THE BIG STORY
Revealing God's Covenant Plan for Everyone
By Philip Greenslade. CWR. 875 pages. £19.99
ISBN 978 1 853 455 629
A revised edition of an earlier book published by CWR entitled Cover to Cover God's Story: Through the Bible Promise by Promise, this book aims to provide a year's Bible reading programme and, at the same time, a guided tour of the Bible's overall story.
The basic pattern is a brief introduction, followed by a Bible reading (in full), concluding with a thought or prayer or question. Those familiar with the writing of Selwyn Hughes will find his devotional thoughts alongside Philip Greenslade's commentary.
The intentions behind the book are excellent, but I found that considering it raises a number of questions. First, it uses four different Bible versions in the course of the daily readings. Why do this? Is it not important that Christians become accustomed to handling their own copy of the Bible, and knowing their way around it? Second, a book of 875 pages is not a convenient aid to daily Bible reading — it weighs 2lbs. Third, might we not do better to recommend simply reading the Scriptures systematically, in dependence upon the Spirit's help? One of the best things I did was changing from Bible reading notes to using Robert Murray M'Cheyne’s Bible Reading Plan, whether over a one or two-year pattern.
