Book review: The Bible for Dummies

Posted on Wednesday, November 23, 2011 in Book Reviews | 0 comments

by Jeffrey Geoghegan, PhD & Michael Homan, PhD

★★★

I’m reading another book now that highlights the sad state of America’s Bible illiteracy. Even as we continue to sell more Bibles and religious titles every year, the Bible is actually being read less and less. I doubt if anyone who regularly reads my blog falls into this category, but a number of my friends do, and I’d like to find an easy introduction to the stories in the Bible. What better choice than a Dummies book, right?

I’m a huge fan of the Dummies series! Since they introduced their trademark fun and attractive layouts for computer-related topics years ago, I’ve accumulated quite a collection. I even included a Dummies book in the “suggested reading” appendix of my book about Revelation! Scholarly suicide, you think? Fact is, I find most of them well-researched and generally unbiased.

Turns out this one was a bit of a disappointment. The reading is a bit dry, there’s too much discussion of general topics rather than Bible stories, too much emphasis on introducing every book in the Bible instead of just the basics, and too much of a religious bent. The authors feel obligated to explain the stories, adding meaning, which is not only unnecessary but I often found myself disagreeing with their interpretations. So this one didn’t do it for me, and I’m still looking.

Anybody have any suggestions?