Ever felt bewildered by all the vast details in the Bible or struggled to explain how it all fits together? The Bible is one story from Creation to New Creation (Biblical Theology), but how can we best summarise it?

The Bible Overview is a helpful course which summarises the Bible’s story into 15 steps (nine Old Testament and six New Testament). Each step is represented by a simple picture and one or two verses, which build to form a single page overview of the Bible. And it is integrated with The Bible Overview DVD-ROM to aid in the presentation of the course.

The DVD consists of a 96-page leader’s manual, three Biblical presentations in various electronic formats, an extra review presentation and an introduction on how to read the Bible. For those who prefer hard copies, there are 45 display cards (a picture/name/verse for each stage) that progressively form a ‘banner’ style presentation.

What I like about it?

It’s simple, it’s spot-on biblically and it’s flexible - it can be taught in just one session (the ‘General’ presentation) or three sessions (with fuller ‘Old Testament and New Testament’). And it can be adapted for almost all ages and stages of bible understanding, in both small and large groups.

What could be improved?

Any areas for improvement are really the flip side of the courses strength. Because the presentation is so simple and uncluttered, there is a lessening of the organic nature of the Bible. The lack of geographical place references seems to remove the real life setting of the Bible.

Also, the formulaic nature of the presentation (like Who, What & How at each stage of the fuller Old Testament presentation), and the lack of reinforcing questions at each stage leave the presenter unaware of how much is being taken in by his or her audience.

However, the flexibility of the The Bible Overview means the presenter can always supplement the course. The only caution would be to ensure the central clarity of the presentation is not buried with a load of personal ‘extras’.