Reader’s Guide to the Bible: Chronological Reading Plan by George H. Guthrie
Nonfiction. 223 Pages. 4 Stars
Synopsis:
The Reader’s Guide to the Bible: A Chronological Reading Plan by George Guthrie invites readers into the world of the Bible and offers guidance for walking day-by-day through its pages. May be used as a companion to any Bible translation but is designed to complement Reading God’s Story: A Chronological Daily Bible (HCSB®; B&H, 2011)
Features:
- Offers a daily Bible-reading plan that enables people to read through the Bible in one year
- Offers daily help coaching in how to read an assigned portion of Scripture each day
- Lays out the biblical story in 3 acts and 17 scenes to familiarize readers with the framework of the Bible’s story
- Daily commentary provides orientation for reading Scripture on a day-by-day basis
- Small-group discussion questions are provided at the end of each week for processing the week’s readings with others
- Three foldout timelines help readers keep track of their place in the biblical story
My Thoughts:
My church went through this reading plan and used this book to go through the Bible chronologically together as a congregation for 2020. It was an amazing experience!
And, I really liked this companion guide/reading plan a lot. It helped me stay on track and is clearly organized. The guide presents the Bible as one full story from start to finish, and so breaks it down into the Three Act Structure with scenes in each act. And the breaks and divisions between scenes and acts are notated between the reading plan and commentaries. There are also three timeline charts inside that you get to help fill out, which was cool.
Every week had an introduction and each day had a brief commentary explaining the context and things to watch for as you read. I liked the background information and context. It definitely helped. At the end of each day, there are either statements to reflect on or questions to consider. And at the end of each week are small group discussion questions. My Sunday School class often used the small group questions, since my church did this all together. Personally, I found the questions hit or miss. There were some thought-provoking ones and ones that challenged reflection and growth and then there were some that weren’t particularly so.
All in all, I would recommend the guide and reading plan. I found it very useful and am glad to have gone through it!