Book Review: God's Story in 66 Verses

God's Story in 66 Verses (2015) by Stan Guthrie is a useful little book. When I first read the subtitle, "understanding the entire Bible by focusing on just one verse in each book", it seemed like an ambitious, or perhaps misguided goal. How could someone take a book as expansive as Genesis and boil it down to a single verse? Thankfully, at the outset Guthrie acknowledges this potential hiccup.  Rather, he identifies a verse that seems to capture the main theme and then expands on the general themes from there. 

In essence, 66 Verses is a great Bible primer. Each book of the Bible is given a 3-4 page overview. Beyond that, there is little supplementary material (apart from a 3 page introduction), which is not unwelcome. The way that Guthrie presents each book allows one to follow the biblical narrative of God pursuing sinners through all 66 books.

I can envision this as a great introduction to the Bible for those who may be unfamiliar. However, I think it has utility beyond beginners. The book also has relevance to those who have too long focused on scriptural trees while missing the divine forest.

I received a free copy of this book from Thomas Nelson publishers and Book Look Bloggers book review in exchange for my review. I was not required to submit a positive review; the impressions here are my own.