Review of Teach Sunday School's Books of the Bible At-a-Glance

Teach Sunday School has the neatest product that I bet you'll love regardless of your denomination. Books of the Bible At-a-Glance is one of the most useful, yet one of the most succinct, products we have reviewed yet. The company describes this product as one-page cheat sheets for the books of the Bible! It's a very apt description. I won't pretend to know much about how Protestant church services work (as I appreciate it, there is great variation), but from the Protestants that I know, it seems that a service may focus on one particular text from the Bible. In the Catholic church, we never hear from fewer than four books of the Bible in a single Mass. One of those is always a Psalm. One is a reading from the Old Testament, one is from the New Testament, and one is from the Gospels. The Psalm responds to the reading from the Old Testament (and so is related thematically). The Gospel is tied in to the Old Testament. Anyone can see the entire year's readings (from the Bible) at any time here, and Catholics are encouraged to read the weekly Mass readings before coming to Mass.  This long lead-in is simply to point out that this resource is *ideal* for Mass preparation! Knowing the who/what/when/where of a Biblical book makes the weekly Mass readings so much more meaningful and comprehensible. 

Below is a close-up of the sheet for the book of Joshua. You can see at a glance who the author of the book is, where it falls in the New or Old Testament, and when it was written. You can also see, if relevant, the time period in history it covers. You are given a "fast fact," as it were, about the book, famous stories, and most famous verses. Finally, important points about the book are listed. 

It is important to note that the sheets don't contain doctrinal information. By that I mean that the sheet for Genesis, for example, does not make a case for an old or a young Earth, at least not explicitly. It does say that it covers 4004 BC - 1805 BC. I was especially interested to see what was said about Revelation, since that book is often used to indict Catholicism. I had no problem with anything that was said on that sheet, though. Again, these sheets are not used to impart doctrine - instead, they just provide general information. I find them graphically attractive, and so easy to just pull up on my phone to go over the pertinent ones with the kids prior to Mass on Sunday! I really recommend them. The one caveat, though, is that the sheets are not complete for a Catholic, as they do not contain the so-called Apocrypha (these missing books are not apocryphal for us, obviously. They are part of the Canon (and were for all Christians until the 16th century)). If you're willing to make do with a 66-page set of pages, though, this set is a very solid buy. 

There are many other ways to use this product: teaching Sunday School, teaching Old or New Testament history to homeschoolers, fleshing out another Bible course you may be working with, and teaching Greek and Roman or other ancient history are only a few.

Until the company sells 250 copies, you can have this set for only $9. I wouldn't hesitate! Don't take my word for it, though. Click here to see what other Crew families have to say.