Review: A Year With Jesus

A Year With Jesus by R.P. Nettelhorst has its pros and cons as a devotional book. The concept is great. Each page contains a daily devotional with a Scripture passage from one of the four Gospel books. This format makes for a great and encouraging way to read through the majority of those books (albeit out of order).

Nettelhorst uses various translations and interpretations, though, which for me was a major setback. I prefer solid versions of the Bible - not loose interpretations like the Message, and Nettelhorst does not use very many versions that I would consider solid.

As for the devotionals, themselves, the majority of them are insightful and interesting. They're not very meaty - they don't use much back up in historical facts - and they aren't super deep, new and thought-provoking, but for the small space they're afforded they aren't all bad. I just think there are better devotionals out there that use that space to a better advantage. To tell the truth, I didn't like Nettelhorst's devotionals at all, at first, but I recently began reading them again and they didn't seem as poorly written and lacking in content the second time around. Still, not all of Nettelhorst's conclusions follow from the text used, and many of Nettelhorst's conclusions, suggestions and applications seem shallow and stretched thin.

A Year With Jesus could be a lot better. But it might be worth a try for you. Personally, I prefer devotionals that really stick with you and make you think. But if you prefer simple, short devotionals, this might be the book for you.

2/4 Stars.

I received this book from Book Sneeze in exchange for my honest review of it.