100 Books Like The Miracle of the Scarlet Thread

I enjoyed this book because it was such an exhaustive look at how Jesus is foreshadowed in symbols, types, and prophecies in the Old Testament. No stone is left unturned as he shows how “all roads lead to Christ” and how Christ is revealed in every single book in the Old Testament.

It is very intriguing, well-researched, presented very logically, and contains many great insights. It is not, however, a quick read, but more academic in its presentation.

I recommend this book for people who are already pretty familiar with the Scriptures and want to deepen their knowledge of the Bible, particularly of the Old Testament.

First of all, I really love this book because it has a great title. But the content is just as good.

The Bible records that on the day of His resurrection, Jesus approached two disciples on their way to a town called Emmaus but prevented them from recognizing Him initially. So, it was Jesus who was the stranger on the road to Emmaus. Then, Jesus Himself explained to them how Moses and all the prophets were fulfilled in His own death, burial, and resurrection.

This book attempts to present what Jesus could have said to them on that day. It is recommended for anyone, regardless of their knowledge of the Bible.

I loved this book because it was such an easy read, but still somehow managed to really capture the whole story of the Bible.

The author also did something that was really unique. After the first chapter, he began to write a summary of the entire Bible. Then, at the end of every other chapter, he simply added to it. By the end, the reader is left with a very concise, but complete summary of the Bible. That was quite ingenious!

Recommended for anyone!

What I enjoyed most about this book was that it was quite thorough but also very conversational in its approach and easy to read.

Though the author takes you through almost every book in the Old Testament, it doesn’t really feel like it. It feels more like you’re just listening to someone over dinner share with you what they are learning in the Scriptures. She doesn’t try to impress you with her vocabulary or theological jargon. She just shares her thoughts very clearly. Still, it is very informative and has really great insights.

Recommended for anyone!

Naomi was raised as an Orthodox Jew. I can’t remember whether she told me herself, or I read it somewhere, but she once said that she struggled to see how people who weren’t steeped in the Judaic tradition could even understand the Christian Bible. There is something in this: The ‘New Testament’ rests upon and relies upon Judaism for all of its authority. And yet it is simultaneously incredibly antisemitic. It’s a paradox that Christian scholars and theologians have struggled with for millennia, frequently with devastating and bloody consequences. I read The Liars’ Gospel as Naomi’s quite beautiful attempt to examine and unravel this paradox.

This book focuses strictly on the seven feasts in Leviticus 23 as opposed to multiple types from throughout the Old Testament.

This book is also more of a devotional, with something to read each day. There are also questions to answer, which makes it more like a study guide or workbook than an actual book or devotional. With that said, the book provides a great understanding of the seven feasts and the way they each looked to Christ.

For example, most people know that Jesus is our Passover Lamb, but they would be surprised to see that the other six feasts look to him as well. You will be blessed to see how Jesus is revealed through each of them.

As its title implies, this book is accessible to the entire family and would be a great resource for Sunday school teachers who want to provide their students with a larger understanding of the life and times of peoples in ancient Palestine and Rome. The book is broken down into easy-to-find categories such as "The Home," "Warfare," and "Travel and Communication," to name a few. There are stunning photographs on every page with detailed and clear explanations. The back of the book has timelines of the Bible and a map of Palestine in New Testament times with highlights of key events in the New Testament. There is also an alphabetical index that makes it easy to find information on specific topics.

The Thomas Nelson Study Bible is my second favorite commentary to use. It shares many similarities with The MacArthur Study Bible. There are helpful charts and maps. The commentary is clear and understandable. The cross-references are helpful as are the other study tools. The images and charts are done wonderfully. There are over 1,000 articles and notes spread through the commentary, which provide a greater understanding of certain passages and topics. Again there are also book introductions and the outlines can be very helpful. The word studies, the Strong’s numbers in case you want to do further study. The indexes and concordances at the back are helpful and easy to use. One point to consider is while John MacArthur’s commentary is Calvinistic, The Thomas Nelson Study Bible doesn’t seem to lean toward Calvinism or Arminianism, probably to reach multiple denominations.

I grew up in a conservative church in the American South, the home of evangelical fundamentalism—but Marcus Borg offered me a great pathway out of the narrow-mindedness of literalistic, authoritarian religion.

The subtitle of this book says it all: there is a path to taking the Bible more seriously (as a spiritual book) when we stop insisting on reading it literally. Borg combines quality scholarship with an almost mystical appreciation of the wisdom encoded in the ancient scripture.

For me, reading his book was an invitation not only to read the Bible anew, but to fall in love with it all over again.

In his story about Priscilla, Witherington was doing something very similar to what I was trying to do in my book and imagining what Priscilla, the wife of Aquila (who was often cited in both the Acts of the Apostles and in Paul’s letters) might have thought about her life as a Christian in the early Church. Witherington uses his vast knowledge of the world of the 1st century to bring Priscilla’s story to life.