In the introduction to his book, The Bible in 100 pages: Seeing the Big Picture in God’s Great Story Phil Moore gives us some numbers on the Bible:

“It was written across 2,000 years by at least 44 different authors in 3 languages in 9 countries in 3 continents.” In addition it is made up of, “66 books, 1,189 chapters and 31,102 verses.” All of which can make the Bible, for many, a daunting and often impenetrable book to read.

Instead what is offered up here is a 100 page overview of the Bible, covering every period, tracing the arc of God’s redemptive plan from creation to new creation, revealing time and time again how it centres around the person of Jesus.

One minor niggle I had was with the phrase ‘Jesus is the true and better…’ not because I think there’s anything wrong with it especially if you happen to be called Tim Keller, but it has perhaps become too much of a signature phrase.

However, being influenced by Tim Keller is not a weakness in my book and well, Jesus is the true and better Adam, Moses, Joshua, David, Israel, …and such a neat little phrase is hard to beat!

The size of the book, the length of the chapters and the language (adapted as it is from a sermon series) all make this a very accessible book. It is ideal for the person who has some idea of the Bible, who maybe remembers some stories as a child and has been going to church for a short time and wants to take a first step into finding out more.

However it turns out it may not be so ideal for the person who knows absolutely nothing about Christianity. A friend gave the book to one of his colleagues at work to read and her comment was, there was just so much that was new, so many new names, new dates that it was hard to take it in and then it moved on. For her, the book was too fast paced and too condensed. Interesting.

If you enjoy reading you’ll get through this book in one or two sittings and that is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. It is obviously intended as a small first step that should lead to other steps, including of course, reading the Bible itself.

Yet it is almost too fast, over too quick to perhaps truly whet the appetite but the Bible in 165 pages is not such a good title.

Having said all that it is going onto the shelves as a book to readily give away to students, commuters and anyone else looking for a quick-fire, sure-footed and trustworthy introduction to the big picture of God’s great story.

*Full disclosure: I know Phil Moore personally but he offered me no financial incentives for reviewing his book. Hint, hint Phil.