This fall, I am reading the entire Bible using Immerse: The Reading Bible, a six-volume paperback series using the New Living Translation. My review of Immerse is below. In this review, however, I will make a few brief comment on Prophets, which is the fourth volume in the series.
The most notable feature of Prophets is the arrangement of the writing prophets into rough chronological order instead of canonical order. This chronological order consists of four historical periods: (1) before the fall of Israel—Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah; (2) after the fall of Israel but before the fall of Judah—Zephaniah, Nahum, and Habakkuk; (3) around the time of the destruction of Jerusalem—Jeremiah, Obadiah, Ezekiel; and (4) after the exiles began returning from Babylon—Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Joel, and Jonah.
The Introduction notes that the dates of Joel and Jonah are hard to determine. It makes sense to place Joel at the end, since he mentions the Greeks. Ostensibly, however, Jonah belongs in the first grouping because he prophesied before the fall of Israel. However, Immerse assumes it was a later composition, so places the book at the very end. (Interestingly, The Sola Scriptura Bible Project (NIV) arranges the writing prophets the same as Immerse but places Jonah at the outset of the volume.)
Theologically, this is what stood out to me from reading the prophets: (1) The prophets seem to follow a consistent pattern of ruin and restoration. In other words, God is going to judge his people for their sins, but he promises restoration upon repentance. (2) There are luminous passages through the prophets, but I couldn’t get over how doom-and-gloom some of the oracles were. God could be pretty hard on his people. (3) Especially in the Judean prophets, the restoration of both the Davidic monarchy and the Temple are key themes. No wonder New Testament authors saw Jesus as the fulfillment of these prophecies!
I read Prophets for personal devotions, but it—along with the other volumes in the Immerse series—is designed for use in small groups as a church-wide biblical literacy campaign. If you’re a pastor, keep that in mind as you read your way through the series.
My full review of Immerse follows below.
Book Reviewed
Immerse: The Reading Bible, Vol. 4, Prophets (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2017).
P.S. If you liked my review of Prophets, please click “Helpful” on my Amazon review page.
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Most Americans own a Bible, but few read it. According to American Bible Society’s State of the Bible 2017 (SOTB), 87 percent of U.S. households own at least one copy of the Scriptures. Unfortunately, only 50 percent of U.S. adults read the Bible, listen to it, or pray with it at least three or four times a year.
How can we help people move toward greater Bible engagement?
There are many ways to answer this question, but I want to focus on a new Bible product I believe merits attention. It’s called Immerse: The Reading Bible, which Tyndale House Publishers created in Alliance with the Institute for Bible Reading. You can read more about it at ImmerseBible.com (BibliaInmersion.com for the Spanish version).
Immerse is designed to take the church — from junior high to senior adults — through the Bible in three years. It presents Scripture in six high-quality, low-cost paperbacks or e-books.
- Messiah (New Testament)
- Beginnings(Genesis–Deuteronomy)
- Kingdoms (Joshua–2 Kings)
- Prophets (Isaiah–Malachi)
- Poets (Job–Song of Songs, plus Lamentations)
- Chronicles (1Chronicles–Esther, plus Daniel)
According to its website, “Immerse is built on three core ideas: reading a naturally formatted Bible, reading at length, and having unmediated discussions about it together.”
While most Bibles are formatted like a dictionary — a two-column format with scholarly apparatus, including chapter and verse numbers, headings, cross-references and notes — Immerse presents Scripture in a single-column format and eliminates the scholarly apparatus entirely. According to SOTB, 8 percent of U.S. adults cite difficult layout as a significant frustration when reading the Bible. Immerse’s formatting reduces that frustration.
Using this Bible, a church’s small groups or Sunday School classes meet twice a year for eight weeks each time to read and discuss one of Immerse’s six paperbacks, starting with Messiah. Reading each paperback takes 20 to 30 minutes daily, five days a week, for the duration of the small group. This is what Immerse means by “reading at length.” Thirty percent of U.S. adults say lack of time is a significant Bible reading frustration. By delimiting how much and how often participants read, Immerse’s program addresses this concern.
During meetings, a leader facilitates open discussion around four questions:
- What stood out to you this week?
- Was anything confusing or troubling?
- Did anything make you think differently about God?
- How might this change the way you live?
State of the Bible 2017 found that readers are motivated to increase Bible reading when encountering difficulty (41 percent), a significant life change, such as marriage or childbirth (17 percent), or contemporary discussions about religion and spirituality in the media (17 percent). By focusing on four open-ended questions, Immerse encourages readers to ponder what the Bible teaches in the specifics of their lives.
Several other features of Immerse are worth highlighting. First, it uses the New Living Translation of Scripture (NLT). According to SOTB, 16 percent of U.S. adults are frustrated by the Bible’s difficult language. The NLT features readable, idiomatic English for a broad audience.
Second, within each paperback, Immerse reorganizes the books of the Bible in an interesting fashion. For example, the standard New Testament order of books is Gospels, Acts, Paul’s letters, other epistles and Revelation. Messiah pairs each gospel with letters related to it: Luke–Acts with Paul’s letters, Mark with Peter’s and Jude’s letters, Matthew with Hebrews and James, and John with John’s letters and Revelation. This helps readers see thematic connections between each gospel and its associated letters.
Third, Immerse provides resources to help readers understand the theological, historical and literary context of each book of the Bible. All six paperbacks include brief introductory essays. And the website includes free aids for small groups: a weekly 3-minute video that introduces each week’s readings, audio files of daily Bible readings, and downloadable guides for pastors, small-group leaders and participants.
God inspired the Bible to equip us for holy living (2 Timothy 3:16–17). If we don’t use it, however, it does us no good. Immerse offers church leaders a well-thought-out strategy for guiding readers through Scripture.
Book Reviewed
Immerse: The Reading Bible, 6 Volumes (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2017).
P.S. If you liked my review of Immerse, please click “Helpful” on my Amazon review page.
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2018 edition of Influence magazine.
GeorgePWood.com 