The incredible journey

Travelling in December

THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY
Christmas from Genesis to Jesus
By Steve Brady
BRF. 194 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978 0 857 460 035

Several of Steve Brady’s many gifts are in evidence here; the pithy quote, the apt illustration, the grasp of Bible and gospel essentials. He offers 37 four-page daily readings spanning December 1 to January 6, part secular calendar, part ecclesiastical year, plus Postscript and brief Study Guide.

Some of the stories and quotes are old friends; where they are new and clearly first-hand they pack more punch. Each section ends with a brief ‘Reflection’, varying from verses of classic hymns to the author’s own gentle probings.

Who is it for? It could be an Advent or pre-Christmas present to a youngish Christian or someone on the fringes of faith, not a lover of long words or a natural devourer of more demanding books of devotion or doctrine. The person who says, ‘I’m not a great reader’, but is happy with small doses for a limited period. Might they be tempted to try something meatier next time? Easy to read, though, does not mean easy to write; full marks to the Principal of Moorlands College for finding the appropriate wavelength and staying with it.

One reader-friendly feature is the print-out of each Scripture passage. Not much encouragement, though, to open a whole Bible and find the place; this also means that only just over half the total pages are pure Brady.

Footnotes follow each week’s readings; sources range over Christian and other writers, with news stories and nuggets gained from other media, in the Richard Bewes or John Young style. In publishing this book, the Bible Reading Fellowship (BRF) takes a further evangelical step forward; some of its authors are more varied. But are we now stuck with the new meaning of ‘incredible’ — no longer the opposite of ‘credible’?

Christopher Idle,
Bromley, Kent

© Evangelicals Now - December 2011
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Main Articles

• Light in Scots' darkness
• The Commentary
  You never know...
• The 12 myths of Christmas
  Norman Wells guides us through the tinsel to the truth
• The Book that made your world
  How the Bible created the soul of Western civilisation
• Take up your cross and follow me
  Don Carson at Grace Baptist Mission's 150th
• Alcoholism: best left to experts?
  Paul Witter asks if the church can still help drunkards
• John Martin - Apocalypse
  An exhibition at Tate Britain
• Finding a new pastor?
• Crossing the culture
  Relatively easy love?
• The Music Exchange
  Regulative principle
• Unapologetic Christianity
  Soft-edge apologetics
• Monthly youth leaders column
  Do you love th YP?
• Letter from America
  Occupied?
• Notes to growing Christians
  Redeeming Christians

Other articles

• The Minister's Wife - An edited extract
• The adventures of Tintin
• Machine Gun Preacher
• The human condition - Secular shelf life
• Ten myths about Calvinism
• The incredible journey - Christmas from Genesis to Jesus
• The secret of contentment
• Did Jesus really die? - Or did someone else die in his place?
• Word and Spirit
• Presence, power and promise - The role of the Spirit of God in the Old Testament
• Faces of Christ
• Hearing the Spirit - Knowing the Father through the Son
• The pastor as scholar and the scholar as pastor
• John MacArthur - Servant of the Word and flock
• God the peacemaker - How atonement brings shalom
• Good news about injustice - A witness of courage in a hurting world