Lifting the Veil: A Plain Language Guide to the Bible

Lifting the Veil is a plain language non-denominational guide for people who want to know their Bible better. It focuses squarely on the Bible as it is, accepting what it says without critical reconstruction, and shows how, when read straightforwardly like that, it clearly and consistently reveals God's activity in the world: why He created it, what has gone wrong, and what He is doing to put things right. Peter Hermon shows in this book how the Old Testament insistently points to the New, while the New fulfils the Old, either already in Christ or in the consummation yet to come. Within this overall perspective the books of the Bible are treated at a level that enables the reader to find quickly his bearings and, wherever he delves, not to lose sight of the wood for the trees. Although the Bible is rich in history and biography, its aim is the dissemination of religious truth and the promotion of God. In an increasingly secular world, Lifting the Veil is intended to encourage people to read the Bible for themselves and to see that history is not the chance collision of blind forces without meaning or purpose, but the execution of an intelligent design. Aimed at non-specialist readers who would like to become more familiar with the Bible, it reveals the unity and consistency of the Bible, showing how it is not simply a disparate anthology. Covers all sixty-six books and the Apocrypha. The book begins with an extended survey of the whole Bible, setting it against the backcloth of secular history, drawing out its main characters and demonstrating its unity in the golden thread of Promise that links Genesis to Revelation. Then each book of the Bible is taken in turn. Starting with a brief overview which enables the reader to grasp its milieu and see how it relates to the rest, it moves on to a more detailed synopsis which parallels the Bible, and steers a middle course between the morass of detail found in commentaries and insipid generalities that rob the text of zest and cutting edge. Copyright © James Clarke & Co Ltd.…