by Chris Bruno. Published by Crossway (Wheaton, IL) 2017.
This is a wonderful book for learning how the Bible is bound together as a single dramatic story by recurring important themes. Bruno does a great job of extracting 16 themes (16 Words) and displaying each one as it is introduced in the story and then developed throughout the biblical narrative, finally culminating in the person and the work of Jesus, the promised Messiah.
Bruno gives us a great example of the richness of good “biblical theology.” As he says himself, “The goal of biblical theology is to trace the progressive development of a theme or cluster of themes in the Bible” (Kindle Locations 112-113). He does a very good job of avoiding the extremes of allegorizing or being a wooden literalist. Bruno follows a sound path of letting the biblical authors themselves flesh out the recurring themes.
The themes are well selected. Each subject is arranged as part of the foundation, the framework, or the superstructure of the overall story. This organization really aids the reader’s comprehension.
Bruno does a masterful job of making each theme easy to understand, and I enjoyed his casual style. He writes for people in the pew, to give them a grasp of the unity of the Bible and the central elements of its story. This is a well-conceived and well-written book that will be useful for students and pastors, as well.
The author provides suggestions for further study, and the book includes subject and scripture indexes, which will prove useful to many readers.
I would not hesitate to highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand the story of the Bible.
Thank you to Crossway for providing a complimentary copy of this book through the Blog Review Program.