The Chronological Study Bible: New King James Version Author: Thomas Nelson | Language: English | ISBN:
0718020685 | Format: PDF
The Chronological Study Bible: New King James Version Description
- Hardcover: 1728 pages
- Publisher: Thomas Nelson (October 14, 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0718020685
- ISBN-13: 978-0718020682
- Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.8 x 1.8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
The new Thomas Nelson Chronological Study Bible is more than I expected. Swirling around the publishing date of this new Study Bible was much controversy. Many people were skeptical about it and I admit so was I. However, if you purchase this Bible, I think your skepticism will subside (mine has).
I've been pouring myself into this Bible, wandering how long it would take me to review it. However, I can't approach this as if it were a normal fiction or non-fiction book. For me to read every page of this Bible, and then comment on it would take months. I have though, thoroughly looked at, worked with and studied this Bible. In fact I was up past midnight last night pouring into it! Below is a synoptic view of this Bible, starting with what it is.
Before cracking this Bible open, I expected it to be a Bible set up in the Chronological Authorship of the Scriptures. If this were the case, Job most likely would have been first, it being the first of the Biblical books written. However, the Chronological order is of the Biblical Narrative, not of the authorship. It also follows the narrative History of the entire world, placing the Biblical events into a time line, which we can (due to History class) better place in our minds when it happened. The Bible is divided into Nine Epochs (or ages of the Earth). The Epochs Being: Epoch 1: Creation- 2000 B.C.; Epoch 2: 2000-1500 B.C.; Epoch 3: 1500-1200 B.C.; Epoch 4: 1200-930 B.C.; Epoch 5: 930-586 B.C.; Epoch 6: 586-332 B.C.; Epoch 7: 332-37 B.C.; Epoch 8: 37 B.C.- A.D. 30; Epoch 9: A.D. 30-100.
Within these eras, the Chronological Narrative of the Earth and the Bible is placed. Instead of reading the Scriptures as separate books, this places the entire Bible on one Narrative time line.
The Chronological Study Bible is a new edition of the New King James Version, with the passages arranged in chronological order.
The dust jacket states that it is the "first study Bible" to have the passages arranged in chronological order; though this is technically true, "study" is the operative word, as there have been other chronological Bibles before. My family has had Harvest House's Narrated Bible for years; its author, F. LaGard Smith, arranged the New International Version text in chronological order and added some extensive (often over one page long) historical background.
That said, the Chronological Study Bible is a step above any other chronological Bible I've seen. Between every transition, there is a note explaining the historical context. Virtually every page either has an extensive commentary box (which, in a rather unusual move for study Bibles, is placed at the top of the page instead of the bottom), or smaller in-column boxes with notes on one of fifteen different categories. Categories covered range from Culture and Customs to Medicine, Science, and Technology.
One of the sticky issues that comes up in the arranging of a chronological Bible is whether or not to accept Genesis' account of the Creation of the world at face value. This Bible largely sidesteps the question, referring to Creation as "undatable" and putting the first eleven chapters of Genesis in a section of their own headlined "Creation--2000 B.C." However, the commentary works from Evolutionary dating assumptions, making references to an Old Stone Age before 10,000 B.C. and stating in a highlighted box, "Scholars have placed the first human settlements as early as 7,000 to 8,000 years before Christ.
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