Last year I read the Bible with a group of wonderful people who helped me stay on track. Together we talked about our favorite and least favorite sections of reading. It required dedication and a commitment to reading every day for 365 days.
This year I read, The Holy Bible: Abridged Beyond the Point of Usefulness by Zach Weinersmith. This 67 page (small) book is a quick read.
Now, you might wonder why there are 67 pages and only 66 books in the Bible? The answer is that Revelation gets two pages.
So now you are wondering how the author condenses each book of the Bible to so few words? Here is one example. “Amos becomes like the 14,000th prophet to note that Israel is making God mad and when you make God mad things go bad” (30). Or something from the New Testament. Mark-“Basically, Matthew’s Gospel, but with less boring, more ACTION, and your choice of two endings!” (41). That one reminds me of an informercial.
This book was a Christmas present from a friend and it has brought me hours of joy as I read and reread it. And then, I read it to other people. I was thinking about how this little book might be helpful in the life of faith. I think he has a really great idea here. What if for your next Bible study, everyone tried to summarize a book of the Bible in one page, one paragraph, one sentence. What is the essence of each book? Or if you are studying a book of the Bible, compare what this book says to what you think is the main point. Is this author correct? How would you rewrite or change his words?
So, if you need a new Bible, this might be the one for you. Only if you are willing to keep an actual Bible next to it for reading along this abridged one. Enjoy!
Thank you for this post. I am struggling with the topic and format for a Lenten Bible Study. I will think about this. Yes, I know Lent is getting pretty close!
Dale,
Lent is right around the corner. It always seems to surprise me too. I hope inspiration comes soon.
Susannah