Reviewed by:  Connor Salter, Professional Writing student at Taylor University

Introduction

Title: Brief Insights on Mastering the Bible

Author: Michael S. Heiser

Publisher: Zondervan

Publication Date: 2018

Format: Paperback

Length: 200 pages

OVERVIEW

With so many books on how to understand the Bible, where do readers start? Michael S. Heiser asnwers that problem with his book Brief Insights on Mastering the Bible. Like the other books in his 60 Second Scholar series (Brief Insights on Mastering Bible Doctrine, Brief Insights on Mastering Bible Study), Heiser covers important topics in short, easy-to-read chapters. In this book, he discusses major questions about the Bible’s composition (such as what divine inspiration means) and the major sections of the Bible (such as the Epistles and the Book of Acts). Within each section, he gives readers important insights in simple language.

Covering a topic in a brief way means that sometimes writers can’t cover topics as much as readers may like. In Heiser’s case, that means sometimes he make an important point but doesn’t deal with questions that result from that. For example, he devotes one chapter to explaining that certain books of the Bible were edited, and how that helps readers understand tone changes in books. However, that raises a big question about what divine inspiration really means, which Heiser doesn’t fully answer. Fortunately, these sort of problems only come up occasionally, and Heiser always emphasizes readers can trust the Bible. Overall then, this book gives readers good reasons to understand the Bible better and strengthen their faith.

ASSESSMENT

Rating (1 to 5)

3 out of 5 stars

Suggested Audience

People interested in understanding specific books of the Bible better.

Christian Impact

This book will help people understand many misconceptions they have about Scripture and give them a good basis for moving on to deeper study.

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