Unlock the treasures of God’s Word in just fifteen minutes a day with this classic, simple-to-use guide to Scripture.
If you’ve ever confused the ark of the covenant with the ark of Noah, or Jericho with Jeroboam, Max Anders’ classic book, 30 Days to Understanding the Bible, is for you. In just fifteen minutes a day, you’ll learn the Bible’s key people, events, and doctrines to get more out of … events, and doctrines to get more out of God’s Word. This simple-to-use, straightforward guide has been recommended by Bible teachers and pastors for thirty years, and now it’s available in an expanded thirtieth anniversary edition—with the most requested topics from the original edition restored and updated for today’s readers.
Features include:
- The “Arc of Bible History” to help you visualize the Bible’s overarching themes
- The “Story of the Bible” summarizing Genesis through Revelation in just a few pages
- The core beliefs of the Christian faith, focusing on the teachings that have united Christians for the last 2,000 years
- 13-week plan that provides teacher’s every creative and effective tool for teaching the Bible in 30 days
- Fan-favorite bonus content, previously removed, now restored from the original edition
more
Very well organized!
30 Days to Understanding the Bible by Max Anders is celebrating its 30th anniversary of publication and has recently been re-released. This book was designed to unlock the scriptures in 15 minutes a day. The author is the creator and general editor of the 32-volume Holman Bible Commentary series.
As a theology student for the last 11 years, I found that this book was very overwhelming and more confusing than helpful to a new believer. I actually had to dissuade a friend from purchasing this book because it was so much more than she was really looking for and entirely too scholarly.
In my opinion, this would be a great book for a student that was looking for more of an educational tool about the Bible rather than someone who was looking for an understanding of Christianity. 30 Days to Understanding the Bible is appropriately titled however I’m not sure that the subtitle of “unlock the scriptures in 15 minutes a day” is accurate.
The books of the Bible are described in their sections that might make it easier to digest – history, poetry, prophets, etc. This is a book that is more of a book/workbook/review where you are learning and being tested on what you’ve read. The book needs to be read verbatim so that you are able to complete the workbook aspect of the text. It doesn’t give the corresponding scriptures for the text.
Ultimately, the scriptures are described in a broad overview but they aren’t really unlocked for their purpose. 30 Days to Understanding the Bible is more of a commentary workbook.
FANTASTIC RESOURCE TOOL!
30 Days to Understanding the Bible (30th Anniversary Expanded Edition) by Max Anders lives up to its promise of unlocking the Scriptures in 15 minutes a day. I’ve been a Christian for 51 years, a graduate of a Theological Seminary and have taught some type of Bible Study or Sunday School for 40+ years and I wish I had been introduced to this marvelous book 30 years ago when it was first written! I’m thankful I was able to discover it now so I can share it with everyone I know! It is the best resource I’ve found to be an easy to use, straightforward guide to understanding the Scripture. As you do the 15 minute readings each day, there is always a review involving a way to make sure you don’t forget what you’ve learned. He also teaches you the locations of where events took place. You learn to plot them as you learn about them. He gives great illustrations such as comparing a map of the Old Testament to a Map of Texas. Some of the features included are The Arc of Bible History which help you visualize the Bible’s overarching themes. That’s one of my personal favorite things of all! Also included is The Story of the Bible which summarizes Genesis through Revelations in just a few pages and covers the core beliefs of the Christian faith. There is a 13 week Teaching Plan included and Bonus Content. If you go to 30DaystoUnderstandingtheBible.com you will find all manner of extra resources to help you even more! I was provided an ARC of this book by Thomas Nelson Publisher. The opinions expressed here are completely my own and without influence.
30 Days to Understanding the Bible, by Max Anders, is the 30th-anniversary reprint of a wonderful resource for a fairly quick and yet insightful overview of the Bible. The book is laid out into 30 chapters within 3 sections, intending that each chapter, in a workbook-like format, is a daily read, with a self-check quiz at the end to reinforce the given knowledge. I definitely like the self-check quizzes as one learns better using a number of senses so not just reading but writing out answers helps me to learn the information. Embedded in the text are tables, timelines, charts, and maps that help clarify the information. The third section of chapters cover 10 great doctrines of the Bible and speak to things such as the Holy Spirit, Christ, Angels, Sin, and Salvation, to name a few. These are presented from a conservative point of view, are scripture based and with down-to-earth examples. Such as his reference to sin– Anders comments we humans are a bit like pigs! “The smell of sin doesn’t seem so bad to us. We don’t even notice it a lot. But to God, it smells like a thousand pigs were kept in His living room for the winter.” Or another example of helping to clarify: “Look at the state of Texas on a map and imagine the city of Dallas beginning to move on the map, and you get an idea of the magnitude of the exodus.” There are bonus chapters at the end of the book that cover several other related subjects such as the Parables, the Miracles and the Resurrection of Jesus as well as a comparison of the four gospels and the different literary forms in the Bible. Included also is a Teaching Plan for those individuals who would choose to use the book in a Bible study setting or as a resource for mentoring new believers. The book is concise and yet is full of geographical, historical and character related information and puts the Bible into a framework that new believers and even those well-versed in the Bible, can understand the full overview of God’s Word and Christian theology. This is a book I will definitely be recommending when people ask me about a resource to learn about the Bible.
I received an advance copy of the book from the publisher and was not required to write a review. The opinions are my own.
This book is packed with with great information and presented in a readable, enjoyable, and understandable way. Each day’s reading is easily done within 15 minutes. This would be a great book for a Bible study class that wants to a good overview of the Bible. It can very easily be done by any individual that desires to understand the structure of the Bible. Both new believers and more mature believers will benefit from the use of this book. I’m glad to have it on my bookshelf to refer back to as needed.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.