SUMMARY: The Essence is a book that attempts, through the examination of around 50 passages from the Bible, to reveal the overall unifying story and themes contained therein. Through the book, the author examines the Bible teachings on God, creation, sin, salvation, and more. The book is composed of 5 major sections which somewhat follow the order of the passages in the Bible. (There are notable exceptions, but it generally stays in the Biblical order) The are “Paradise Lost” covering the first 11 chapters of Genesis, “The Promise of Paradise Restored: The Patriarchs” covering from Abraham to the Wilderness Wanderings of Israel. “The Promise of Paradise Restored: Poets and Prophets” covers three Psalms and a handful of passages from the Prophets. Paradise Restored: The Beginning” covers the Incarnation to the beginning of Jesus’ Earthly ministry. Finally, “Paradise Restored: The Culmination” follows the narrative of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, before the closing chapters that express the implications of those incredible facts.
PROS
Perhaps you’ve heard that the Bible is a “unified story” but haven’t ever seen why. This will show you that loud and clear. This book does a good job tracing the story of creation, fall, redemption, and God’s great plan of salvation for all. He often mentions foreshadowing, when Old Testament stories contain parallels with elements in the life and ministry of Jesus. Often, those are noted on both ends, mentioning the antitype while describing the Old Testament story, then again mentioning the story when talking primarily about the event in Jesus’ life. This repetition hammers those truths home, makes those connections clear, and sets you mind wondering where more such connections can be found.
I like that the book roughly follows the order of the Biblical passages as they are found in the Bible, which would be a big help for new believers simply trying to understand the Bible’s structure. However, there are also plenty of hints at the bigger picture, so readers of The Essence will recognize where everything is going quite quickly. Jesus and his actions are never far from the author’s mind, further reinforcing how the whole Bible centers around him.
The book also isn’t afraid to quote massive chunks of the Bible, which help give context to his comments and point readers to the biblical text itself, rather than just to him as a teacher/interpreter. I appreciate his love for a focus on Scripture.
Beyond the simple, yet effective explanations, the author obviously has an eye for the needs of new Christians. The end of the book has a list of recommended resources for further reading, and the epilogue has some helpful hints for new believers in finding a church and beginning their new life in Christ.
Also, I found it interesting that the first few passages are cited and explained before the section on what exactly the Bible is and where it came from. I liked that he hooked readers with the story of the Bible and built a little tension before dumping all of the raw information on them. He gave them a reason to be invested in what it is saying and how the story it begins will eventually end.
I also appreciated that the author leans towards the conservative side of the evangelical spectrum, supporting views like Young Earth Creationism and a literal Adam and Eve, yet also stayed away from major sticking points that would arise between denominations. He presented the story of salvation as the Bible seems to present it, and avoided some theological weeds that would otherwise encumber his work. This, after all, isn’t the place to get into some of those.
CONS: Attempting to cover the major themes of the entire Bible in less that 300 pages in quite a feat, especially considering that the book contains many extended quotes from the Bible, sometimes covering a several pages each, leaving even less room for explanation. As such, many, many subjects are left unexplored. Most notably, anything relating to future events and the final end. Also, other notable textual exclusions are anything in the New Testament beyond the Gospels and a passage or two in Acts. The book also only devotes only 9 passage discussions to the entire Old Testament beyond Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers. While choosing what to include and what to cut is an unenviable choice, I do feel the author would have been better served balancing his comments a bit better in other places to fill some of those holes.
Speaking of balancing, the author is comments on it, explaining that the first part of the book covers Genesis 1-11 in great detail, with the pace picking up considerably later on. Honestly, that first section did drag a little. I agree that the two largest parts of the book, the parts addressing Genesis 1-11, and the life of Jesus, are the best to expand. They set the stage for the major themes in the former, and then show their completion and perfection in the latter. However, it did seem like the author tended to expand subsections based more on his personal interest and experience than what was best for the overall book. Explaining the Parodical Son Parable, takes 6 pages, while an explanation of how various Chinese symbols line-up with various Bible stories takes 3, but the section entitled “the Virgin Birth” takes not quite 2 pages.
A small quirk but beginning new sub-sections directly where the last left off, rather than on a new page seemed to lesson their divisions and make for some really wonky formatting.
OTHER NOTES:
The author uses a mixture of the CSB and the NIV. While he never addresses the issue of Bible translations, nor do I remember him even explaining what those initials mean, it’s a bit odd that he bounces back and forth so often and quickly between translations. There seems to be no rhyme or reason behind when he chooses one over the other, nor why he chose those two alone and no others. Both are serviceable and solid choices for this kind of book, but I almost feel he would have been better off either choosing just one, or using several, or switching with a bit more of a pattern/reason behind it.
CONCLUSION:
The book does a good job at what it sets out to do. Just be aware of that goal before expecting something different. It’s a book that takes around 50 passages of Scripture, offers some light connecting commentary, and lays out the basic storyline of God’s salvation. It’s not tracing every story, or even all the big ones. It’s not hitting every theme or doctrine, and it’s got some notable gaps. It’s also got some pacing issues. However, I do feel that the book does a good job showing the beautiful story of the entire Bible and what that story means for our lives today. It highlights Jesus, the greatest subject of any book, through quoting much of his Book, the Bible.
I think this would be really handy for a church class on the Gospel, and it could certainly find use in a “New Believers” type course, though I feel it lacks some essential elements for that particular use. It was a refreshing and delightful read, and I hope more people take a look at this resource. For being a first-time author, John Pasquet has done a good job with this book. 4/5
Buy it here on Amazon.