Bibles Bible Studies Books

The book was in great condition just as it was stated. I received it much quicker than expected. Thanks

This book is a great source of background info on the written Bible. Most interesting to me is the history of Bible translation (languages, scholars, manuscripts, influences). The author covers the history of writing/printing, formation of the Bible canon, theories of translation, and issues related to the scribes. Also included is commentary on the modern English translations. The author goes into enough depth to provide a basis of understanding and good reference, but the style allows it to be read straight through. Surprisingly, I found this book to be a page-turner!

The study of faith as presented by Kenneth Hagin was very informative and comprehensive. After completing the study, I came away with a much broader and clearer understanding of bible faith. However, I ordered two copies of the book and both of them fell apart. Obviously, there is a defect in the binding from the publishing company. Other students in my bible class bought the same book from a christian book store and theirs fell apart as well. I needed the book for the class so I had to go ahead and use it. Otherwise, if I had more time to work with, I would have returned it for a refund.

This is a great study of biblical faith. There is also a fair amount of experiences that prove the outcome of faith that Kenneth Hagin teaches within the book. I am half way through it (it's hard to put down) and when I have completed it, I will begin reading it...along with my bible, again.

Every Christian should read! This is an excellent resource for those who are at work building up their faith, learning to receive from God! I am currently using this course as my Sunday School lesson book. The hope and encouragement that I see stirring in the people are very gratifying! This course takes you from the first baby-steps of faith all the way to using your faith for great things. I love it - use it to counsel individuals in my class. A valuable teaching tool!

This is the most awsome teaching on faith I have ever read. Very comprehensive, yet simple to read and understand. By the end you will understand how to walk by faith and believe God's Word is the sole source of Truth. God Bless.

I bought this book a month ago and it has blessed me tremendously!! Kenneth Hagin breaks down the different kinds of faith, what faith is, and how to apply your own faith. He also tells his own personal story about being healed from his death bed and many other experiences he had in the church, such as helping fellow Christians with their own faith. I love that there are questions after every lesson. This helps me to remember and understand what I have been taught in the lesson. I love reading Kenneth Hagin books because he speaks the truth about God. You will surely be blessed by this book and many other Kenneth Hagin books. This is a must read for anyone who is born-again, have weak faith, or for any Christian or anyone else who wants to have a relationship with God!!

Now I know why Paul is such a huge figure. He explains it to the masses.
I will be getting more works from author Wright.

Great commentary but it doesn't read like any other commentary I have found. Wright does an excellent job of presenting the big picture in Paul's letter to the Corinthians. He doesn't jump on any hobby horse issues as would be easy in this letter, rather he is very faithful to the text. I would recommend this to anyone interested in personal bible study or with anyone preparing a teaching or sermon series. Also, as the other reviewers mentioned, Wright brings out some excellent illustrations. I definitely recommend this to anyone and am looking forward to using the rest of the series.

The Everyone Series once again stays true to its name with this work on First Corinthians by Tom Wright. Tom give his translation, followed by an antecdote of some kind that illustrates the point, and then he gets down to interpretation. The entire commentary was good, but the strongest section for me was his work on the resurrection of Jesus in chapter 15. He also has interesting insight into the meaning of more complex issue like the role of women in the church and the Lord's supper. I am a Pentecostal and was worried that Wright might take a harsh view against speaking in other tongues, but he does not at all do so. This is the type of commentary that a pastor could recommend to his congregation to read without the worry of tough technical language or complex phillosophical discussions. Wright keeps it simple and interesting throughout.
There is also an excellent glossary of terms at the back of each of these books that can be really helpful.

I have read a lot of N T Wright but never a commentary. I purchased this little commentary on 1 Corinthians for a series I am teaching through the book using very technical commentaries. I feel like I have found a real treasure. Wright is a world class scholar but this series is written for anyone - even a brand new Christian - to understand. I am sure I will purchase all of this series. No one will be disappointed if they invest in Wright's successful attempt to explain the Bible in a way that anyone can understand and enjoy. Practical, easy to understand, true to the text, but still exposing the profound message of Paul's letter to the Corinthians.

Great book - as usual Davis explains the basics and makes you aware of things you thought you knew about in a different light. His books are always informative and easy to read and this one is no different. The Bible is challenging to understand and he helps make it more clear showing the whys and hows of the times and social mores in comparison to present times.

This book is filled with interesting information, and regardless of any claims the author makes, he truly doesn't believe the Bible is God's Word. He always gives the benefit of the doubt to the scientific information that refutes the Bible stories. He never considers that God can provide information to the authors of the Bible that may be true, even if it doesn't appear true to science. Basically, he considers the Bible a very interesting series of mythical books.
It's an interesting read, but I admit, I would have appreciated a balanced point of view. He really mocks the point of view that believes the Bible is the inerrant word of God. He may know a lot about Bible stories, but he doesn't know the most important thing, that it is the very word of God. If you don't believe the most basic claim of Biblical books, that this IS God's Word, then I don't understand why you would take the time to study it. Without faith, it's just folly and that is what the author presents the Bible as: folly.

Davis has the right title for this book. Except the title is more adaptable for himself than the readers. From reading his book I can see that he obviously doesn't know much about the Bible. As other readers have stated, I am not one of those close-minded conservatives who won't hear opposing arguments. This book is just downright amusing and angering. I'm not a monk or a priest & I haven't read the whole Bible, but I have plenty of knowledge and even a normal churchgoer has enough knowledge to be able to knock down Davis' so-called truths regarding the Bible. He presents a one-sided argument that is meant to discredit the Word of God. Like saying that the Four Gospels are contradictary. The 4 Gospels are like watching the same news story on 4 different channels. It's the same story told from different angles by 4 different people. Police can question a group of witnesses who saw the same crime but they will all recall it a different way. This book is great for anyone who wants an excuse for not believing in God. Davis presents what he thinks are inconsistencies and you wonder if he even took the time to read the verses he's writing about. For example, he tries to discredit Noah's Ark by saying the Bible says it rained for 40 days & 40 nights and that water covered the earth for 150 days. Is that your argument? Of course if it rained for 40 days & 40 nights then the water wouldn't evaporate the second the rain stopped. It would still be covering the earth, DUH! Davis is more content in calling truth the Greek myths, ancient folklore, Egyptian fairy tales, etc. This is nothing more than a work of blasphemy. Davis is an obvious nonbeliever and he doesn't even have enough of an argument to debate with. He basically calls Christians people who believe in God (yeah Davis doesn't know WHICH God) because Christians blindly believe what our ancestors did & believing in God is better than the alternatives because we might as well believe in something while we're down here. Oh yeah sure. And belief in God has been going on for how long? So how come this "myth" has outlasted any other?

Kenneth C. Davis's "Don't Know Much About the Bible: Everything You Need to Know About the Good Book but Never Learned" is an interesting popular history/theological discourse on the Biblical stories many of us don't know or don't remember. Davis, the author of other books in the "Don't Know Much About" series, has written an interesting and entertaining book, but, while I did learn something about the Bible reading this book, I have little faith that Davis's views on many of these subjects are correct.

Davis tells many of the Biblical stories in blunt, revealing language. He enjoys shocking the reader and bringing out the unsavory portions of the Biblical stories - the sex, the murder, the intrigue - that many people don't realize are there. He gives the historical context of Israel and tries to explain the role of many of the Biblical stories to the early Jews. Davis also recounts and explains the recurring themes of the Old Testament and helps tie together the stories and morals in ways that short Biblical readings every Sunday don't or can't do. This is where the book is the strongest.

However, although I am not in any way a Biblical scholar (else I probably wouldn't have been reading this book), there was enough in the book that made me mistrust too many of Davis's perspectives and his factual statements about the history of the Bible. Davis presents his perspective as the "truth" about the Bible, but two particular nuggets made me doubt his perspective:

-Davis wrote that "most scholars agree" that the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch) were written by four authors: J, E, D, and P. This is the "documentary hypothesis." However, some basic research reveals that the documentary hypothesis began to lose favor by most scholars in the 1960s and now is only one of several competing hypotheses behind the authorship of the Pentateuch.

-During the Proverbs discussion, Davis quoted: "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die" (Proverbs 23:13). He said that equating discipline with beating is a bad idea and that it turns morality upside down. Then he went on to say, ""In an era of commonplace child abuse, even hinting that the Bible condones such behavior is a grievous mistake." That method of "analysis" - condemning a Biblical proverb because of a perceived modern problem - is completely out of place in a supposedly-historical treatment of the Bible and made me doubt Davis's entire approach.

Davis's book is interesting, eye-opening, and thought-provoking. Ultimately, though, I doubted Davis's arguments and questioned his agenda. Still, this book may spark interest in the Bible and provide a loose framework, however flawed, for further learning about this book that so many of us know, but few know well.

Even non-believers should find this book frustrating, incomplete, and hypocritical. The author obviously just picked up a few of the most prominent humanist analyses of the bible and regurgitated a summary. I often found myself questioning whether he even read the passages he was talking about. He obviously had no idea of the over-arching themes of the bible nor how it all comes together to tell a coherent story.

This man is obviously not a scholar, and basically admits it by his most common quote,"most scholars believe". A good example is his tired re-telling of the JDPE theory of pentateuch authorship, a theory that has been refuted so often and so well by so many actual scholars that anyone who advocates it today is simply parading their ignorance for all to see.

The book is hypocrital on multiple levels, from the basic assumption by the author that his morality is superior to god's, and therefore he can cast judgement on anything in the bible and be right, to the ludicrous attempts to say that the bible doesn't condone corporal punishment, doesn't condemn homosexuality, etc.

If you want to spend a few hours reading a book and still not know anything about the bible, go ahead and read this one.

This book gives a good geographical understanding to the scriptures. It helps bring better understanding.

This atlas has features which will be appreciated by all students of Scripture.

This volume is an atlas in the true sense of the word. Its emphasis is on geography. In addition to the colored maps there are numerous black and white outline maps showing clearly the geographic features emphasized in the text. Photographs have been carefully chosen for the purpose of clarifying the text.

The atlas is organized to follow the Scriptura; narrative. This makes the atlas readily usable as a Bible study aid, and for textbook use.

The concluding chapter gives an enlightening resume of the Bible Lands Today [circa 1961], including a brief review of archaeological research to the present day.

An outstanding feature of this atlas is its Geographic Gazeteer. This gazetteer gives in concise form the location and other pertinent data on geographic names of significance in Scripture.

Features you will appreciate in Baker's Bible Atlas:

* 26 Colored Maps - covering every phase og Bible History
* Numerous Black and White Maps - geared to the contents of the Atlas
* 75 Photographs - to illustrate and illuminate the text
* Emphasis on Geography - making this an "atlas" in the true sense of the word
* Follows the Scriptural Narrative - making it eminently suited as a Bible study aid or as a college seminary textbook
* Enlightened Resume of Bible Lands - from the close of the New Testament to the present day
* Brief Review of Bible Archaeology - from its earliestcrude beginnings to it's very latest findings
* A Comprehensive Gazeteer - giving in concise form the location and other pertinent data on geographic names of significance in Scripture
* Highest Evangelical Authorship - eminently qualified by background studies, teaching and travel.
--- from book's dustjacket

this is very informative! to see how tranlasion should be. I could compare one translation with others without bias...
you will enjoy it, too.

For far too long, readers of the New Testament have treated the dubious translation choices of the past as gospel, pun intended. This book lays out the truth for the reader to examine on his own, if he is willing to set aside his preconceived idea of what the scriptures say. It is admirable to make the Bible your source of inspiration, but if you do so while misguided, much of the benefit is lost. Do yourself a favor, read "Truth in Translation", and do so with an open mind.

I'm a science and engineering guy, and I don't like it when people tell me to believe in something THEY really know nothing about. I now know why they know nothing about it. I believe in God, and I believe that God wants me to know WHY I can have faith in him... but you kind of need an accurate translation of the Bible to know that. Excellent researcher.

BeDuhn has written an outstanding book on Bible translation, which will be discussed for years to come. To start off with, he has no axe to grind for any particular religion. He comes across as totally unbiased. (of course some will disagree). His writing style is quite readable also displaying a sense of humor. He has an excellent command of the Greek language. What I especially enjoyed was the many exceptions pointed out in Collwell's "rule" of Greek grammer. If there are so many exceptions, how can it be a rule? Also a feature that I enjoyed was the pointing out in the inconsistencies in translation of the New International Version. The point of disagreement that I have with Professor BeDuhn is his disagreement of the use of the Name Jehovah in the Christian Greek Scriptures in the New World Translation. The Divine Name belongs in the Greek Scriptures. For example when Jesus was being tested by Satan, he quoted Deut. 6:16, at Matt.4:7, surely he wouldn't have bowed to Jewish tradition and avoid using the Divine Name. Also when he quoted from Isaiah 61:1,2 at Luke 4:17-19, he of course would have used the Divine Name. If you read the book "The Trinity's Weak Links Revealed", by Robert L. George, you will find a chapter in which there are listed many translations with the Divine Name in the Christian Greek Scriptures. That being said, this a very important book on Bible translation.This book helps bring an honest discussion to a subject which for too long has been dominated by prejudice and bias.

In "Truth In Translation", Jason BeDuhn strips the original Biblical language down to its bare bones and shows the reader what the Greek is literally saying, as he analyzes some commonly mistranslated words and phrases in 9 of the most widely-used English Translations of the N.T. available today.

One truly amazing thing about this book is that it seems to go down a path that no Biblical scholar has gone. Regardless of the final conclusion of his book (which will surprise many), just the whole idea of comparing translations using specific verses to see which is most biased is really unique in Biblical exegesis.

Although Dr. BeDuhn does not reveal his own religious leanings, choosing to remain as unbiased and neutral as possible, he strongly hints that the Trinity doctrine is not Biblical and that it has only found its way into Christianity due to biased English translations of the New Testament. As the author shows through careful consideration of the evidence, his suggestions about the Trinity, (and by extension, his book's conclusions) are essentially correct (although I slightly disagree with him on a few pionts).

But the true message of the book is not the wrongness of the Trinity doctrine, but the honesty of the translators. It just so happens that the Trinity doctrine is probably the best way to show how biased the translators of English New Testaments have been throughout the years.

Hopefully in the future BeDuhn will update the book to correct some of the typographical errors, which I found surprising due to his usual meticulous attention to detail when it comes to the Greek language. But those errors do little if any harm to his down-to-earth prose and honest evaluation of many commonly misapplied and misunderstood verses in the New Testament.

Congratulations to the author of this very important and ground-breaking book, a book that should assist many to open their minds and ask themselves the question that BeDuhn himself, through this very well-researched and honest material, is asking: Can my Bible translation be trusted?

Really like how Mounce gives us an verbal examples of these Greek words, after all it's like learning a whole new language (yea cause that is what it is)
If you are going to learn Greek this is a product worth it's weight in gold

I recomand this cd to any one who wants to learn biblical greek. If you learn all the words from this cd and with a litlle grammar you can manage through New Testament.
This cd is helpfull if you have also the book - Basic of Biblical Greek.
I recomand you use BibleWorks as a biblical software for reading greek new testament.

While not as comprehensive as Pennington's New Testament Greek Vocabulary, Mounce has a mastery and confidence wholly lacking in Pennington. Still the caveat remains; Zondervan pronunciation borders on inept and neglects to follow its own set rules. Omicron should be pronounced as in obey; consonantal iota should be pronounced as in onion. Other than that this cd serves its purpose. I would suggest Metzger's Lexical Aids for Students of New Testament Greek over Mounce. Just buy a pack of index cards for a dollar and save the trouble.

Clear Explanations for the Difficult Passages
Ron Rhodes
Harvest House Publishers, 2008
ISBN: 9780736921756
Reviewed by Debra Gaynor [...], 08/08
5 Stars
Excellent...
I teach an adult Sunday School Class and lead a weekly Bible study on Wednesday evenings. I am always on the lookout for tools appropriate for one of my classes. In Commonly Misunderstood Bible Verses, I have found a gem of a tool. Ron Rhodes takes difficult, confusing scripture and explains it.
Rhodes answers questions such as: Where did Cain get his wife? How can the destruction of Midian be morally justified? What is the host of heaven? In what sense has the earth been given to man? Is Jesus the beginning of God's creation and is He a created being?
Of course, he could not cover all of our questions in one book. Maybe he will consider a sequel. I will be using this book in the near future for a Bible study. Well done, Ron Rhodes! Whether you are a teacher, pastor, or leader and want an individual Bible Study, Commonly Misunderstood Bible Verses is an excellent resource tool.

Very good quality on exegetical insights as well as a fair overview of differing opinions.

I use this commentary to write a Sunday School lesson plan. It is a wonderful reference, and although he presents his views and reasoning it is balanced enough to let you do your own thinking.

As a pastor who is studying and preaching from the Greek text through Revelation, and who audited Beale at Wheaton on Revelation, I find that this commentary is used on every sermon.
It's a first rate commentary with opinions that true scholars and regular pastors learn to respect even if they do not agree with him on every point. Sometimes when reading Beale there are so many references to apocalyptic literature and other sources that one can get overwhelmed. Osborne doesn't give as many references, but the other reviewer is correct...he's easier to read than Beale or Aune. I have several hundred dollars of the best commentaries I could find on Revelation. This one is one of the few that almost always makes it in my book bag (and it's pretty thick). I am unwilling to go without it when I have the potential of preparing a sermon at home rather than my office.

He sets apart special comments and exegetical points in shaded frames for quick reference. One time when we were discussing a particularly detailed and crucial point in class Dr. Beale excitedly said, I've got to call Osborne about this....which shows that if one of the top scholars in the world on Revelation is excited about calling Osborne...he must be great. And as I've used him, I agree. His stuff is great.

When they diverge, I usually go with Beale, but Osborne makes one think carefully and helps you work through issues in a different way than Beale does. The big differences are that Osborne has smooth reading, fewer references to research on most points, but about as much material in general as Beale.

Any pastor who is preaching from Revelation should refer to Osborne as well as Beale for indepth background on almost every nuance of the text one can imagine. So although I cannot say I agree with every single point in this book...it's easily a five star commentary that you need in your library and open on your desk as you research the textual issues and depths of this incredible grand finale of the bible...the book of Revelation.

More accessible for the student than Beale, he is very readable and lucid and the layout is clear. He compares the views of different commentators (useful because he includes Beale and Aune). He deals with most options on difficult passages before coming to his own conclusion. Despite its size he is not over detailed. His interpretation is eclectic, i.e. he combines preterist, idealist and futurist, with the futurist being primary rather than idealist. Premill on chap 20. Uses his own translation of the Greek, which is better than the NIV. He is very useful on the Greek and Greek text is transliterated. Footnotes are kept to a minimum and textual variants are left to the end of each section. There is a good bibliography and four indexes. The introduction is short (49 p) but adequate for the student. Comments on a paragraph at a time, individual verses are not indicated, which is a pity. He is a little weak on numerology and sometimes fails to see or mention contrasts such as the new Jerusalem the Bride and Babylon the whore. Overall however, a very useful commentary, which I highly recommend for students, teachers and preachers. I found him hard to put down, he reads so well. He bodes well to become the standard evangelical commentary for students.

As a Bible teacher I have read many commentaries on the Revelation. I have taught every verse of the Revelation 3 times and have a different view than the one Osborne has. But in saying that I find this particular commentary the best balanced and clearest thinking of any I have read. It is not a technical commentary but I find it as useful as those that major in handling the original language. So read commentaries that agree with whatever view of interpretation you hold to - then sit back and really enjoy and be challenged by this clear writing scholar.

... I had the honor of taking a class in which Dr. Morris taught an overview of the Gospel of John. It was after this commentary had been published. Both hearing Dr. Morris and seeing this commentary have convinced me that although he was somewhat diminutive in stature, he was one of the scholarly giants of his generation.

If I may make a suggestion: when reading Morris' commentary, picture yourself sitting in a classroom with Dr. Morris. Then, as he "speaks", pretend you have the ability to raise your hand and ask him a question. (Had you been in his class, you would have found him remarkably cogent and very approachable.) Treat his commentary as an opportunity to, so to speak, interact with this great scholar.

To expand on my point a little, it seems to me that the point of reading a commentary is not so much to collect "all the right answers" like butterflies in a jar, as it is to have the opportunity to sit next to a gifted student (e.g. Dr. Morris) and listen to him as he tries to figure out what are the correct questions.

I don't want to suggest that reading Dr. Morris' commentary is a voyeuristic exercise. Not at all. Unlike many of our contemporaries (i.e. consistent post-Modernists), Dr. Morris apparently assumed that there is such a thing as objective truth and, through diligent study, we can know more and more about it. Yet, he seemed to have possessed a humility in his scholarship which is missing in the majority of scholars (and "poser" scholars) in every field. That may have been the reason he was such an excellent student and teacher of the Johannine literature. (Plus, he was as sharp as a tack.)

Not only is this a great commentary that can be easily read and understood, but it's footnotes take you even deeper and enrich the commentary for those who really want a scholarly experience. This is definately a tool the serious Bible student would want in his or her own library. This is one volume in a set of New Testament Commentaries, but does not depend on the other volumes. However, now that I have purchased this volume, I plan on buying the others as I continue into other New Testament studies.

I highly recommend this commentary for in-depth study of John's Gospel. Morris cites numerous authorities for insights into the material and then provides his own thoughtful assessment of the meaning and background. He is extremely thorough even to the point of analyzing subtle points of the Greek grammar. This is not a book that you can read quickly. It is for serious study of the Gospel according to John.

Morris' insights into John's text are, for the most part, extremely helpful. Although there are other commentaries on John that are more comprehensive, Morris doesn't get lost in the trees but always takes you back from the trees to see the Forest.

The thing that sets Morris apart from other commentators is his often pastoral insights. He always brings back the text to Christ and his redemptive work. If you are a pastor and want great sermon material, use Morris after your own study, he will not disappoint.

I read the commentary of John 6:52-53 and he says that the phrases "eat my flesh" and "drink my blood" can't be an alussion to the Eucharist, because both verbs are in aorist and this would mean that these actions are about a unique and irrepetible event,and we can't say that about the Eucharist.
Well, I want to say this with all the respect, and what I can tell you is that Leon Morris is completly wrong: I went to my Analytical Greek New Testament and I saw that John 6:52 or 53 has both verbs, eat and drink in aorist subjuntive active. After that I looked for identical verb forms in the Gospel of John and I found that if you go to John 17,10 you will read this:
"If you OBEY my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love".
Well, in the Greek Text the verb "obey" is in aorist subjuntive active voice, just like John 6:52 or 53. If we follow Leon Morris definition of the aorist, this would mean that it is enough to obey Jesus only once in a lifetime, and we will remain in Jesus'love forever. That's simply absurd and anti biblical. Read John 15:6. Leon Morris gives us a sample of how a heresy (the zwinglianism = salvation is sola fide, sacraments are nothing but symbols ) can make a good scholar be faithful to Zwingli, and forget about a good service to God's Word. If you go to Mark 7: 3-4 you will find that the greek verbs that the NIV translatates "give...a ceremonial washing" and "wash" are also aorist, subjuntive, and they can't be understood as "once in a lifetime" action:
"The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they GIVE their hands A CEREMONIAL WASHING", holding to the tradition of the elders. 4When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they WASH. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles" (Mark 7:3-4). The meaning is clear, the pharisees wash their hands each time that they came back home from their market place, and the same way Jesus tells us that each time (ean me) we eat Jesus flesh, Jesus gives us eternal life. Luther was right in this point, and Zwingli and Leon Morris, his disciple and not so good greek scholar are wrong.