Bibles Bible Studies Books

The professors clearly explained the historical period and background information that explained Mathew and luke's intended audience. And they pointed out the beauty in thought and language.

I used a lot of this material for sermons last Christmas and the people received it well. I learned so much from this small book. I highly recommend it!

Borg and Crossan give an esoteric and exhaustive exegesis of the birth of Jesus in the New Testament. The following quote summarizes their conclusion:

"It is not accurate to distinguish the imperial kingdom of Rome from the eschatological kingdom of God by claiming one is earthly the other heavenly, one is evil the other holy, or one is demonic the other sublime. That is simply name-calling. Both come to us with divine credentials for the good of humanity. They are two alternative transcendental visions. Empire promises peace through violent force. Eschaton promises peace through nonviolent justice.... That clash of visionary programs for our earth is the context and matrix for those Christmas stories, and they proclaim God's peace through justice over against Rome's peace through victory." (p.75)

They point out, for example, that Jesus' birth in Bethlehem symbolically says that he is the "son of David," the ideal king. According to Borg and Crossan, the divine conception of Jesus was a parable intended to counteract the claims that the Roman emperors were divine.

That Jesus chose twelve apostles symbolizes a reuniting of the tribes of Israel and shows Jesus was concerned about peace and justice on earth. But this is the beginning of a sign that the eschaton is a heavenly one promising hope for eternal life. This sign is not a single historical event, like the resurrection of Jesus, but a current event because it ends with the universal recognition that capitalism and democracy realizes for mankind "peace through justice."

Evidence of this new worldwide understanding is the demise of communism, the welfare reform movement, and the movement towards free trade between nations.

The end of communism in the Soviet Union and China proves there is no alternative to a market economy based on private ownership and control of businesses. Welfare reform in the United States reached its apex with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996. This legislation came from the realization that well-intentioned government programs, such as War on Poverty in the United States, can have negative consequences. The fight against tariffs, quotas, and subsidies is based on the principle that a business should expand when it is profitable and contract when it is not.

The historical path from the birth of Jesus to peace and justice on earth has been long and circuitous, but it has arrived. We have peace because one Western nation will never again go to war against another Western nation. We have justice too, in the sense of just government, not because there is an ideal king, but because the lack of justice is due to the sinfulness, malice, ignorance, and apathy of individuals.

A sign is an event, such as a miracle, that is a reason to believe a prophet was sent by God. A sign the authors discuss concerns the messianic hopes of Israel. Referring to Matthew's quoting of the Old Testament, the authors say:

"It is the basis for what is sometimes called "the argument from prophecy"; namely, the fulfillment of prophecy proves that Jesus is the Messiah, the promised one of Israel." (p. 201)

Faith is a gift from God as well as a decision to believe. Christians give reasons for believing in Jesus of Nazareth and are summoning everyone to believe. But this summons should not cause anyone to think they will be criticized if they don't decide to believe.

All the signs considered together account for a positive response to revelation. That the Old Testament predicts the coming of an anointed one from God is one of the signs that Jesus was an authentic prophet.

Another sign is that the Hebrew Bible is mankind's first narrative history. Herodotus (484-425 BCE) is called the Father of History because he gave a narrative account of the Greco-Persian Wars, which started in 498 BCE. Since the Bible gives vivid accounts of historical events going back to 10,000 BCE, Jewish people were historiographically hundreds of years ahead of the Greeks.

Another sign is that the Hebrew authors, though not as philosophically advanced as the Greeks, gave God a philosophically profound name in Exodus 3.14. The name Yahweh ("I am he who is.") summarizes the existential proof of God's existence: God is a pure act of existence whereas a human being is a composition of principles called essence and existence. In other words, since there are finite beings whose essence limits their existence, there must be a supernatural being, analogous to human beings, whose essence is to exist.

It is clear something wonderful has happened in the West (United States and other former English colonies, the European Union, and Japan) by comparing the standard of living and health care available to everyone in these constitutional democracies with conditions in nineteenth century England, the richest country in the world by far at that time. Democracy in the West is not a sham, but means individuals participate in government decisions that affect their lives. The recent arrival of justice and peace on earth is a sign because of the connection between the West, the Roman Catholic Church, and Jesus. The Roman Catholic Church claims to be founded by Jesus and achieved with Pope Innocent III (1160-1216) the height of its political power. The Roman Catholic Church is a forerunner of Western governments and faith in Jesus is the reason mankind has peace and justice.

According to the doctrine of original sin, God gave Adam and Eve, or the first human beings, sanctifying grace. Accompanying this gift was the absence of death and concupiscence, as we know it. Their sin deprived them and all of their descendants of a paradisal existence and gave rise to the possibility of injustice and violence. Christians believed that sanctifying grace and salvation was only available to members of the church founded by the twelve apostles.

We can speculate about justice and peace when Adam and Eve found themselves on our island of scarcity and danger. Did they fight over the results of their hunting and gathering? Did they cooperate with each other to get the most out of nature? Was one the slave of the other?

If the utilities of goods can be measured on a cardinal scale, a master-slave economy might increase utilities. This would happen if the increase in utility of goods used by the master is greater than the decrease in utility of goods used by the slave(s). If utilities can only be measured on an ordinal scale, voluntary cooperation maximizes utilities.

However, utility theory, as well as moral laws and human rights, should not be followed blindly without considering the existing circumstances. Suppose Adam and Eve were unable to agree on where and how to get food and shelter, or who would do the most burdensome and dangerous tasks? Wouldn't one or the other be justified in using force to guarantee their survival? Might not the injured party at some point see the error of being uncooperative?

In 325 CE, Constantine the Great, possibly collaborating with the Bishop of Rome, invited all the bishops of Christendom to a legislative session, the First Council of Nicaea, to resolve a controversy between homoiousians (Arians) and homoousians about who Jesus was. The difference between the two is more subtle than the difference between Aristotelian and Newtonian inertia, however, the participants agreed that the homoousians were right. Fifty-five years later, Theodosius the Great made Roman Catholicism the only legal religion in the Roman Empire:

"It is Our will that all the peoples who are ruled by the administration of Our Clemency shall practice that religion which the divine Peter the Apostle transmitted to the Romans,... The rest, however, whom We adjudge demented and insane, shall sustain the infamy of heretical dogmas, their meeting places shall not receive the name of churches, and they shall be smitten first by divine vengeance and secondly by the retribution of Our own initiative,..."(The Theodosian Code, XVI.1.2)

The edict shows that Theodosius was zealous about his religious faith. The massacre at Thessalonica in 390 indicates he also took his imperial duties seriously. What happened after the massacre shows the political power the Roman Catholic Church wielded even in those early days.

Theodosius ordered the massacre in a fit of anger when a riot over a false arrest caused the death of an officer in the Roman army. Theodosius's Gothic troops surrounded an amphitheater, filled because of a circus, and killed a predetermined number of the hapless spectators. In addition to the hooligans rounded up and executed by the local authorities after the riot, seven thousand were said to have been killed in the amphitheater. The bishop of the capital of the Western Roman Empire at that time (Saint Ambrose of Milan) denounced Theodosius publicly and excommunicated him for what he did. After performing public penance for eight months, Theodosius humbly went to Ambrose for the sacrament of Holy Communion.
In his letter of excommunication, Ambrose quoted the prophet Nathan chastising King David for killing Bathsheba's husband. In the following verses David accepts responsibility for his actions and acknowledges that his freedom is before God. This is the foundation of the morality of Jews, Christians, and Muslims:

"David said to Nathan, `I have sinned against Yahweh.' Nathan then said to David, `Yahweh, for his part, forgives your sin; you are not to die. But, since you have outraged Yahweh by doing this, the child born to you will die.'" (2 Samuel 12.13-14)

Theodosius's entire life shows he believed in God, tried to serve God, and hoped for salvation in the world to come. The following quotes from two famous nonbelievers shows what a lack of faith can mean. Sigmund Freud could be someone trying to justify betraying a friend and Jean-Paul Sartre could be someone contemplating suicide. Since self-centered atheists have ruled many an empire, the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity is a sign that God communicated himself to mankind through Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad:

"When I ask myself why I have always behaved honorably, ready to spare others and to be kind whenever possible, and when I did not give up being so when I observed that in that way one harms oneself and becomes an anvil because other people are brutal and untrustworthy, then it is true, I have no answer." (Ernest Jones, The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud (Three Volume Set), New York: Basic Books, Inc., Vol. II, p. 418)

"Every human reality is a passion in that it projects losing itself so as to found being and by the same stroke to constitute the In-itself which escapes contingency by being its own foundation, the Ens causa sui, which religions call God. Thus the passion of man is the reverse of that of Christ, for man loses himself as man in order that God may be born. But the idea of God is contradictory and we lose ourselves in vain. Man is a useless passion." (Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology (Routledge Classics), New York: Washington Square Press, p. 784)

In 496, the founder of the Frankish kingdom (Clovis I) converted to Catholicism, under the influence of his wife, Saint Clotilda, and the bishops of Gaul. The Catholic bishops supported Clovis's territorial conquests and the resulting kingdom was non-Arian, unlike some of the other Germanic kingdoms.

In 649, a council called by Pope Saint Martin I excommunicated certain bishops of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) for Monothelitism, the doctrine that Christ had only one will. The Byzantine emperor supported the heresy and, after a failed plan to assassinate the pope, arrested Martin and transported him to Constantinople. There he was found guilty of failing to subscribe to the heresy and died in 655 after much suffering and public humiliation.

The subservience of bishops in Byzantium to secular rulers, in contrast to Martin's steadfastness, is shown in the controversy over religious images. In 726 Emperor Leo III, under the influence of several Eastern bishops and Caliph Umar II, published an edict saying religious images were idols forbidden by Exodus 20.4-5 and commanding that they be destroyed. The patriarch of Constantinople protested, but Leo replaced him with one Anastasius. Because of the unpopularity of iconoclasm, Leo's son-in-law was able to temporarily depose Leo's son and successor, Constantine V. Constantine regained power and continued the fight against images by blinding and publicly flogging Anastasius, who had changed his mind about iconoclasm when Constantine was out of power. In 754 Constantine convoked an ecumenical council to condemn the worship of images. Bishops from Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem refused to attend, but over 340 bishops from Byzantine sees condemned image-worshipers. Iconoclasm was abandoned for good in 842.

In 732 at Poitiers in west central France, Charles Martel defeated an army of Caliph Hisham. In 754 at the Abbey of St. Denis near Paris, Pope Stephen II personally anointed Martel's son (Pepin the Short) King of the Franks. In return, the Franks sent an army into Italy to force the King of the Lombards to donate land to the pope, beginning a thousand-year reign over the Papal States.

Charlemagne (Pepin's son) was protective of Pope Adrian I and Pope Saint Leo III. When the Roman clergy and people elected Leo to succeed Adrian in 795, the family of Adrian, out of spite and jealousy, plotted to have Leo removed from office and attacked him viciously in the street in broad daylight. Leo was rescued and reinstated to his office by Charlemagne in 799. In 800, Charlemagne was crowned Imperator Augustus by Leo.

In 1073, Pope Saint Gregory VII was elected by the cardinal-bishops of Rome and confirmed in the office by Henry IV, German King and Roman Emperor, in accordance with an election law voted on by 113 bishops at a synod in Rome in 1059. In 1075 Gregory called a synod that banned the appointment of bishops by layman, making bishops dependent on the papacy rather than kings and other lords. This was especially threatening to civil authorities in Germany because the bishops there were feudal lords over vast territories in addition to being ecclesiastical authorities. At one point in the so-called investiture conflict, Henry lost so much support from rivals and bishops loyal to Gregory that he humbly submitted to Gregory at the Castle of Canossa to remove an excommunication against him. Gregory also made plans to raise an army to oppose the Seljukian Turks, but it was Pope Urban II who sent four crusading armies into the Holy Land in 1097.

Pope Alexander III was a professor at the University of Bologna, one of the first degree granting institutions in the world. He was the author of a commentary on the Decretum Gratiani, which is a 1400 page treatise on ecclesiastical law (canon law) written in 1040 by a Bolognese monk. Canon law is the positive law of the Roman Catholic Church and stood along side imperial, tribal, feudal, urban, mercantile, and manorial law. It was a constitutional body of law because it recognized limitations on the Church's authority, sets forth processes for selecting officials, and allocates legislative, administrative, and judicial powers.

In a famous case, Alexander added to the general theory of self-defense by ruling that two monks committed criminal sins by tying up two robbers, who ended up dead. Alexander incurred the enmity of Frederick I (Barbarossa) when he was Papal Chancellor by asserting at the Diet of Besançon in 1157 that the imperial crown is bestowed upon the German King by the pope. This caused a long schism that ended when Frederick reconciled with Alexander after his defeat at the Battle of Legnano in 1177.

Pope Innocent III, through excommunications and force of arms, wrested control over most of Italy from German knights and Norman barons. Educated at the University of Paris and the University of Bologna, Innocent wrote a number of decretals that became part of canon law. One decretal denied a request from a feudal lord in France to legitimatize two sons from a second marriage while his first marriage was canonically valid. Another decretal claimed the pope's right to settle the war going on between France and England. This decretal admitted the pope had no competence in purely feudal disputes, but said in matters where sins were being committed the papacy had jurisdiction. A third decretal addressed a civil war in Germany caused by the election of two rival kings and said the pope has the authority to decide between the two kings and whether a king of Germany is fit to be emperor. In another case, Innocent excommunicated the entire country of France, with the exception of unbaptized infants, to pressure its king (Philip II Augustus) to reconcile with his lawful wife who he abandoned for another woman.

In 1212, Innocent deposed King John of England because of a disagreement about who should be the Archbishop of Canterbury, leaving it to Philip II Augustus to enforce the order. After being threatened by Philip, the English king followed the pope's advice. In a further attempt to placate the pope, King John entered into a feudal arrangement with Innocent in which the Roman Catholic Church would get 1000 marks per year and King John would get to rule England. This added to the grievances the English barons had against John and they forced him to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. Innocent opposed this important document in the development of constitutional law, not because of the rights it bestowed, but because it done without his consent.

The secular power of the papacy declined after Innocent, but England and France became modern nation-states by emulating the Roman Catholic Church. The first legislatures in Europe, after the fall of Rome, were the ecclesiastical councils, the first modern legal system was canon law, and the first administrators were church officials. Since the Middle Ages, the West has become one nation-state unified by the knowledge that democracy and capitalism is what people desire and what makes people happy.

The West's prosperity is due to mass production, technology, the division of labor, and the time-consuming and roundabout methods of production used. The West has been accumulating the means of production or capital for centuries.

According to Hernando de Soto, author of The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, a cause of poverty outside of the West is the absence of a system of property rights that is available to all citizens. Such systems have courts of law, title deeds, articles of incorporation, contracts, liens, easements, and public registries. Property rights create a large network or market for capital that has the effect of maximizing the usefulness of all assets, something that doesn't happen when ownership is informal and extralegal.

Another reason for the West's prosperity is the value Christians attach to honesty and other civic virtues. The following quote from St. Paul supports civic virtue because it implies that membership in families, clans, tribes, and ethnic groups is not as important as membership in the human race:

"So the Law was serving as a slave to look after us, to lead us to Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. But now that faith has come we are no longer under a slave looking after us; for all of you are the children of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus, since every one of you that has been baptized has been clothed in Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither slave nor freeman, there can be neither male nor female--for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3.24-28)

The importance of honesty in forming good governments is supported by the following quotes from Polybius (203-120 BCE) and Thomas Macaulay (1800-1859):

"But the quality in which the Roman commonwealth is most distinctly superior is in my opinion the nature of their religious convictions.... The consequence is that among the Greeks, apart from other things, members of the government, if they are entrusted with no more than a talent, though they have ten copyists and as many seals and twice as many witnesses, cannot keep their faith; whereas among the Romans those who as magistrates and legates are dealing with large sums of money maintain correct conduct just because they have pledged their faith by oath." (Polybius: The Histories, Book VI, paragraph 56)

"The mightiest princes of the East can scarcely, by the offer of enormous usury, draw forth any portion of the wealth which is concealed under the hearths of their subjects. The British government offers little more than four per cent.; and avarice hastens to bring forth tens of millions of rupees from its most secret repositories." (Miscellaneous works of Lord Macaulay in five volumes, Vol. III, New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1880, p. 51)

Modern science has progressed along with technology and productivity. Technology involves invention and innovation and the West's success can be explained by the freedom citizens have to take risks and accumulate wealth.

But what drove Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler to spend hours, days, and years analyzing the earth-based observations of the sky? They made this effort because they believed the universe is intelligible, orderly, and lawful. This conviction was based on the belief that the universe was created by a supernatural God, who has knowledge, free will, and reason analogous to the knowledge, free will, and reason of human beings. China in the Middle Ages was more advanced technologically than the West, but modern science did not develop in that civilization. The following quotes from Albert Einstein and the Bible support this thesis:

"All science of a high order presupposes a kind of act of faith in the intelligibility of nature. And the wonder of all wonders is that in fact nature has shown itself to be intelligible." (quoted by N. Clarke, The One and the Many: A Contemporary Thomistic Metaphysics , University of Notre Dame Press, p. 17)

"The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is its comprehensibility." (quoted by D. Overbye, "Einstein Letter of God Sells for $404,000," New York Times, May 17, 2008)

"The heavens declare the glory of God,
the vault of heaven proclaims his handiwork,
day discourses of it to day,
night to night hands on the knowledge.
No utterance at all, no speech,
not a sound to be heard,
but from the entire earth the design stands out,
this message reaches the whole world." (Psalms 19.1-4)

Modern science began when the Bishop of Paris wrote a letter condemning 219 heresies based on the science of Aristotle. The source of these heresies was the Islamic philosopher Ibn Rushd (1126-1198), known in the West as Averroes. The letter is known as the Condemnation of 1277:

"We excommunicate all those who shall have taught the said errors or any one of them, or shall have dared in any way to defend or uphold them, or even to listen to them, unless they choose to reveal themselves to us or to the chancery of Paris within seven days; in addition to which we shall proceed against them by inflicting such other penalties as the law requires according to the nature of the offense....
25. That God has infinite power, not because He makes something out of nothing, but because He maintains infinite motion....
66. That God could not move the heaven in a straight line, the reason being that He would then leave a vacuum.... "

Heresy No. 25 is a single attack and Heresy No. 66 is a double attack on God's omnipotence. The Bishop of Paris and his advisers from the faculty of theology at the University of Paris knew that vacuums did not exist in nature. However, they could see no reason why vacuums could not exist. They assumed that God thought the same way they did, and concluded that vacuums were possible. They also reasoned that God could move heaven, just as He could move everyone to believe in Him, if He wanted.

I greatly enjoyed the premise and writing and found it interresting and an increase to my knowledge vs. what my church has led me to believe for decades.

For a non Christian a magnificent interpretation of the times when Jesus was born and of the message of Christmas story in the evangiles.
It combines respect and love for the Christ with an historical explanation of what happened in this first years of the first century and why the evangelists told the story of his birth the way they did.

This is an excellent study Bible. It is sure to enrich the faith journey of anyone who anyone who enjoys studying scripture.

This Bible is very helpful in the Disciple study in which I am participating. I recommend it because it is a good study guide.

This book was shipped within the next 5 days. Service was excellent. The book was exactly what I was looking for. The book was in perfect condition and has been a great asset to my BIB102 class.

I had recently been looking for a Study Bible that would be challenging and faith affirming to my walk. I made the mistake of purchasing the Apolgetics Study Bible and found myself questioning how Christianity could possibly survive when fodder like that is what we are presenting to a non-Christian world. When I was directed towards this study bible I found that finally there are biblical scholars who deeply care about what a text actually means, not so much about conforming the text to pre-conceived ideas. So far my reading has been enjoyable and enlightening and I'm looking forward to continuing my study. I highly recommend this study bible.

The Bible commentaries are written from a liberal theological perspective. It is obvious that the authors believe the Bible is just a product of ancient myths and storytelling. They disbelieve miracles and explain away prophecy by assigning late dates to the books. The notes put forth theories that are based upon opinion and conjecture rather than solid textual evidence. More a work of anti-Christian and anti-Jewish propaganda than a balanced, scholarly work. Also, while it is not a bad translation, the NRSV does have some gender-neutrality inserted into it. All in all, I cannot recommend this study Bible. It reads like skeptics and non-believers wrote it. Instead, I would recommend the NIV Study Bible or NKJV Study Bible.

Richard Foster has provided us with yet another treasure. I found this book an encouraging guide to the reading of the Scriptures. Foster invites his readers to enter the world of the Bible and find a God who is intimately and personally involved with his creation. This God has invited us into relationship, and Foster directs his reader how they might be transformed by this relationship through the reading of the Bible. A common refrain in Foster's account is that God is continually found in the Scriptures as being with his people, yet God asks us, "Are you with me?" God is present with us. Foster challenges us to learn how to pay attention.

The book includes instruction on how to read the Bible with the heart, the mind, and within the context of the community. Foster, drawing from the work of Dallas Willard, wants to encourage his readers to take up the reading of the Bible in a way that one's character is transformed. He believes that the Bible, by God's grace, can help us to be disciplined people who "do the right thing at the right time for the right reason." Foster's final section instructs the reader on how they might be disciplined in relationships, discover freedom in Christ, and walk by God's grace.

This book is a good read with a number of examples drawn from Foster's experience and his extensive readings from classic devotional works. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to further refine their approach to reading the Bible.

In college, I took a course on Biblical Exegesis that involved three major steps:

1. Look at the passage in a historical context
2. Determine the overarching/universal principle in the passage
3. Apply the universal principle in modern context

How to study your Bible by Kay Arthur is an easy to understand manual on doing those three steps above (without the worry about getting a good grade in class). Because the Bible is a harmonious book, it will always agree with itself. Using the Bible to determine what the Bible is trying to say is key to having an accurate understanding of God and a biblical foundation to your faith.

Kay Arthur has a marvalous peice of work in the "How To Study The Bible". This book is designed for people that want to study on their own rather then a group, but make no mistake about it it can be used in group as well.

Great step by step instructions on how to break down each book of the bible and utilize the 5 W's and the H. I found it helpful because I needed something that could simplify the bible on my own so that I may seek the word of God by myself and geat a great appreciation for it.

I recommend this study guide to anyone that wants to get deeper into God's word and what he is speaking to your heart.

They sent the book right away and I got sooner than was expected. They did a great job packaging it, nothing was bent or anything.

Awesome study tool! It helped me as soon as I began reading it. This book helps you to organize information you already know and put it into perspective. Easy to apply to studying material!

The most basic of biblical interpretation rules is that the Bible is best interpreted with the Bible itself. This book is a primer in the most effective way to study the Bible using the Bible. The inductive method of bible study is one of many ways to study the Bible, but it is one of the most effective.

Many have read the Bible devotionally and have never actually studied its words. This book will provide a growing Christian with what they need to put their growth into high gear. The book and its methods in use are a joy to experience, and the methods are far from the idea that many might have from the book's title. This is not dry bible study.

If you follow the advice and the reasoning in this book, I predict you will have an experience with the Bible similar to that described in the Road to Emmaus passage (Luke 24:13-32). That is, your hearts will burn within you as He opens up the Scriptures to you.

A fascinating read - very encouraging and challenging. Peterson is the author of The Message, a contemporary translation of God's Word which many have praised for its insight and depth. In this book, Peterson examines the way that Christians approach reading Scripture and basically says that most read God's Word incorrectly. According to the Book of Revelation, Peterson says that we are to eat God's Word, to digest it, to allow it to enter our very being. He claims that even the way that the Bible is written is as important as what is written in the Bible - again, that the comprehensive manner of Scripture lends itself to a comprehensive digestion of the whole, as opposed to reading bits and pieces or taking smaller chucks of the larger whole. Like a novel or a movie, the Bible is written in such a manner to communicate a story that taken in small bites as verses or chapters misses the forest for the trees. Peterson also says that Christians shouldn't just read Scripture, they should assimilate it into their very lives - God's truth should emanate forth from their lives, in their decisions, by their actions and countenance. As Christ has described Himself as the Bread of Life and has declared that men should not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from God - Peterson uses this concept to further reinforce his premise that Scripture is the very nutritional sustenance necessary for daily living. Without God's Word we are anemic and frail, with it we are energized and empowered.

Eat This Book is not an easy read - not as easy as Peterson's The Message translation. He dives into some deep issues in this book including the four elements of reading - lectio, meditation, oratio, and comtemplatio. The information is powerful and very challenging and I would suggest this book for any serious, or wanting-to-be-more serious, student of Scripture.

Eugene Peterson is a mighty man of God. I love his books because they are well-researched, beautifully written and leave a lasting impression.

If you want to get closer to God, Eugene Peterson can show you how!

I recommend Peterson to every seeker I meet.

Kristine M Smith, Author
DeForest Kelley: A Harvest of Memories : My Life and Times With a Remarkable Gentleman Actor

Excellent way to delve into the Word! A great aid to understanding Scripture and applying it to one's life. Highly recommend!!

This was a great book. The vocab may have been a little heavy in some places, but it had such a solid message that is rarely talked about in such ways. This is Peterson's best by far. It was like reading the best sermon. I couldn't put it down. But, it was right up my alley. I love to tell scriptures in creative ways that are still wholly truthful. Peterson is a pro. I'm, evidently, still a beginner.

The Bible For Dummies...Finally! A book that is written with the mentality of its intended audience firmly in mind!
There are many books with the sub-text"for dummies" ...most of these concentrate on useful topics.."Computers for dummies"or "French cuisine for dummies"..Some delve into more esoteric topics,explaining how certain famous authors created thier alternate fictional worlds,or decribing old traditions or belief-systems to modern readers...
Writing a book like this one,for "dummies"and about the bible one must tread carefully..Those who blindly have"faith" in what the bible claims will not be satisfied with any "explainations" that do not conform with thier own notions,and,on the other hand,those who have a scientific,"secular" approach to things will find "explainations" of such unlikely events as walking on water or raising the dead to be,in a word,absurd...
Not that this author does not try..Much of what he lists here is based on the more prevailing religious traditions,which in itself is an underlining of the the irony to be found in the books title..For far too many the bible is not a religious tradition but a book of"facts",based on "belief" and not on reality..And since this points to a subjective rather than an objective point of view,any tidbit of data to be found in this volume will be compared to whatever form of belief the reader subscribes to and either accepted or rejected on that basis alone...
One cannot write a book "for dummies" about the bible,since one must,for all practical purposes,be a"dummy" in the first place to believe in much of what the bible contains.

Book gives a generalized summary of the Bible. Very little interpretation. Good for basic reading/introduction.

Well written and holds my attention. Good overview. Using it for a Sunday School class.

I have always tried to read the Bible front to back, and I have always gotten lost somewhere in the middle of Genesis. This book has helped turn the confusion into common, understandable words. I am still early in the book, BUT I now understand WAY more than I ever have. There are also tidbits throughout that explain contreversal and interesting parts of the Bible, and the authors present them without bias. The first chapter made me understand differences between the Literature used by Jews, Christians, and the Koran; I had no idea we believe in the same beginnings. This is a great book for the person, like me, who has tried to understand the Bible but can never get past the wording and sequencing. If you are looking for direction in spirituality, this may not be the inpirational jolt you need. Forget about what serious Bible-beaters tell you, the light-hearted speech of the authors does NOT deface nor belittle the wonderful message the Bible has for us.

I teach theology and this book is invaluable for Scripture study. It is written in a light-hearted style that is easy to read and thoroughly immersed in the heart of the Bible. A must-have for anyone interested in truly understanding the Word.

This Bible even comes in large print. It is the best "study Bible" I have found. The design is so "user-friendly". I can't see how anyone would be disappointed. It is excellent!

The Bible is well-made, and well bound. The study helps are comprehensive, and the best I've used. Background and historical information is helpful, and notes on translation variations are illuminating.Recommended for anyone wanting to study the Bible without a lot of extra books out at the same time. It doesn't completely eliminate the usefulness of a Bible dictionary or encyclopedia, but for the average reader who wants to get a full sense of the meanings of the texts without getting bogged down in other resources and commentaries, it's a great choice.

great study Bible, has information on each book at the beginning. lots of help on each page, loaded with maps.

This is the 3rd of these that I have purchased. I got one for myself, 2 for 2 of my daughters, and we are all very happy with them. The type is very easy to read, the intros and footnotes are informative and I find it to be very sturdy, as well, as it gets carried around quite a bit. The price is excellent for a Bible of this quality.

I've found the NIV to be the easiest translation to read, and at times quite poetic. But more importantly (for poetry I'll hit up the King James) it helps bring the Word to me. ANd the study Bible is a valuable tool.

I was hesitant to purchase the NLT Study Bible after earlier this year buying the NLT "Discover God" Study Bible--also published by Tyndale. I debated whether or not to get it but checked out their website and was convinced. I am not only not disappointed, I am very pleased with this work.

The NLT is a very readable translation (yes, it is a translation, not a paraphrase). Many Bibles now have the annoying single column, like a book, but the NLT Study Bible has its Biblical text in two columns and the study notes in three columns. To further separate the words of God from the words of man, a different font is used--looks like serif font in the text and a sans-serif in the notes. There are "insets" with helpful sketches of characters (like Eli), people groups (like the Philistines), or things (like the Ark of the Covenant).

The hardback version is well constructed, readable, and has excellent, practical, and helpful study notes. It has a dictionary/concordance in the back which is a small step above the standard concordance. There are color maps in the back but the text and graphics throughout the Bible are all single color, though quite understandable.

The book intros are good without getting bogged down in trivia and even gives a "further reading" list.

I own the "NIV Study Bible", the "Reformation Study Bible" (ESV translation), the "Apologetics Study Bible" (HCSB), the Ryrie Study Bible (NAS), and the "Discover God" (NLT) study Bible. Of these, the "NLT Study Bible" is my new favorite. If you're looking for a readable translation, helpful study notes, and a well-thought-out design, this would be a great addition to your library.

Introduction to the NLT Study Bible
In the Introduction, there is a NLT Study Bible Features Guide. There is also a six page Master Timeline which covers the historical period from creation to approximately AD 330. The timeline is quite detailed and gives an overview of what was happening during the periods covered by books of the Bible. Not only does it list the Kings of Israel and Judah, but it also covers the kings of Assyria, Babylonia, Media-Persia and Rome.

The introduction also includes a list of NLT Study Bible Contributors. I'm no scholar and my library is limited, but several names managed to catch my eye: Daniel Block, Tremper Longman III, John Oswalt, Grant Osborne, Robert Stein, Mark Strauss, Douglas Moo, Sean Harrison and Philip Comfort.

Book and Section Introductions
The book introductions cover the usual Setting, Summary, Authorship, Setting and Date information to be found in most Study Bibles. There are several features of the Book Introductions which stood out to me as special. Each book introduction includes a map showing the geographic region covered in the book. There is a timeline for each book.

As in most Study Bibles, there is an Outline. The NLT Study Bible takes the Outline a step or two further than most in that it is a running outline. I have found this to be a very helpful feature. To quote from the Features Guide:

"Each book includes an outline with up to three levels of headings. In the introduction, we provide the first level of the outline to give the reader an overview. The full outline is embedded in the NLT text as running headings."

The Book Introductions also include a Further Reading section which has book recommendations for further study. In skimming the recommendations from several introductions, the books seem to be solid. I even own several of them so of course I like the lists.

In addition to the Book Introductions, there are Section Introductions. These include:

Old Testament
The Pentateuch
Historical Books
Books of Poetry and Wisdom
Books of the Prophets
New Testament
The Four Gospels
Letters of Paul
Paul's Letters to Timothy and Titus

There are also other informative articles of an introductory or chronological nature throughout, including:

Archaeology and Sources for OT Background
Abraham to Joshua
Time of the Judges
Israel's Monarch
Israel's Exile and Return
Life of Jesus
Harmony of the Four Gospels
Apostolic Age
Time After the Apostles

Miscellaneous Features in the Text
Scattered throughout the text are numerous helpful features including additional maps, genealogies, additional timelines, various charts and illustrations. You have to really try hard to get lost in this Study Bible. They keep everything pretty close at hand.

I have found the notes to be surprisingly relevant to the text. I say "surprisingly" because in other Study Bibles it seems that a rather large percentage of notes seem to be more filler than helpful. The notes in this Bible have been more consistently helpful to me personally.

Theme Notes and Person Profiles
Throughout the text there are notes regarding important themes and people. For instance, looking in the Gospel According to John there are numerous notes and profiles including:

The Word
John the Baptist
Miraculous Signs
Nicodemus
Believing
Living Water
The Jewish Leaders
That gets me through chapter 5.

Cross-References
I have found the cross-references to be more useful than that of most other Bibles. The references appear to be more consistently related to the idea of the verse rather than an individual word which is what was claimed in the introduction. Using them I have found it to be true. Parallel passages are clearly marked with parallel lines(//). Verses in the New Testament which are quotes of the Old Testament are marked with an asterisk (*).

Word Study System
Located within the cross-reference column are references to the Hebrew and Greek dictionaries in the back of the Study Bible. They are referenced to the Strong's Concordance numbers. The dictionaries include 100 Hebrew words and 100 Greek words. I wish there were more words included but I also want to be able to carry the NLT Study Bible without throwing out my back if you know what I mean. I would consider the words included to be rather significant, relatively speaking. The definitions are fairly broad in scope and at the end of each definition are a list of Biblical references where the words can be found. This has been a favorite, and helpful, feature of mine.

Subject Index
Following the Hebrew/Greek dictionaries in the back of the back there is a very comprehensive Subject Index which takes up 142 pages, slightly less than the TNIV Study Bible's Topics Index and Notes Index combined.

Dictionary / Concordance
The Dictionary/Concordance may be another favorite. Not only is it a concordance but it actually does contain definitions of many of the words, words from the KJV are so marked to aid someone (wisely) transitioning to the NLT, and brief biographical sketches of people.

Maps
In addition to the maps in the Introductions and in the text, there is a good collection of maps at the end of the Study Bible. There is no index included. However, given the other maps mentioned having an index in the back might be overkill. While I appreciate the inclusion of the extra maps in the back, I find myself using the Introduction and in text maps far more frequently as I find them much more convenient.

Concluding Remarks
Overall, I have found the NLT Study Bible to be an exceptional work. Beyond overall, each individual part of the work has truly impressed me. Perhaps I'm biased. When it was first announced and the features were listed on the NLT Study Bible website it seemed to me that someone had been reading my mind as to what features I had always wanted. It's almost like we were made for each other.

I give the NLT Study Bible my most enthusiastic endorsement and gladly recommend it to all.

I teach youth and this was a very concise way of compiling different study methods. This easy-to-understand guide offers 12 different Bible study methods to help you explore biblical truths, apply them to your life, and grow as a disciple. Personal Bible Study Methods will help you develop a customized, personal approach to exploring and studying the riches of God's Word. It was easy to understand and broken down comprehensively. Another great book by a great author with a gift of teaching.

I needed a guide to help me better study the Bible; I'm afraid this is not what I got, but I am dealing with it. In this Guide, there are more fill in the blanks than instructions, but as usual, unlike the Purpose Driven Church, I will try and make this work to my advantage.

Rick Warren has me a little 'symied' with his latest writings; the Church book and the study methods..Is the gentleman tired of "sharing" his awesome messages, (to us) that he has become a little distracted and lax on some subjects?

And trust me I'm a fan of his; but at this point a puzzeled one.

I just started reading this and I'm sure it will take me a long time to finish. There is so much information and I want to glean as much as possible before moving on to the next chapter.

While others enjoy Kay Arthur's inductive method study books (I own Discover the Bible for Yourself & How to Study Your Bible), I have found this book to probably be one of the most practical in my library. As another person mentioned, this is an update of an older book. Possibly the one someone mentioned that they received through Billy Graham's organization or this may really be an update of "12 Dynamic Bible Study Methods" by Warren and Shell. It does continue from where RA Torrey "How to Study the Bible" has left off and adds other methods that would be helpful to any student of the Bible. This book gives the tools necessary to help you to dig in the Word and will reinvigorate your Bible Study. All the Bible to interpret the Bible, take it literally wherever at all possible and preach the Word.

Rick Warren does a great job of reviewing basic methods one will need to study the bible. In my humble opinion this is a great resource for the money. Here is how it's set up.

He previews how materials you will need, and how different study resources are used. He also tells you which ones are considered some of the strongest.

He gives you a preview of the 12 bible study methods and then goes into each more in depth. The 12 bible study methods are: The Devotional Method, Chapter Summary Method, Character Quality Method, The Thematic Method, The Biographical Method, The topical Method, the Word Study Method, Book Background Method, Book Survey Method, Chapter Analysis Method, Book Synthesis Method, and the Verse By Verse Analysis Method.

He also has 7 appendices in the back. These appendices are to aid you in what you just learned. He also has a list of other bible study books in the back for further learning.

In Conclusion, I feel this is a good book to learn various methods for personal bible study. The book is inexpensive (I got it for less than ten dollars), detailed, it teaches you what you will need and why, and gives you the keys to applying these various methods. I give it four stars because it is not as detailed as it could have been. However, if your looking to dig deeper he shows you which books to go to. This is a 4 and a half star purchase in my humble opinion.

The Orthodox Study Bible is a marvelous source of Biblical and Patristic wisdom for which Orthodox Christians have waited with great eagerness. We do, however, miss the red lettering of the words of our Lord as found in the New Testament which preceded this wonderful work. I can not praise this resource enough! Congratulations to all who worked on it.

Unfortunately, I am not pleased with this release of the Orthodox Study Bible. (And it's not because I also have translated the Greek Septuagint.)
My main reason is this:
The editors have totally renumbered the verses in the Old Testament, making it practically impossible to follow along and compare with other editions.
In my edition, I informed the readers that "The LXX omits this verse." This makes it easier to follow along, for the non-orthodox reader, who wants to compare this edition with what they are familiar with, to learn more about the Septuagint. Books like 1 Samuel now are virtually impossible to compare one translation with another.
Other than that, it is nice to have a contemporary Bible that uses the Greek Septuagint as the Old Testament text.

Normally I don't do this... I'll give a product a good going over before I review it. However this is "on order" as a gift from a family member, but I couldn't wait, I saw it in the store and thumbed through it for a few minutes.

My initial impressions appear here. Set aside the "controversy" you've been seeing on here (granted, I'm Catholic, not Orthodox, so I might be missing something). This is a translation of the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament), and the New Testament is the New King James Version.

This is a nice hardcover Bible, with some big colorful icons interspersed. There are nice introductions and foot notes for each book, traditional interpretations of what each book says and who wrote it, plus extensive prayers, "how to read the bible," canon lists, and liturgical calendar type stuff in the back (maps and the like as well).

As expected, this includes the Deuterocanonical books found in Catholic bibles, placed in the traditional order for Orthodox (Orthodox view the Septuagint itself, which always included these "extra" books not found in the Hebrew, as the inspired canon of the "Old Testament") plus the Anagignoskenomena not found in the Catholic canon (ex: 3 Maccabees, 1 Esdras). Some of the books are named differently as well, keeping with Orthodox tradition (1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings are known as "1-4 Kingdoms").

I didn't check to see if the Psalms were numbered according to the LXX or were the Septuagint (rather than Masoretic) translation. I know that was a sticking point with some Orthodox, but I didn't have the time to compare.

This provides a both a handy reference for the Bible, from a Christian believer's standpoint, and also a nice introduction to some basic Orthodoxy for non-Orthodox.

I liked the fact that the CHURCH FATHERS are referenced in the footnotes, showing for example what John Chrysostom thought of certain passages of the Gospel of John.

The trouble is, and hopefully this will be fixed in a future addition, there is no SPECIFIC CITATION given. So if I want to know in what book John Chrysostom said such and such, I have go to looking through his complete works to find out. Not everyone realizes you can look that stuff up online, but it would have been nicer, if they had done the quotations like David Bercot's "A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs" which gave specific citations. So we're just trusting the author that the Patristic writer really said this somewhere (though it may be a paraphrase).

The pages are thinner than expected and the book is surprisingly lightweight, but feels good in the hands. The paper isn't too cheap (I hate "newsprint" type bibles).

I'll probably revise this once I own the thing myself and have more time to use it, but for now, it's worth getting... an above average Bible, and has a certain "one-of-a-kind-ness" to it even if you already own a half a dozen Bibles (like I do).

Oh, and it's missing 4 Maccabees, but then I guess that text was never considered "canonical" by the Eastern Orthodox church, and was only in an "appendix" to the Septuagint (unlike 1-3 Maccabees).

What I've seen so far is good, though there could be a few improvements (like direct citations of the Patristic commentary).

This is a very good Bible for Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike. The notes are very well written, though some of the OT notes are a little shallow (e.g. for Tobit). But simply having notes from an Orthodox perspective is a gift to us all.

Having the whole OT canon is also fantastic, and the translation is very readable.

Perhaps the most welcome surprise is that the notes for the 4 Gospels have been substantially updated for the better. For example, compare the notes for Luke in the previous version and this one. The new notes are head and shoulders above the others.

If this Bible has a flaw, it is that the paper is thin and the margins are narrow, but this does not take away from the book as a whole.

Yes, there are some who won't like it simply because it exists. What can you do? Don't let those nay-sayers turn you away. It's a wonderful resource, and very spiritually uplifting.

We own two copieis in our home, and they get used a lot!

The publication of the complete Orthodox Study Bible is indeed a most important event for all English-speaking Eastern Orthodox and other Liturgical Christians of the One True Apostolic Tradition (Old Catholics, Roman Catholics - and the Eastern Churches in Communion with them, Independent Catholics, Anglicans/Episcopalians, etc.) The scholars involved in this project have obviously laboured long and hard, the resulting translation being reverent and literal, the notes informative, and the general presentation beautiful. As Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ancient Orthodox Eparchy of Maryland, I am well-pleased to give this edition of the Holy Bible my Most Sacred Patriarchal and Apostolic Benediction as well as my absolute highest praise and recommendation to all.