Book Review: Begin

Begin: a journey through scriptures for seekers and new believers, Compiled and edited by Ken Ham and Bodie Hodge
ISBN: 978-0-89051-630-0
Publisher: Master Books
Retail: $12.99

Begin presents foundational and relevant portions of Scripture from the ESV version of the Bible, along with a powerful mix of commentary, historical information, and helpful detail that gives you an easy overview of the structure and focus of the Bible. from the back cover.

I chose to review this book through New Leaf Publishing Group from Master Books. Originally, I had chosen it because I wanted to see if it would be a good answer to skeptics of the Bible. I didn’t really find that in this book but the authors don’t say that is their goal.

The book takes the ‘seeker’ through specific books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, John, Romans and Revelation. Before each section of Bible being put in the book is a commentary relevant to the section. At the end of each chapter of the book of the Bible that is presented in ESV version of the Bible are questions geared to make one think about what is being said in the Bible. Some of the questions are quite simple (yes/no) but most are open-ended, requiring reflection.

The one thing I appreciated the most about this book is the option to ‘journal’ through the study. On almost every page the margins are lined to allow for note taking. Also at the end of each chapter, where the questions are located, is ample room for writing down the answers. There are also footnotes for the scriptures in case a word or phrase may be confusing.

Some of the reasoning put forth to try to help explain an aspect, concept, situation, etc., in the Bible is not very clear in the author’s words and personally I would find it to confuse more than enlighten. I did find it a little amusing where Paul wrote “brothers” the footnote says, “Or brothers and sisters…” I find that to be a little silly but do understand that some new believers may have trouble with the prominence of males in the Bible {or lack of prominence of women}. That is just one instance and just a personal view of it.

Another issue I have with the book is the focus of creation and a young earth. But again, I do understand that it is not a commonly held belief and coming into Christianity may challenge previously held beliefs. I just get tired of hearing about it, I guess.

I use the KJV Bible but I think that ESV may be my next choice of Bible so this book wasn’t too difficult to adjust to in that respect. If you are adamant that one version of the Bible is the ‘correct’ one then this book may not sit so well with you. Also, if you are adverse to Ken Ham’s view points, you may not like this book either.

Overall, I found the book to be okay. It would be good to have beside your Bible while you read the chosen parts discussed in this book.

***Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from NLPG in exchange for an honest review. A positive review was not required. See Disclosure/Policies.***