Jay Seegert. Creation to Christ. Starting Point, 2022.

Creation to Christ is an easy-to-read summary of the history recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament. As the title suggests, it begins with the account of creation and takes us through all the highlights of Hebrew history through Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament to be written. It ends with a chapter about the so-called “years of silence” or intertestamental period, what happened in the Holy Land in the time between Malachi and the coming of Jesus of Nazareth.

The book is written for a Christian audience that may need some background or reminding of what the Old Testament tells us. The author laments that too many Christians focus exclusively on the New Testament and miss out on its historical and literary context because of ignorance of the Old Testament. Seegert does this in a somewhat lighthearted and self-deprecating manner. Seegert may be better known as a podcaster, and his entertaining verbal tone comes through.

Creation to Christ highlights the major events and characters, especially those emphasized in the New Testament. We go through the creation, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, the Tower of Babel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and the Exodus, King David, the division of the Kingdom, the attacks by the Assyrians and Babylonians, the return from Babylon. It briefly summarizes each of the prophetic books.

This is a good tool for churches and teachers. It does fill a need as the author suggested.

Because of the scope of the Hebrew Scriptures, readers and critics can easily become distracted. What about evolution? The Flood? Where did Cain’s wife come from? Why circumcision and dietary laws? Is the world thousands of years old or billions of years old?

Seegert does not want his reader to lose focus. This is his solution: The first two hundred pages summarize the Old Testament as we described here. They is followed by a 144-page appendix that deals with questions that might become distractions. The appendix contains seventeen sections handling those distracting or controversial questions that could lead the main text down rabbit trails the author is trying to avoid. There is even a short section on the Nephilim (for what it is worth, Seegert’s position is similar to that of Giants, a book we recently reviewed here).

The chapters are short. There are timelines and numerous illustrations. Even people who are not fond of reading or of reading theological tomes would be comfortable with the presentation and approach of this book.