Vaughan Roberts

Good overview of the bible, albeit in very broad strokes, utilizing the metanarrative framework of the kingdom of God. Intended as a limited introductory text it has its theological and exegetical strengths and its weaknesses but remains a decent book for someone very new to the bible.

Vaughan Roberts - Life's Big QuestionsThe Christian Bible is the worldwide best-selling book that has been published in numerous languages and translations. Spanning over 2000 years of history, it was originally written by about 40 human authors in 2 languages who utilized many different literary genres. It is an enormous volume of 66 divinely inspired and authoritative books that form God's Word to us. With its variety of literary forms and extensive recording of history, any reader would show more soon wonder how this extraordinary Book could be read in an ordinary way. How can anybody read and understand the Bible as a whole? How can it have a single message that links together all the different accounts of God's work?

In Life's Big Questions, Vaughan Roberts shows us how there is unity in the diversity of the Scriptures. Building off of his previous acclaimed work (God's Big Picture, 2003), Roberts presents the Kingdom of God as a unifying theme for the whole Bible and then seeks to answer six of life's big questions with this theme in mind. For this book review, I hope to critically analyze the author's thesis/purpose, the methods he has used in explaining it, and his success in achieving his purpose.

Life's Big Questions is a compact yet concise volume that aids Christians in understanding and applying the Kingdom of God as it unfolds through the Scriptures. Vaughan Roberts has written a book that is easy to read and still beneficial to seminarians or Pastors, for he puts forward a framework that helps readers use this unifying theme of kingdom to walk through the entire Bible. The inclusion of numerous figures is very useful in elaborating on the different parts of Roberts proposed framework as it relates to each chapter's question. However, it would have been more beneficial if Roberts gave better mention in the text of the book about what the figures relate to (cf. Figure 26 and page 151 where he did do this well). Despite this minor faux pas, Life's Big Questions is an amazingly practical tool for applying biblical theology to all of life's issues - an aid to seeing the Scriptures as a unified whole. It is a Bible help that rightly keeps Jesus Christ front and center as the reigning Lord of the Kingdom of God.

Full review: http://www.sixsteps.org/2008/03/26/book-review-vaughan-roberts-lifes-big-questio... show less

A more mature read than (Grandpa's Box) of solid Biblical Theology.

This book gives a good foundation in seeing how the entire Bible holds together and how each of the books of the Bible are all aiming at the one central person (Christ Jesus) and one central message (Salvation through Jesus) and one central goal (Kingdom restoration).

Vaughan Roberts does a good job taking very complex themes and concepts and in bite sized teachings shows the unity of God's word. Roberts has learned this show more subject from some of the more capable minds that have handled the topic of Biblical Theology for decades. show less

Fr. Roberts provides a thematic exploration of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. This book is a good choice for a Bible study group; however, the one I would recommend, if one wants to learn about the major themes of the Bible as one proceeds through the various books, is The Kingdom of God by John Bright.