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A Popular Survey of the Old Testament
The world of the Old Testament can seem hard to understand, especially for people living in times and places so far removed from the ancient Middle East. It's not just that we wear different clothes and hold different jobs--people in the West just don't have the same history, the same culture, or the same way of thinking as Old Testament characters like Abraham and David. And this disconnect can make studying the Old Testament an arduous and confusing process.A Popular Survey of the Old Testament is designed to help regular Christians enrich their understanding of Old Testament people and events. Illustrated throughout with color photos, charts, and maps, and written in an easy, informal style, this survey is accessible and enjoyable to Christians of all backgrounds.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
32 people are currently reading
355 people want to read
About the author
Norman L. Geisler
226 books319 followersNorman L. Geisler (PhD, Loyola University of Chicago) taught at top evangelical colleges and seminaries for over fifty years and was a distinguished professor of apologetics and theology at Veritas Evangelical Seminary in Murrieta, California. He was the author of nearly eighty books, including the Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics and Christian Ethics. He and his wife lived in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 19, 2025
After recently reading John Walton’s Wisdom for Faithful Reading, Norman Geisler’s A Popular Survey of the Old Testament was far less satisfying by comparison. The book aims to offer a helpful introduction to the Old Testament, but I found it frequently lacking in clarity, depth, and scholarly balance.
The prose is uneven, bland and uninspired. Long catenas of biblical quotations do not make for easy reading or insight. His frequent repetition of themes and phrases makes it feel tedious. Geisler often relies on rhetorical devices such as catchy antitheses (“concealed/revealed,” “implicit/explicit,” “patent/latent”) that sometimes substitute for more thoughtful analysis. His summaries of biblical books or divisions often prioritize stylistic effect (e.g., homoioteleuton) over nuance or precision.
His treatment of scholarly sources also raises concerns. He will introduces those he agrees with using honorific descriptions like “renowned scholar” or “famous archaeologist,” while those with opposing views are unnamed and unexplored. This comes across as dismissive and (for me) weakens the book’s credibility as a balanced introduction.
His defense of NT inspiration (claiming that Jesus promised his disciples would write divinely inspired Scripture) rests on texts about speaking, preaching, and testifying, not writing. The leap from oral proclamation to written canon is not clearly explained and seems more assumed than demonstrated.
He argues that the Apocryphal books cannot be part of the canon because Jesus never cited or affirmed them, yet he acknowledges that there are canonical Old Testament books Jesus also never quoted either. The inconsistency undermines the force of his claim, even though I agree with him that they are not part of the OT canon.
Geisler’s structural schema for the Old Testament—especially his attempt to draw “exact NT parallels” between OT and NT genres (e.g., between the Hebrew poetical books and the NT epistles) comes across as forced and reductionistic. His claim that the OT poetic books represent Israel’s “spiritual life,” distinct from its moral, national, or messianic life, seems out of step with the actual content and complexity of those texts. As a result, his reading of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs feels constrained by his framework rather than driven by the texts themselves.
The book’s repetitive wording, particularly in the introductions to each major OT division, makes for frustrating reading. I realize that summaries of recurring themes can help readers understand, but here they feel more like filler.
Finally, he presents the messages of the prophets as clear, unified, and pointing straightforwardly to Jesus as the Messiah. Yet if that was so obvious, why did nearly everyone in Jesus’s own day (including his closest disciples) fail to recognize the kind of Messiah he was? The disconnect between the prophetic message as presented by Geisler and the historical reception of that message in the Gospels invites deeper theological reflection, which the book unfortunately does not offer.
In summary, this book may have value for readers seeking a very high-level, consciously-conservative overview of the OT, for me it falls short in several areas. Readers looking for a more comprehensive, nuanced, faithful reading of the Old Testament may find more to appreciate in recent works with greater sensitivity to literary, historical, and theological context.
The prose is uneven, bland and uninspired. Long catenas of biblical quotations do not make for easy reading or insight. His frequent repetition of themes and phrases makes it feel tedious. Geisler often relies on rhetorical devices such as catchy antitheses (“concealed/revealed,” “implicit/explicit,” “patent/latent”) that sometimes substitute for more thoughtful analysis. His summaries of biblical books or divisions often prioritize stylistic effect (e.g., homoioteleuton) over nuance or precision.
His treatment of scholarly sources also raises concerns. He will introduces those he agrees with using honorific descriptions like “renowned scholar” or “famous archaeologist,” while those with opposing views are unnamed and unexplored. This comes across as dismissive and (for me) weakens the book’s credibility as a balanced introduction.
His defense of NT inspiration (claiming that Jesus promised his disciples would write divinely inspired Scripture) rests on texts about speaking, preaching, and testifying, not writing. The leap from oral proclamation to written canon is not clearly explained and seems more assumed than demonstrated.
He argues that the Apocryphal books cannot be part of the canon because Jesus never cited or affirmed them, yet he acknowledges that there are canonical Old Testament books Jesus also never quoted either. The inconsistency undermines the force of his claim, even though I agree with him that they are not part of the OT canon.
Geisler’s structural schema for the Old Testament—especially his attempt to draw “exact NT parallels” between OT and NT genres (e.g., between the Hebrew poetical books and the NT epistles) comes across as forced and reductionistic. His claim that the OT poetic books represent Israel’s “spiritual life,” distinct from its moral, national, or messianic life, seems out of step with the actual content and complexity of those texts. As a result, his reading of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs feels constrained by his framework rather than driven by the texts themselves.
The book’s repetitive wording, particularly in the introductions to each major OT division, makes for frustrating reading. I realize that summaries of recurring themes can help readers understand, but here they feel more like filler.
Finally, he presents the messages of the prophets as clear, unified, and pointing straightforwardly to Jesus as the Messiah. Yet if that was so obvious, why did nearly everyone in Jesus’s own day (including his closest disciples) fail to recognize the kind of Messiah he was? The disconnect between the prophetic message as presented by Geisler and the historical reception of that message in the Gospels invites deeper theological reflection, which the book unfortunately does not offer.
In summary, this book may have value for readers seeking a very high-level, consciously-conservative overview of the OT, for me it falls short in several areas. Readers looking for a more comprehensive, nuanced, faithful reading of the Old Testament may find more to appreciate in recent works with greater sensitivity to literary, historical, and theological context.
January 30, 2022
Concise survey of the Old Testament. It was an easy introduction to the whole basis of the OT. This book is not a deep dive into scripture but it does a good job laying out the foundation who, what, when, where, and why for every book of the OT.
I will continue to use this book as a reference in the future.
I will continue to use this book as a reference in the future.
July 25, 2023
Succinct summaries of the books of the Old Testament, and interconnections between them as well as to Jesus Christ. Especially good for those who want to know the general theme and purpose of the Old Testament.
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January 14, 2021 A very good synoptic overviews of the OT books
January 12, 2013
An excellent beginners book to studying the Old Testament. This will absolutely be my first choice when recommending to someone what book to start out with. Geisler makes it clear that Jesus is the fulfillment and center of the Old Testament.
The way the book is written makes it an excellent choice for teaching through in a Sunday school or small group setting. I used it in my youth class for almost a year long study that finished up several months ago.
Each book has a section that lists different characters or pictures that represent or are fulfilled by Christ. My only complaint about the book is that sometimes I feel like Geisler reaches a little bit too far in trying to make these connections.
The way the book is written makes it an excellent choice for teaching through in a Sunday school or small group setting. I used it in my youth class for almost a year long study that finished up several months ago.
Each book has a section that lists different characters or pictures that represent or are fulfilled by Christ. My only complaint about the book is that sometimes I feel like Geisler reaches a little bit too far in trying to make these connections.
December 16, 2009
This is a great OT survey. It is succinct. The author isn't concerned with you hearing his voice or opinion. It is truly focused on the Word of God, which is the whole point.
There are a couple places where Geisler jumps to come conclusions, but you can't really find a OT survey where that isn't the case. If you want an easy way to learn through the Old Testament, this is it. Anyone can read it and figure out what is going on. It is a textbook style so their are some study questions at the end of each chapter.
I wish the book caused you to spend more time looking for stuff in your Bible, but otherwise it is a great find.
There are a couple places where Geisler jumps to come conclusions, but you can't really find a OT survey where that isn't the case. If you want an easy way to learn through the Old Testament, this is it. Anyone can read it and figure out what is going on. It is a textbook style so their are some study questions at the end of each chapter.
I wish the book caused you to spend more time looking for stuff in your Bible, but otherwise it is a great find.
January 11, 2012
Jesus Christ is the center of the Bible and the key to both the inspiration and the interpretation of all sixty-six books in it. That is Geisler's view. Written to help the lay person's biblical theology. Here is a sample from the chapter on Leviticus: "Exodus is a book of deliverance; Leviticus is a book of purification. Exodus tells of the redemption of the Jewish people; Leviticus relates their sanctification. It has been said that it took God only one night to get Israel out of Egypt but it took forty years to get Egypt out of them..."
October 11, 2016
Excellent overview of the Old Testament. Should be easy to understand for most lay readers. It gives a very good overview of where the books fit historically since they are not in chronological order. This book also helps to understand how each book looks forward to the New Testament. Also good information in the introduction about how the various books were brought together to become the Bible and laying out the evidence for the faithful transmission of the text.
February 8, 2015
As a textbook for my first college class it was really insightful, but of course colleges use books that are biased to their POV and though this one was really great I was reminded by my father of certain things that are good explanations for what we don't know but are not biblically proven.
December 8, 2015
Geisler's is a very brief, introductory view of the OT, with most books being discussed within 6-8 pages, identifying key themes and plot events when applicable. I used this book as a textbook for a freshman-level college course I taught and it worked well at that level.
June 4, 2008
I enjoyed this book in the sense that it fanned my fire of the Old Testament. Awesome reading for the begiiner as well as handy study material for those that are more seasoned.
April 30, 2010
excellent book.
May 11, 2010
I had to read this book for OT class. I'd say its pretty informative and a great learning tool for more background and history to the Old Testament.
October 31, 2010
This was a textbook for a course that I ended up not taking. Very interesting overview of Old Testament books.
April 19, 2012
Loved that it had illustrations.
September 14, 2012
Excellent supplement to the Old Testament.
August 9, 2013
Great resource for teaching - a little simplistic in its explanations of differing interpretations, but a solid book with lots of gems.
January 20, 2015
Useful resource. Nice hardcover.
Geisler, Norman L. A Popular Survey of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007.
Geisler, Norman L. A Popular Survey of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews