Review:

Bit Part Players of the Bible - Act 2

Three years on from Ray Markham’s book on lesserknown Old Testament personalities, CWR has published the sequel, this time featuring more than 80 minor characters from the New Testament.

Markham is a good researcher, offering plenty of insight into the New Testament text. Rather like in William Barclay’s old commentaries, there is a wealth of eye-opening facts about first century culture too.

He’s not a bad storyteller, so there’s plenty of levelheaded artistic license bringing each character to life as the author retells their tales. Each short chapter is peppered with ‘ways in’ for the reader that help connect the lives of these bit part players to our own, though occasionally I felt there were one or two ‘precious thoughts’ too many.

It is not a book that really captivated me but it is readable and accessible and overall it works quite well. It may help people who find Bible reading difficult get into it more. Leaders and preachers might find it a surprisingly rich mine of information and inspiration too.

HIGH: Strong on background and application.

LOW: Overuse of the phrase ‘I imagine...’

Published by: CWR