I learned a lot by reading Walking with God, ideas that had never crossed my mind and which I've never been taught--but I'll admit I haven't read a lot about the Old Testament, so I couldn't say whether the points they make are those commonly made in books about the Old Testament, or relatively unique perspectives on things. I have no way to judge the orthodoxy of the material except to say that Archbishop Chaput of Denver granted the book an Imprimatur.
As Catholics we hear large parts of the Old Testament read at mass; however, I think we miss the overall perspective if we don't do outside reading/study. Walking with God is a far less intimidating read than the entire Bible, and I think it gives a good overview of the story, the main points, of the whole Bible. Grade: A
I'd like to thank The Catholic Company for providing a complimentary review copy. The Catholic Company is also a great source for First Communion Gifts and Baptism Gifts.
Oooh, this sounds exciting! Christian and I keep floundering in our attempts to study Scripture together. He always gets disgusted by how esoteric things get; he wants something practical and down to earth. What do you think? Does this fit that bill?
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good intro to the OT for starters. Thanks for the review and glad you enjoyed it. One that I reviewed this year that I totally was inspired by was Cheryl Dickow's "Our Jewish Roots" Great book about the OT women and their roles in Salvation History.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I wrote a post about the Mass being capitalized and treated as a proper noun when referring to our celebration.
Again, thanks for the share!
I'll have to check this out because I've been trying to study the bible more but sometimes it's hard to know where to start or how stories relate to each other.
ReplyDeleteok, now I have to buy a copy...darn. lol
ReplyDeleteI think if Jeff Cavins was one of the co-writers and Archbishop Chaput put his imprinatur on it..well, I am sold on it's orthodoxy.
Looks like a great resource for studying the OT. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteI don't think you could go wrong with Jeff Cavin's name on the book. He's a super straight arrow, not to mention Archbishop Chaput's imprimatur. Thank you for your review comments; the book has quite a scope.
ReplyDeleteI second Joann's comment. Cavins makes scripture accessible and RAnn, you're right about Catholics needing to do outside study and reading. Thanks for this review.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting about this book! I'm always on the look out for more good books on theology, especially one that my older kids could read, too, and this sounds like it would be great for them!
ReplyDeleteIs this book good for someone who does not have in depth knowledge of OT?
ReplyDeleteHow about someone who is not Catholic?
If you can't recommend this book, is there another book you could recommend for learning more about the OT?
Great review...here from Cym's.
Beachbrights, I think this book is a great into to the OT; it tells the stories (at least the main ones) and while it mentions the books that give census figures etc., it tells why they are there and then moves on. As far as non-Catholics go, I think you'd be fine--I have no idea whether you'd agree with some of the points they make, but at least in the OT part, I can't remember anything that is particularly given as an explanation of Catholic doctrine--except in explaining the deutrocannonical books.
ReplyDeleteKathleen, as far as being practical, what do you mean? He doesn't say "the book of ____ says this, which means that you should do ____"? , nor does the book ask you to reflect on how the story could be applied to your life. However, this book is about 300 pages long, it is not an in-depth study analyzing every chapter of the Bible.