AP

Melissa B. Kruger, In All Things: A Study of Philippians, New York: Multnomah, 2018.

            One rarely comes across a study guide quite like this one. It is far more comprehensive than the usual Bible study. It consists of nine studies with five devotionals contained within each one. There are plenty of questions for the reader to delve into, and the illustrations are easily read and apt to the point at hand. A particularly memorable one concerns a truck which followed Melissa one night, and unnerved her quite considerably – until she realised that her lights were not on, and that the truck driver had actually been providing her with light. Icebreakers are also provided, although I tend to the view that if they last longer than 60 seconds, they are too long.

            There are quotations from the Puritans. Thomas Brooks fits one of the great motifs of Philippians: ‘Humility will make a man have high thoughts of others and low thoughts of himself.’ John Owen declares: ‘Look to the vigour of the affections toward heavenly things; if they are not constantly attended, excited, directed and warmed, they are apt to decay; and sin lies in wait to take every advantage against them.’  

On the flip side, Billy Joel is cited from Only the Good Die Young: ‘I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints;/ Sinners are much more fun.’ Mrs Kruger manages to be steeped in the Puritans and aware of contemporary culture.

If you are wanting a solid but very readable Bible study which will enable you to study the text at some depth, without getting lost in it, this is highly recommended.

– Peter Barnes