To be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism

This book is just as the title states: an Anglican catechism. In similar history as other catechisms it is a question and answer book to teach Scriptural truths to both young and old. However, one noticeable difference is the attention to Christ.

Whereas other catechism focus on truths about God, His nature, and then our responses to these truths, this book focuses more on how these questions and answers should point us towards Christ: to both honor Him and be like Him. In this way, the “Christian” part of this book’s title takes on new meaning: Christian = little Christ or Christ-like. For this reason, I appreciate the layout of this catechism with respect to others.

*I received a review copy from Crossway in exchange for my honest assessment.

NIV Verse Mapping Series by Zondervan

The Bible Verse Mapping series is line of Bible products based on the study system developed by Kristy Cameron. The intent is to take a verse and explore the depths of this verse by looking at the words in the original languages, using other translations to see how it could also be rendered. From this foundation there are action steps like asking questions to better understand the verse, making practical applications and also reading the verse in context understand it fully.

What I appreciate about this line is that it does not rely on study notes from a team or Bible teacher for understanding. These can be beneficial. Rather, it allows the reader to be making the notes. This makes it more personal and can also act as a journal for reflection similar in the way the Book of Psalm is a journal-type book of David. It can be shared and passed on to bless others.

Box Cover

Interior

As to the Bible construction, I have reviewing the hardback for both the adult and the tween girls. Both are almost identical save for some artwork inside the tween girls. The NIV Comfort Print font is used for both with an 8pt font size. They are not red letter and are double column. There is a wide margin on the outside of each page for additional notes or sketchings.

The lay flat binding is a nice feature to allow for writing with ease. The paper is decent and thick. I would like to see it a little thicker especially since this is designed for writing.

Verse Mapping

The Bible journal is spiral bound is almost blank save for the mapping prompts. This is nice for those who have a Bible they like and do not want another Bible. The paper in the journal is much thicker which I found ideal.

This series would be a nice resource to consider for those who want to do more study on their own or who want to sketch their thoughts.

I received these for free as a member of the Bible Gateway Blogger Grid  #BibleGatewayPartner.

NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Hardcover)

The flagship Bible for Zondervan, the NIV Study Bible has been a Bible that has been used by multitudes of people for many years. With it easy to read font, lots of study aids, and the well known NIV translation, it is easy to see why this line of Bible has sold millions of copies.

This Bible is a double column layout with study notes in the gutter, references in between the columns, and study aids placed in good locations to give a better understanding of the text being read. There are book introductions that give authorship, date when the book was written (if known), themes of the book, book background, and an outline highlighting major stories/topics of the book.

The photos are full color and look amazing. I have had study Bibles with either black and white pictures or poorly done colored photos that looked abysmal. This Bible shows just what a quality photo can do for Biblical understanding.

The Bible has a 9pt font in the Comfort Print font and does have red lettering. The red letter is not pink in color but looks more dark cherry red to me. It weights about 4 pounds (1.8kg) which doesn’t lend itself to carry around in a backpack or briefcase. However, there is personal size Bible which is a bit lighter (3.3 pounds, 1.5kg).

Those who are looking to have great resources in a printed Bible and like the NIV translation should consider this Bible.

I received this review copy from BibleGateway. #BibleGatewayPartner.

Halley’s Study Bible (NIV)

The Halley’s Bible Handbook has been an excellent resource for many over the years. From college students to pastors, laymen to teachers, many have used Halley’s information to expound on the Bible, its peoples, and histories.

However, one of the drawbacks was having to carry around both the Bible and the handbook. No longer. With the introduction of the Halley’s Study Bible, the Bible and Halley’s notes are together in one volume.

Having over 750 articles, charts, and maps plus over 6,000 study notes and 10,000 references in its concordance, the Halley Study Bible has combined the best of Halley’s notes in easy to find locations within a Bible.

The Bible itself (hardback edition) is not heavy compared to some study Bibles and the paper is light but not too light to allow much bleeding. The font is the comfort print and it easy to read coming in a 9pt.

It has a double column setting with the notes not being in distracting places for most of the block. It does have red letter with the red color having a good hue of red and not pink looking as others. There is one crimson bookmark but it would have been nice to have a second bookmark with this Bible. All-in-all a nice Bible with great study aids which would work well for those wanting some content to allow betting understanding of the Bible and its times.

*I received this free review copy from BibleGateway and the review content is my own. #BibleGatewayPartner

BibleGateway Bible Audio App

This app is quite nice in that it reads the verses one by one rather than have several verses on the screen. It comes in several different versions of Bible text and some of them are even dramatized. I really enjoyed listening for my morning devotions.

However, the app requires online access unless you want to pay to upgrade for download access. That is a bit of downer as others apps allow them for free but these apps can be ad heavy where the BibleGateway one is not. So, pro and cons for both.

The Artisan Collection Bible (NRSV)

This Bible is designed for those who want to take notes or draw in the margins while study Scripture. The margins are lined for easy note taking but this does not sacrifice font size as the font size is 9pt.

My first observation of this Bible is that it is beautiful to behold. It has gold gilt and two satin ribbons. The hardcover seems sturdy and the block is sewn to add strength and durability for use.

An item that bothers me is the ghosting that occurs. It is quite noticeable which surprises me for a note-taking Bible. I would think that thicker paper would be used to reduce ink bleed. Sadly, this seems to not be the case. (see photo below)

Overall this is a nice Bible for note-taking but needs some improvements to set it above a marginal Bible.

Star rating: 3 out of 5

*I received a review copy from Bible Gateway Blogger Grid in exchange for my honest review.

 

 

Prayer by A.W. Tozer

This book is a compilation of various works on prayer by A.W. Tozer. While not a how-to book, it has great words on why one must pray, the value of prayer, and the nature of prayer to name a few.

This would be a great devotional for those who want to strengthen their pray life or as a nice gift to a new believer who wants to understand prayer.

*I received this review copy in exchange for my honest review.

KJV Hebrew-Greek Keyword Study Bible in Brown Goatskin

This Study Bible is an amazing resource that allows the reader to have a better understanding of the Hebrew and Greek words that underly the words in the KJV Bible. By doing this, those who are studying the Scriptures could come to find a greater depth of understanding as words come to have greater understanding in context.

As to the Bible construction, it is well made with quality goatskin that is smoother and not grainy as some. It is a paste-down liner and is not perimeter stitched. It does have gold gilt on the pages and the pages are typical Bible paper with some noticeable ghosting. It has two ribbon bookmarks as well as a laminated bookmark with keyword helps.

The type is nice and black and I did not notice any faintness of font. It is a red letter but the red is closer to a pink-red vs. a tomato-red. The keywords are numbered with superscripting that is not too bad in most sections of the text but in heavy notated text it can be a bit distracting.

The aids are where this Bible stands out as it has Strongs in the back with the added insights of the keywords to aid the reader in their studies. There is also a concordance that is quite helpful in finding most words but it is not exhaustive. The maps are good but not impressive like some but this is not the focal point of this Bible.

I highly recommend this Bible and cannot sing it praises enough.

*I received a review copy of this Bible and was not influenced to write a positive or negative review.

The Jesus Bible: Artist Edition (ESV)

This Bible takes the the big story (meta-narrative) of the Bible and shows how Christ is woven throughout the stories of Scriptures. Each book of the Bible has an introduction and inside the text of each book are notes and articles to help the reader see Christ in all of Scripture.

This Bible is not new but this edition is. I reviewed the ESV but there is an NIV edition as well. Both have the artist edition cover which I did not find all that great. The leather-like binding is decent and the paper is good.

The text is in an easy-to-read font and the notes are not in a distracting place. The book introductions have enough information for a good ready but are not extensive for deep study. I will say that the articles are well written and are quite informative.

 

 

*I received a review copy from Bible Gateway Blogger in exchange for my honest review.

An Introduction to the Greek New Testament by Dr. Kirk Jongkind

This book explains the intent behind the production of the Tyndale House Greek New Testament as well as answering questions about how they went about creating the Greek text. They are also questions related to textual criticism and how certain text families were treated in the creation of the Tyndale House NT.

For those who have the Tyndale House NT this is a companion resource to help understand the methods used to produce the Greek NT. For those who do not have it, it is a nice resource to help those understand a bit more of textual criticism in relation to the Bible.

*I received a review copy of this title in exchange for my honest assessment.