible. That said, Dr. Marty does a wonderful job at walking us through the whole story of the Bible in this book. I really did enjoy reading through this book to see how he hits on the highlights of the Bible and gives explanation to what's going on throughout the Bible.
One of the things that can be hard to wrap our minds around when reading through the Bible is that things aren't quite in chronological order. The key thing Dr. Marty accomplishes in this book is laying out the story of scripture in a linear fashion. As his main concern is moving through the whole story he does, as noted in the introduction, skip over most of the non-narrative sections of the Bible. This includes much of the wisdom literature and prophets of the Old Testament and the Epistles of the New Testament. Some may think this goes against the assertion that he is telling the whole story of the Bible but it really does fit with how he is trying to give us a big picture
This is a newly released illustrated edition, and though I believe the text of this book certainly stands on its own, the charts, pictures and maps included with the text give great visuals that add to the text. Each chapter also includes a list of main characters and settings which help one to know the who and the where. Finally each chapter ends with a summery.
Overall, I think this is a great book to help one get an idea of the big picture. I think the best way I can describe it is as a narrator to the story of the Bible being told in a linear fashion. It would make a great text for an overview of the Bible class or for personal study. As mentioned already, this book does pass over most of the non-narrative material so it would not be appropriate as a Biblical survey text. If you are wanting to know how the events of the Bible unfolded in order, along with what the historical context of the events, this is certainly the book to read.
I did receive a copy of this book from Baker Books in exchange for an honest review.
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