Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Bible Review

NIV Essentials Study Bible

The NIV Essentials Study Bible is a study bible that brings together content from 6 other study bibles, including the NIV Study Bible, the Student Bible, and the Archaeological Study Bible.  The spectrum of commentary includes both academic and devotional content.  It includes a variety of charts, maps and various visual aids.  Though this bible includes so much diverse content in addition to the NIV text of the bible itself, it is of comparable size and heft to that of other study bibles.

I don't like this bible at all.  Good study bible content should all be united in purpose so as not to distract or confuse the readers.  Since this bible brings together content from so many different sources, all having various purposes, it is a bit convoluted.  Moreover, in order to cram so much content into one volume, it must be extremely selective in the content from each study bible that makes it into this one.  Thus, it leaves us with a very diluted compilation of study material.  I don't think the benefit of having a helpful study tool in one volume outweighs the cost of leaving out so much content and thus leaving readers with a sparse and confusing study bible.

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