A Book You'll Actually Read On... by Mark Driscoll

Title: A Book You'll Actually Read...
On the Old Testament
On the New Testament
On Who Is God?
On Church Leadership

Pages: 94 pages (for most of them).

How it was obtained: Half price at ETS conference!

Time spent on the "to read" shelf: None.

Days spent reading it: 2 hours each.

Why I read it: A friend of mine reviewed these books on his blog almost a year ago now. He highly recommended them, and I decided I wanted to check them out for myself. Glad I did.

Brief review: I'll review the series in general with a few comments on particular books when appropriate.

First off: This series is fantastic. Buy it. Right now. Stop reading my post, pop onto Amazon and give yourself one of the best introductory series on the OT, NT, God, and Church Leadership that is available. I've read a ton of theology books, and this series is one of the best I have ever read. It is clear, concise, easy to read, drenched in Scripture (usually in the footnotes, so it doesn't get in the way of reading a paragraph), and the content is well thought out. And it does it all in 100 pages a book (and the pages are like 1/2 size, but the type is small).

In about 100 (little) pages, Driscoll hammers out the essentials of each of the topics covered in a particular book. The OT and NT books are centered around 9 questions usually asked about the Bible, and then a basic overview of the books in the Bible. The book on who is God covers the areas of knowledge about God and how we should relate to God. The book on church leadership talks about why churches need leadership and what the Biblical qualifications for those positions is.

Driscoll is not afraid of the tough topics. His book on Church Leadership directly addresses the issue of women in ministry. (He does not believe women should be elder/pastors). His treatment is fair, well thought out, and Biblically centered. I admit I agreed with him going in, but I think Driscoll presents a very credible argument in the chapter about a very difficult topic. And he does it in about 20 pages.

Driscoll himself is an interesting guy, and has drawn a lot of fire from both conservative and liberal camps because of his views. However, this series is well thought out, well grounded, and a wonderful introduction to the world of the Bible and theology. I HIGHLY recommend. I'm not kidding, you should buy this series now. Each book is about $10, and at Amazon, they qualify for the 4-for-3 deal AND super-shipping savings. Basically you can get all 4 books for $30 flat. Not a bad deal. You will not find a more concise, accurate, easy to read and understand introduction anywhere. A good primer for new Christians, old Christians, people interested in the Bible, people interested in God, people interested in religion, basically anyone. That means you.

Oh, and you can check out the website for the books (if you're still not convinced) at http://www.relit.org/abyar/

Stars: 5 out of 5

Final Word: Read!