NIV Essentials Study Bible

A study Bible can be a great tool to help you understand God's Word.  Since the Bible is an ancient "library" of sixty-six books written by about forty authors over 1,600 years that amazingly tell one story, it would be helpful to have background information to gain understanding into the culture, people, and concepts of the Scriptures.  The NIV Essentials Study Bible offers six different resources in one Bible to help. There are several "lenses" in this study Bible:

• Flyover Lens: Start each book of the Bible with the right perspective from easy-to-read introductions from the popular Essential Bible Companion.
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• Unpack Lens: Easily understand and interpret Bible passages with bottom-of-the page study notes and in-text charts from the best-in-class NIV Study Bible.
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• Dig Deep, Look Close Lens: Understand the fascinating historical significance of the Bible with articles and photos from the bestselling NIV Archaeological Study Bible.
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• Q&A Lens: Get concise, easy-to-grasp answers to your most perplexing questions about the Bible with questions and answers from the beloved NIV Quest Study Bible.
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• People Lens: View Scripture from the perspective of the 100 most important people in the Bible with notes for the student of any age excerpted from the timeless NIV Student Bible.
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• Guided Tour Lens: Get a bird’s eyes view of Scripture with a Guided Tour, also excerpted from the category-leading NIV Student Bible.
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• Insight Lens: Find meaning in the Bible by reading these magazine-style call-outs from the NIV Student Bible.
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• R&R Lens: Reflect & Respond with this quick inspirational focus time, which unveils the sweeping narrative of the Bible as seen in the award-winning The Great Rescue, NIV.

I really liked the book introductions for each of the 66 books. They include an overview, key concepts, key verses, people, and terms.  Many of them also include a map related to the book. The "highlight boxes" were helpful in understanding verses that may seem strange or would be a mystery to us because we live in a different time and culture.

There is one part of this Bible that I didn't prefer and that was the Q & A Lenses from the Quest Study Bible.  Some of the sections brought up issues like in Genesis is a day really 24 hours (I would say yes) or was the flood really worldwide (I would say yes to that one, too).  While these sections don't tell you definitively what to believe they do raise the questions that have been debated.  My issue with them is they bring up doubts, and I guess that made me feel like I can't fully recommend that part.  But overall, I feel that this Bible can be extremely helpful for us to gain a greater understanding of God's Word.

Thomas Nelson has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in order to review it.  I am not required to give a positive review.  All my opinions are my own.