Bibles Bible Studies Books

This is one of the most profound books on spirituality I have ever come across. For those who are questioning your faith and feel there is nothing in Christiandom that can help you find the answers to why you feel so miserable, why things don't seem to be going your way, this is the book for you. It has no answers, per say, but it does tell of one man's quest to find the living God and some of the revelations he came to while on that quest. A must have for any Christian library.

I must say that I am most troubled in my spirit that so many people gave this book a five star rating. I wonder if this guy has ever even picked up a Bible. The only reason I gave it one star is because I could not give it zero.

All I can really say about the book is that the god portrayed in it is not the God of the Bible. When I first began to read, I was impressed with the fact that Donald Miller has actually felt conviction for his sin and I was truly encouraged. Though after continuing on, I realized that it was not a conviction that produced a true repentance which leads to life, but just an emotional and romantic "poor me" story which unfortunately leads to death.

What shocks and concerns me is that someone who hates God as much as Donald Miller does can actually call himself a Christian. This is our fault brothers. This is our fault for being so complacent. If we don't take a stand against this type of humanistic nonsense, this is the "Christianity" that we can expect to keep seeing.

Filled with non-historical half-truths, this is just another postmodern, psychological self-help book which prostitutes Christian terminology to its own demise.

It's time to wake up.

I found myself laughing aloud one minute and welling with tears the next. This readable collection of thoughts on being Christian is compelling and inviting. It stretches the imagination of what could be and helps to expose some deeply guarded pharisaical practices in church culture. It will be offensive to some who are used to reading "Christian" books.

This book was truly worth more than the amount of money I spent to purchase it. The nonreligious thoughts he offers on Christianity are not only influential but they are valid to every individual. I not only cried, but literally laughed out loud! A "must read" for every Christ follower!

1. This is a flow of consciousness type book which offers some very honest and personal insights from a talented writer.

2. A Christian point of view coming more from the left offers insight into both the strengths and shallowness that mirrors and demonstrates the strengths and shallowness of the right. There are many evangelicals who need to consider and question the far or even moderate right point of view that has dominated evangelicalism and this book is one of the better ones. It doesn't require agreement to benefit.

3. A genuinely enjoyable read with some "aha" moments along the way that the author sees in himself that many readers will relate to and grow from along the way.

I enjoyed it and particularly benefitted from the story of the Confession Booth. It's revealing to me that many who dislike and disparage this book apart from coming from some predictable camps, are those who lead with their intellect and lack in the areas of practical compassion and loving people as Christ loved them. That shouldn't be lost on anyone while reading these reviews in general.

I ordered this Bible for my 11 yr. old grandaugher and she thinks it is wonderful. It was in excellent shape and shipped very fast.

This is a real good bible with a translation you could use to "quote". I liked the pages and inserts with explainations. You could sit down and just read facts and info on many subjects in the bible. I wish the pages were a little thicker so you could write or highlight on them. I suppose it would make this book thicker and heavier. It would make a great study bible for youth or any age. I, definately, would recommend this bible to anyone.

I have used this bible for a few years now and love it! I find the additional notes to be informative and thought provoking for students of all ages. We now purchase these for our 6th graders at my parish. The parents who saw our 'new' bibles really liked them too. I cannot recommend this book enough for both students and adults!

This bible is explained for understanding the meaning inside of the bible. It's described with more detail how God works to every prophet until His own Son Jesus Christ and full of guidances.

Excellent Easy to use Bible. Great for the Young adults in our lives. Makes great sense out of scripture. Hard to Find and Usually expensive, Extremely reasonable on Amazon.

In addition to what other reviewers have written, allow me to add a note about this book's style and format. Fr. Pacwa respects the intelligence of his readers, and doesn't hesitate to introduce deep theological points and insights rooted in etymology and history. Decades of preaching these concepts to a wide variety of audiences no doubt helps him do so. Likewise, the format is not of the "What-the-readings-mean-to-me" variety. Fr. Pacwa takes a cognitive approach to instruction, and readers are expected to probe and discuss meaty subject matter from the text. I intend to use this book for my weekly catechism group this fall; the fact that it is reasonably priced is an added bonus for the group's members. Highly recommended.

Father Pacwa is a biblical scholar of remarkable depth, but he's also a preacher who can communicate to ordinary people. He has produced something remarkable here: a profound synthesis of St. Paul's thinking on a variety of subjects, but in a form that's digestible for parish groups and home Bible studies. His special focus is the Church's sacraments, but he also touches upon other doctrinal, moral, and disciplinary issues. With this overview, we can recognize our present-day parishes in the congregations of so long ago. The Church is one, not only throughout the world, but through all time. This is the best introductory Bible study to Paul I've seen.

This book written by Father Mitch Pacwa, of EWTN fame was specifically written for the Year of Saint Paul. Written and presented in a way that makes it very intereactive, Fr. Mitch presents Saint Paul's teaching on six of the seven Sacraments. Each of these chapters/sessions delves into what Saint Paul taught and its relevance for us today.
The book also includes a checklist/reading guide to aid those who would like to read through the Pauline corpus during the Year of Saint Paul. The list is designed to help the reader make it through the writings of St. Paul in about three months, while taking no longer than 10 minutes a day to do so!
This is a very original book, presenting fresh material that is engaging and exciting. The boxes within the book provide interesting information, including some recent research that gives a new take on the Letters to Timothy and Titus.
Highly recommended!
I am the author of The How-To Book of the Mass: Everything You Need to Know but No One Ever Taught You

Joel Rosenberg has the credentials, experience, and knowledge to discuss the scary, but real implications in "Epicenter". All of the sources used by Rosenberg are sound and responsible, and include his own personal knowledge. One of these sources is the Holy Bible; completely vetted and historically accurate. Most people would "sniff" at this, however, that's only because they have never taken the time to read and vet the Bible for themselves, as many far more intellectual and qualified people have already done over hundreds of years.

This work can be very upsetting, because Rosenberg is speaking the truth and elucidating on it's implications for us, the entire human race. My advice? Read it anyway!

Turn on the national news and it will have something about the Middle East in the reports. This should not be a surprise as the Bible teaches that it will have profound influence on the end times.

This book explains what is going on in the Middle East in practical terms on a spiritual basis. It addresses such subjects as oil, Israel, Iraq, and Iran.

It is a must read for the Christian in today's world.

I encourage anyone who's concerned about rising oil prices, the future of our country and the world to read this book. Rosenberg has the best intelligence I've seen on this subject, his insights and connections are amazing. You can't put it down. I can't wait for his next non fiction, have read 3 of his fiction books too, Ezekial Option was the best, plan to read his newest: Dead Heat soon.

An extraordinary book which once again, is amazingly prophetic. After reading Epicenter, daily headlines simply reflect what Rosenberg has written about the intertwined histories of the U.S. and Israel. His interpretation of the prophetic passages in Ezekiel and Revelation has answered many of my own questions as to why the U.S. does not seem to be a major player in end time events. Warnings that we must not turn our backs on Israel are so relevant in light of daily threats to our two countries - may our politicians be listening! Each day seem to bring us closer to the close of history and this book is a real asset to understanding how we must be prepared - spiritually and as citizens of this country.

Ill-researched, dogmatic and demented - classic warmongering, in which religion plays its usual reactionary role. For example, US tele-evangelist Jim Robison opened a Republican National Convention by saying, "There will be no peace until Jesus comes. Any preaching of peace prior to this return is heresy. It is against the word of God. It is anti-Christ." This is a mirror-image of bin Laden's rhetoric - a tiny fanatical minority talking big to frighten us. Rosenberg is the same - frighten us into hysteria, to justify attacking countries that are no threat.

The study of doctrine should be important to any professing Christian. Understanding what you believe is essential. I have yet to read all through this book but plan on going through it in the next year. I am greatly looking forward to it.

This a fantastic book!,Imagine a book on Theology for everyman to enjoy,From the scholar to the layperson,everyone can enjoy understanding who God is.And this gentleman seems to write from a perspective of really loving God and people too,without any desire to impress anyone with his knowledge as Mr Grudem could easily do,This is a masterpiece and I cannot overemphasize how enjoyable and solid this hefty volume is,We need more men like this to break down these wonderful truths for us and yet they are still as meaty and can be as deep as you need to go with them,I thank my God for using Mr Grudem to bring this to us,all Glory to Him!!

Fantasticly easy to read systematic theology with some challenging questions at the end of each chapter.
Can't say I liked the hymms section because I didn't really know any of them to be honest (pentecostal / charismatic background sorry) but would be helpful to some.

I've tried reading a few systematic theologies before like Berkhofs, Hodge, Torey and even Calvins Institutes. All hopeless complex and I found myself stuggling. Grudems book is great for students who want a good understanding of Christian theology, but don't want to spend hours struggling with Archaic language and overly scholarlised books.

Grudem has a gift for making complex assertions simple facts. The other guys seem to do things the other way around. Not that there isnt any value in the other authors, but for me I found this book most helpful.
He is quite conservative and rigoursly biblical. Its not an historical or philosophical theology either so it should be renamed biblical theology.

Well worth it, its a massive book and its heavy. make sure you get a hardcover version, softcovers just wont cut it!!

Having spent a few months working through Grudem's Systematic Theology, I'm convinced it is a very important book. I think this will go down in church history as one of the best systematic theologies ever written, and can easily hold its own place on a shelf with works by Calvin, Gill, Henry and Poole. It's a great book to read straight through (if you have a lot of time on your hands) or to use as a reference for specific topics or questions you may have. It's laid out very well, user friendly for laymen, and has great supplementary info at the end of the chapters as well as at the back of the book. A great Reformed theology textbook and a great gift for any believer, whether in seminary or not. Youth pastors should be teaching this book instead of hosting gatherings for playing air hockey and eating pizza.

This is the most biblically accurate, readable, best structured, thought provoking, quick reference-friendly Theology book that I have ever seen. Grudem is thorough and concise. Even the the set up in the book is eye-friendly. You don't have to hold a Doctorate in Theology to understand it either. He writes in terms that any adult Christian should be able to understand. And he wrote some smaller versions of it so you can pass out to those who may be intimidated by the full text version.

Great book that provides a great tool for how to get deeper into the Bible. It is easy to follow and fairly simple to see the points. They provide great examples from different passages with different translations. And using different examples on how to go through an exegesical study helps the reader to follow the process. Highly recommended.

Another book that was required for a course. Another book that would not otherwise have been purchased. Content was OK. It contained some helpful and insightful information.

The book is an excellent journey into the word of God and will get you pointed in the right direction. Many Christians do not study the word of God in the correct context and this book rectifies a long standing problem in the Evangelical community concerning the interpretation of Scripture. I was concerned about the author's pushing the TNIV as the translation of choice for serious study of the Bible. I would have preferred that they used the NRSV with the TNIV being a strong secondary translation for study. I did appreciate the fact that they encouraged the use of Bible dictonaries and commentaries to study scripture, but I felt that thay should have done a chapter on good study bibles that can aid in understanding the text. I did feel that they interjected their opinions too much in the book and gave us their pet peeves, couched in the language of exegesis and hermeneutics. In the same vein, they did debunk a few misinterpretations on some biblical passages and they allow for healthy dissent. The most important thing is to read the Bible and this book gives a good start.

The title says it all. If you want to read the Bible for all its worth, you, not only read the book, but have to have your own copy. I borrowed the book from the library and started digging into it. There were many valuable Bible verses provided to illustrate and support the important points of the author's view. In order to gain the most from the book, I would need to go through all of these references. Since I did not have the time to do this at one time, I would like to keep a copy on my book shelf. In this case, I would be able to refer to it whenever I need to. So, I decided to purchase my own copy. If you are serious about understanding the Bible, I highly recommend this book to you.

I recommend this book without reservation. I have used it as a university instructor for years. Fee and Stuart, two of the world's foremost biblical scholars, guide the reader into understanding how to appropriately interpret scripture. They do this through many examples of misinterpretion from the original languages of Hebrew and Greek, as well as cultural misunderstandings of the ancient world. Fee and Stuart also guide the reader to understand the various genres of literature represented in scripture and how to read them appropriately. A companion text to "How to Read the Bible Book by Book" they should be tandom resources in every Bible student's personal library.

The book arrived earlier than expected. It was in very good condition & package.

The book is like new, it is in perfect condition. I am relly happy with the service

After reading the Know-it All and Jacobs' articles in Mental Floss Magazine, I looked forward to the Year of Living Biblically. With humor, dedication to the subject, and a suprisingly open-mind, Jacobs takes his readers on his spiritual journey. Incredibly, he uses the Bible as his 21st century road map. Jacobs combination of humor and insight make this a wonderful book!

I finished this book last night. I have to admit I was impressed as well as relieved that he maintined his agnostic status. I have always found religion to be the root of many of our problems as a society. Religion is like a super sharp knife when you use it the proper way you can create a great meal, but if you abuse it then only thing you can create is chaos. I find the book both entertaining in many ways and KUDOS to Julie for hanging in their despite being pregnant (with twins to boot) for most of the year. Great book AJ keep up the good work.

I found this book both "charming" and "funny" - it seemed created to inspire such insipid scare-quote bracketed adjectives. The balance of reverence and humor is just fine - and utterly unconvincing. The shallowness of the secular intellectual and the nice-guy emptiness of the NYC "lite"-Jewish journalist set my teeth on edge even as I genuinely enjoyed various anecdotes and the writing was consistently decent. Ultimately, the book is solipsistic and one has to decide if one enjoys the time and company one keeps while reading this book. For me, the answer is "no," and I allow as to others might have a different answer.

A.J. Jacobs, an editor at Esquire, must have a lot of time on his hands. Several years ago he decided to read Encyclopedia Brittanica from cover to cover, apparently in a quest to become the smartest person in the world (though a subsequent attempt to prove his knowledge on "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" showed that he had a long way to go (he missed the $32,000 question). He documented his year-long journey through the Encyclopedia in a bestselling book titled The Know-It-All. In his second book, The Year of Living Biblically, he dedicates a year to attempting to follow every rule and law in the Bible. Like its predecessor, this book has sold very well, quickly making its way onto the lists of bestsellers.

Jacobs is Jewish by birth but grew up in a family that did not practice the faith, or not seriously at any rate. After the birth of his son, though, Jacobs began to wonder if teaching his son about religion would scar him or make him a better person. He set out on this quest to determine how religion could impact a life. To that end he decided to study the Bible and seek to understand its every rule. For the first eight months he focused exclusively on the Old Testament, looking through the Bible to find even the most obscure laws. He implemented as many of them as he could. And in the last four months of the year he turned to the New Testament. He simply overs a chronological records of his year, providing a journal entry every two or three days.

While the book claims that Jacobs lived "biblically," the reader will soon note that he often relied in large part on Jewish extra-biblical interpretation of the Old Testament laws. Hence his practice of many of these rules was based not on a plain reading of the Bible but on age-old interpretations, many of which are almost unbelievably obscure and strangely mystical. We'll have to use the word "biblically" quite loosely.

Jacobs is at his best in this book when seeking the heart of the biblical commandments, when rather than just blindly following the commands he is seeking the reason God gave them and attempting to obey not the letter but the spirit. He is at his worst when he is being deliberately Pharisaical, seeking to adhere to the letter rather than the spirit. Hence he finds himself in a park tossing tiny pebbles at adulterers so he can fulfill the law to stone those who commit adultery. Or maybe he is at his worst when he is searching out the most radically liberal Christians to teach him not what the Bible teaches but what he wants to hear. Thus he attends a Bible study for homosexuals where he is taught that the Bible does not forbid homosexuality but merely homosexual rape. This appeals to him as a self-professed liberal but veers far from the broad stream of Christian interpretation. There are several occasions where he essentially admits that he is finding interpretations that appeal to him even if they are not strictly accurate.

In the end of it all, Jacobs seems to be little better off than when he began. He remains agnostic but somehow feels he can and should pray (to whom? to what end?). He has discovered some cultural Jewish roots but does not seem to have found any true faith. He has discovered the value of the sacred, but continues to forsake God.

The Year of Living Biblically has many poignant moments and many that are quite funny. There are even a few laugh out loud moments. But there are plenty of others that are no doubt supposed to be funny but which fall strangely flat. This is bound to happen in a book that stretches to almost 350 pages, perhaps a hundred more than it ought to have been. Yet it is by no means all bad. It was quite an enjoyable read, even if it did drag near the end. Still, as much as he seems to attempt to make this a book the reader will take seriously, Jacobs cannot escape it seeming more like a gimmick. This experiment is really a strange form of exhibitionism where he invites the readers into his life as he deliberately makes a fool of himself. It is more entertainment than of any serious value. It is for good reason, I suppose, that you will find the book filed under the heading of "Humor." It is a year of living loosely biblical and a year of gathering information that will lead to a bestselling book. The reader will have to decide which of those motives was foremost in the author's mind. Personally, I suspect the latter.

I loved AJ Jacobs' book The Know It All, so I was excited to see a new book by him. We chose it for our book club for July, at my suggestion. We haven't met yet, so I don't know what others thought, but I thought it was fantastic. Everytime I set it down, I was eager to pick it back up. As someone who was raised in a moderately religious family and attended private school, I have been fairly exposed to the Bible, but in the current state of the world, I often find it hard to relate to the Bible in any real way. I'm at the cusp of labeling myself an agnostic, but this book was very affirming for me. It's heartfelt and witty, and is fun without mocking the subject matter. I fully recommend it!

I teach high school religion and decided to use this book as my textbook for the Old Testament. I am extremely happy with the book. It contains an incredible wealth of knowledge, but is still easy enough for high school freshwomen to understand. I am especially impressed with the carefully thought out wording of the book. The wording does not make judgements for the reader, but instead it allows the reader to decide things for herself. Overall, this is a great book for learning about the Old Testament, and it is honest in what it says about the bible, which is very hard to find.

This is a very interesting Bible study by Beth Moore. The homework is different from any of her other studies. You will learn to personalize the psalms of ascent. The lectures are outstanding on the Jewish feasts and their application to our lives.

Another great study by Beth Moore. the shorter 7 week legnth was perfect for us to do over the summer and many in our group are new to Beth Moore so 7 weeks was a great intro.

Beth Moore Studies are absolutely wonderful. Our all-women Bible Study Group are almost Beth Moore junkies. We have done several of her studies and have never been disappointed. Amazon.com was really quick to send it to me as well. I received mine before others that ordered else where but on the same day. Thank you Amazon.com for the great transaction. I will only order from Amazon from now on and Thank you Beth Moore....keep them coming. The Daniel Study was fabulous too!

Another great Beth Moore study. Not as long as the rest of her studies.

I got so much from this study of the feasts of the Lord as told in the Psalms of Assent. I also loved writing the Psalms in my own words. As always Beth was so on fire in the videos. You cannot help but grow in your love of God thru this study.