Bible study book recommendation

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I’m looking for a first Bible study or summary book for an adult, non-Christian, who has never read the Bible. What would be ideal would be an easy-reading summary, focus on the New Testament or even focus on only the Gospel. Shorter is better. Seriously, shorter is better. He can read City of God later, when he gets captured 😃

Thanks
 
GwenL said:
I’m looking for a first Bible study or summary book for an adult, non-Christian, who has never read the Bible. What would be ideal would be an easy-reading summary, focus on the New Testament or even focus on only the Gospel. Shorter is better. Seriously, shorter is better. He can read City of God later, when he gets captured 😃

Thanks
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I would choose your book (in the Bible) and then purchase the relevant Ignatius Study Guide:

amazon.com/Gospel-Luke-Ignatius-Study-Catholic/dp/0898708192/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262783084&sr=1-1
 
I agree with the Ignatius Study Bible. They are printed right now in booklet form. You could get just one of the Gospels or all four. They have great notes with commentary from church fathers too. They also have study questions. Because they are printed in booklet form right now, they are very short.
 
Ignatius Press publishes a good book by Peter Kreeft called ‘You Can Understand The Bible’, which gives a general introduction to the Bible, then goes throught the Bible book by book and gives a very readable summery of each.
 
The Gospel of John from the Ignatius Study Bible (and the Kreeft book) 👍
 
I very highly recommend the Bible commentaries written by William Barclay.

Before the lynch mobs appear to drag me away for daring to recommend writings by a non-Catholic, please keep in mind that Fr. Mark Link, S.J. and the late Bishop Fulton Sheen not only read and recommended William Barclay’s books but also freqently quoted him in their own essays and talks. If Barclay is good enough for them, he’s good enough for me to recommend, too! 👍
 
All the above suggestions are great (although I have reservations about recommending Barklay to a beginner of the Bible, especially if it’s my hope he eventually embraces Catholicism).

If it was me, as a summary of the New Testament, I would recommend Frank Sheed’s “To Know Christ Jesus,” which is basically a combined gospels narrative of the life of Jesus, along with Sheed’s scholarly commentary and profound insights. Sheed has an easy but precise writing style which really brings out the significant details of the Gospel accounts. In fact, I think he will benefit more from the other suggestions posters have provided if he reads this book first to kind of get his legs under him.

(And if he gets hooked on Sheed and gets interested in Catholic teaching, the next logical step is Sheed’s “Theology for Beginners,” another deceptively small and enjoyable book that will nonetheless really get his mind working.)
 
Thanks to all for the suggestions. 🙂

I’ve ordered the Ignatius set of study guides to the Gospels and Acts, and am about to start Sheed’s “To Know Christ Jesus.”

I’m holding off on the scholarly commentaries…this is someone with a very tentative interest. I’m trying to set the hook gently, here, hoping that after he reads a bit about the Bible, he’ll ask for a recommendation for one.
 
GwenL said:
Thanks to all for the suggestions. 🙂

I’ve ordered the Ignatius set of study guides to the Gospels and Acts, and am about to start Sheed’s “To Know Christ Jesus.”

I’m holding off on the scholarly commentaries…this is someone with a very tentative interest. I’m trying to set the hook gently, here, hoping that after he reads a bit about the Bible, he’ll ask for a recommendation for one.
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A wise strategy. Please let me/us know how you like the Sheed book(s). 🙂
 
I have recently deepened my understanding of the faith through joining an adult Catholic book club which was reading the book, “The Faith Explained,” by Leo Trese. This book was a tremendous help to explain the "why"s of our faith and how we should live every day. Many older members of our faith expect people to just believe, and that’s fine, but Leo Trese gives more answers. It should be required reading, in my opinion.
 
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