Bibles Bible Studies Books

I looked a long time for a book like this! I find the information for each book of the bible in very helpful, tells history of the book, date written, author and then a summary of what happens in the book.

This is a great way to get a handle on the events of the bible. There are easy references from the outlines that help you go to scripture to look up further information as needed. The overview of each book help to put it into perspective with the relevant historical culture and relationship of old to new testament. Very interesting and handy tool.

I led a Bible study last year on 1Peter and we really felt God convicting us as how to depend on Him to make us gentle and quiet. At first we kept feeling that we really blew it but as we progressed we knew that it had to be the grace of God to help us conform to the image of Christ. I find Mrs. George's books very much in line with the written word of God and a real encouragement to live our lives to His glory.

Elizabeth George writes with a very personal style which makes the reader feel that you are learning and growing together with her. She writes without apology from a woman's viewpoint, laying out the truth of God's Word and letting the Word speak for itself. The truth of 1 Peter about the qualities of a gentle and quiet spirit are so misunderstood in our day. We are reminded of how precious they are to God and how beautiful is the woman who seeks after these qualities. The author greatly encourages the pursuit of knowing God and becoming a woman of God. This book is a classic for women, showing that the woman who has these qualities also gains quiet strength and beauty.

of mind is what comes after doing this study on 1Peter. Elizabeth George brings to the table a life that is walking in peace and she wants to share her experience with you.

This amazing little study put together by Elizabeth George is currently being used by our church's women's class. It has encouraged much discussion, is clearly Biblical, and simple, yet direct. There is no doubt left in any person's mind that this study is relevent for women of today who are facing many complex issues, and need Biblical hope and direction in problem solving for the future. Give this book a try for a young women's new study, small group, etc. You will not be disappointed !!

Best exegisis of Hebrews currently available. This should be on everybody's reference list or bookcase.

this is one of the great commentaries around, i only wish i could afford the whole set, but buying them one at a time will do. This is a must have.

As I was preparing to teach an adult Sunday School class on the book of Hebrews I bought three books on the epistle. One was a "common man's" explanation, another was a commentary from a famous preacher, the other was F.F. Bruce's commentary. My thought to use the "common man's" version for simple breakdown of the book, the famous preacher for color, and F.F. Bruce would fill in with scholarly commentary and insights.

By the end of our class, I never even cracked the other two books. F.F. Bruce does it all. What I found was that the common man's explanation was a mess, and the famous preacher nearly identically copied F.F. Bruce's structure and argumentation (but he had cool stories).

The surprising thing about this commentary is Bruce's use of Evangelical poetry by Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts, and John Bunyon to illustrate points the writer of Hebrews was trying to make. His use of historical documents to bolster points was also helpful to me. In one instance he used a portion of a letter Lucian wrote regarding how Christians were looking after an imprisoned Christian named Proteus Peregrinus. This was used as an example of the type of love being called for in the 13th chapter.

To those who care about such things, it is a solidly Evangelical work. I am guessing Jesus Seminar scholars may want to set their hair on fire after reading some of Bruce's conclusions. His conclusions, though are based on solid reasoning and scholarship. They are not haphazard.

Another thing to warn is that this book is not for a beginner. The format and writing borders on the "dry" side. It's a commentary, not entertainment. But the treasures held inside are worth digging for. I really appreciate the effort he put into this.

F. F. Bruce, long a leader in biblical exegesis, is at his best in this tome on the letter to the Hebrews. Repackaging an earlier work, this edition is a fine addition to any pastor's or biblical student's library.

I have to disagree with two of the reviewers here who have some negative comments on this commentary. As I am preaching through Hebrews, I've been looking at a number of commentaries. I look for helpful exegetical comments and summarizations, interaction with other scholarly viewpoints, and for spirituality in the comments. I believe Bruce gives us all three categories.

Let me illustrate what I mean. F.F. Bruce sees Hebrews 1 as part of a larger section of material extending through the end of chapter 2. He titles this 'The Finality of Christianity'. He then breaks chapter 1 into two parts, v.1-4 (more than prophets, Jesus is God) and 5-14 (superior to the angelic beings-citing seven groups of verses). He points out there are seven statements about Christ in v. 1-4 and seven scripture quote sections in v.5-14. He then goes on to draw implications from these that are helpful for the scholar somewhat, but more so for a bible course teacher or a preacher in the pulpit. One of his applications is the demolition of the JW view that Christ was originally an angel. After all the second section deals entirely with the concept that Christ is superior to angels.

His exegetical comments on the term 'universe' in Hebrews 1 help cut the legs out from under a lynch pin in the heretical view called 'open theism'. Although he doesn't take time to dive into the controversies, if you are familiar with them even a little, his comments are enough to help you realize that these verses are very significant in crucial debates among contemporary Evangelical circles.

I just found the observations he makes skip over the superfluous ones I have read in some other commentaries. His points seem pretty convincing and pretty relevant. I think this is another excellent commentary from F.F. Bruce. It's amazing to me that one man could produce so many good commentaries on so many different books of the bible.

I also think his material would help a SS teacher who goes deep in his classes. Although one doesn't need to know Greek to use this commentary, he deals with significant points in the Greek text.

Again in chapter 1 he points out that the scepter of uprightness uses a term which originally meant 'straight'. The idea of just or straight measurements does help clarify the exact nuance of the sort of rule referenced by this passage (I don't think this is an etymological fallacy-but a helpful insight by Bruce).

After reading several commentators besides Bruce, I found others to either lack in exegetical balance but to contain a lot of spiritual vim and vigor...or to be exceptionally boring and technical. This commentary blends scholarship and spirituality well. I would say it is truly superior to most of the other commentaries I have. Other excellent ones on Hebrews include Ellingworth and Murray. Lane is good also.

I read several years ago Pagels' "Beyond Belief," which is very helpful in understanding the so-called Gnostic Gospels. And this time too this book is very interesting; hence five stars. However, Judas of Iscariot remains still being the betrayer!
However the problems with these studies based on the archeologically old Christian documents are that (1) these documents were written well after the supposed year of Jesus' departure from this physical dimension, and (2) these documents may be very much distorted by the authors based on their beliefs. And because of these problems academic studies on Gnostic Gospels may continue for a long time to come for seeking the true story of Jesus. Is there any other way to know the true story? I think there is at least one way: psychical approach! Probably people interested in psychical research well know that the non-physical entity "Seth" talked about his controversial story of Jesus through the late American write-poet Jane Roberts (1929-1984) in his first book "Seth Speaks (1972)" in the last Session 591 of the book on 11 August 1971. Seth said to the effect that (a) Christ, the historical Jesus Christ, was not crucified, (b) He had no intention of dying in that manner; but others felt that to fulfill the prophecies in all ways, a crucifixion was a necessity, (c) the historical Jesus Christ did not take part in it, (d) There was a conspiracy in which Judas played a role, an attempt to make a martyr out of Christ; a deluded man who believed he was the Christ was chosen to be crucified. So in the Seth's story, the very Judas was the man who saved Jesus' life contrary to the canonical story of Judas being the meme of "Historical Betrayer." This may be a possible story as well, and I take the Seth's story because I believe the scientific study on "human reincarnation" by the late Prof. Ian Stevenson (1918-2007) as well as "the Great Memory" existing non-physically in other dimension as purported by F.W.H. Myers through the late Irish medium G. Cummins in the book "The Road to Immortality (1932)."
Maybe we can discover the true story of Jesus by the studies of academic people like Dr. Peagels, and also by psychical methods as well.

Pagels and King have produced a good translation of the Gospel of Judas, despite what some critics have said. One critic in particular has taken pains to cast aspersions on all translations of the Gospel of Judas, claiming that the text actually identifies Judas as a "demon" rather than a "spirit". Well, the original Coptic may have used the word "DAIMWN" rather than "PNEUMA", but that does not mean that Judas is supposed to be an evil spirit! Daimwn was a word that originally referred to "spirits" in a neutral way; for example, Socrates in his trial referred to the (benign) Daimwn that guided him to wisdom. The modern English word "demon" comes from the Greek Daimwn, but only where the Greek refers to an EVIL spirit (i.e. a kakodaimwn, or cacodemon).

That aside, this translation does seem pretty good. I took care to read the text of the Gospel first, and then the commentary, and I would advise all to do the same. My impression was that the text was clearly Gnostic. It is very similar to other Gnostic texts like the Gospel of Thomas and the Letter of Peter to Phillip. That is, a disciple or disciples are given secret teachings by Christ as to the true nature of the universe and of divine affairs - that the universe is a fake created by a mad god, and that penetration to the real universe can be achieved by true knowledge.

The fact that the disciple in question is Judas Iscariot does make this narrative rather unique.

The commentary by Elaine Pagels, in my opinion, downplays the Gnostic element of the Gospel of Judas by putting forward the thesis that the text is primarily to be read as a criticism of the cult of martyrs among Christians. To me, the martyrdom aspect of the Gospel is not very prominent compared with the revelations of the Gnostic universe. The Gospel should rather be seen as another example of a secret Gnostic revelation to a chosen disciple, albeit the one usually seen as the traitor.

The commentary also rambles on a bit. It is designed for the general reader, which makes it a bit too longwinded anyway. But Pagels also insists on comparing and contrasting the attitudes of the Gospel of Judas toward martyrs with every other non-canonical Christian work that mentions them. This, to me, wastes a good deal of space, though I always liked the Round Dance of the Cross.

On the up side, the discussions of Judas in the New Testament are interesting and informative, and the martyrdom aspect is indeed a part of the Gospel of Judas, even though I think Pagels harps on it far too much. On the whole, a fine translation of a newly discovered Gospel with some OK commentary.

What with all the 5 star ratings I see around this book, I wonder where your heads are... especially if you profess to be Christian. If not, then ignore what I say because it's to be expected.

What I see are false teachers, that have dredged up, and are spewing 2000 year old garbage in an attempt to turn people away from true gospel of Jesus Christ. But, that's what false teachers do... falsify information, distort truth, destroy faith, lie, and cause confusion.

Judas had full access to Jesus, night and day, for 3.5 years... then he betrayed the Son of God with a kiss, for 30 pieces of silver. He was a traitor! Nothing more, nothing less.

"The Gospel of Judas" was not written by Judas Iscariot... it was written abt 120 years after his death by another of the many false teachers trying to destroy Christianity at the time. It's not the archeological find of the century... it's a fake.

In Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity, Pagels and King explore the "Gospel of Judas" and the context in which it was written, to create a framework for the translation of the gospel in the second half of the book. Rather than ignore the gospel as heresy, they ask readers to consider the political forces at work. They argue that the gospel presents Judas not as a betrayer of Jesus, but as his greatest disciple. This challenges readers to reconsider traditional views of Judas, Jesus and the Church, perhaps even to forgive Judas and open their eyes to a larger view of Christianity.

Pagels and King explain that through the "Gospel of Judas" we can see that it is not the suffering of Jesus and the persecution of Christians that brings holiness. Rather, Christians must come to understand that Jesus did not die as a blood sacrifice but as a leader showing the way. The physical life is something to be overcome, not mourned.

Essentially, Pagels and King strive to overcome the bias with which we may approach the "Gospel of Judas." We must understand the context to see that the author is not simply trying to be inflammatory but reacting to the religious wars of his time. The book is very approachable, written for those who are not biblical scholars with a heavily annotated translation to help the reader in digestion of the gospel. Pagels and King offer a thorough explanation of the events leading to the gospel's conception as they explore other Christian works which lend support to its radical statements in the second section.

The Gospel of Judas is pretty interesting. The concept of a gospel of Judas takes some getting used to, and the content of this gospel is also best understood by someone with some understanding of writings such as those found at Nag Hammadi.

One must be somewhat dispassionate to read a text like this. Can you read with an open mind? Can you read what's there, and not "read into" the text your assumptions about Judas, your reactions to him?

I'm disappointed in Pagels and King's book, especially with the main body of the text, which Pagels wrote.

She misreads the text badly, and the impression she forms of it is not about the text but about her failure. If she just misread, it'd be only her problem, but then she miswrites, as though she would make her disease contageous by virtue of her authority as an expert on this sort of text.

When she misreads so many things and finds the text's author to be full of anger and rage, I have to wonder whether the anger and rage are located in the text or its author, or whether they are projected by Pagels, her own.

One example of her misreading concerns a vision that Judas has. In a vision he reports to Jesus, he sees the 12 disciples stoning him to death.

Pagels says the author of this gospel accuses the other disciples of stoning Judas. That's not what it says. It says Judas had a vision. It also says that when he reports his vision to Jesus, Jesus informs him that he has been deceived. Since there was additional content in the vision and there are holes in the text, we cannot be 100% sure that Jesus was saying that Judas was deceived in his belief that they would stone him, but it appears plausible.

In any event, this gospel does not say the disciples stoned him. Its author does not accuse them of stoning him, as Pagels says. She cites this as an example of the author's "anger." If the gospel doesn't say what she says it says, where is this "anger" to be found?

There are quite a few errors like this. If you get sucked into thinking this text says what Pagels says it says, you'll miss what it says. The blind lead the blind into the ditch.

The thought expressed in this gospel is subtle. Pagels' misinterpretation is crude. I think she has some sort of inner turmoil that's clouding her vision, as she projects all this anger and hate onto the author.

She stones him... and she misses. Badly.

This is sad. I liked "The Gnostic Paul." I've been disappointed with this book and with her "Beyond Belief."

In spite of these criticisms, I find about a fifth of the book's text to contain information worth reading. And the Gospel of Judas is good reading.

Just don't let her mislead you about what the text says. I'm reading this book through for a second time to pick up whatever things are worth keeping, and I'm seeing that she sometimes cites chapter and verse to back up her assertions about what the text says. When I read them, they do not say what she says they say.

The gospel author's thought is subtle. Her emotional reactions cause her to distort the meaning.

Sad.

It is difficult to find a reasonably priced, scholarly yet easily readable OT Intro text. I had been using the Boadt READING THE OLD TESTAMENT, which I enjoyed, when our professor recommended Ceresko's book as a good and more recent alternative. If a person were to study both of these texts, paying attention to the bibliographies, one would be well served.

I'm taking a course on the OT and the prof uses this book. I find the book very confusing at times.

For instance, chapters 9 and 10 are very confusing. He explains that Conquest and Gradual Settlement Models of Israel fairly well, but he does not explain the retribalizing. I was asking myself questions such as "who is retribalising?" Thankfully, I have a prof that explained this fairly well.

If, like me, you have to read this book, I wish you the best if luck in your course. To others, forget this book and get another one.

A publisher-friend told me about this book. She said it was just the kind of slick, easy-to-sell textbook that people want. So I took her up on the suggestion and used it in a class that I taught last fall. BIG MISTAKE. The presentation is bland. The scholarship is 10-20 years out-of-date, and the liberation perspective is a throwback to an earlier era (circa 1960-70's). Thankfully, there are still much better books out there (Anderson, Childs, Crenshaw, Duggan).

PS: My students cheered when I announced at the end of the semester that I would be using a different text in the future.

Don't let Ceresko's title scare you off. He does apply a Liberation Theology perspective to the Old Testament, but the scholarship is first rate and main stream. It is a well-rounded and user-friendly help in understanding the Hebrew Bible. Each chapter pretty much stands on its own so you can start anywhere you wish, e.g., the Psalms.

This was the most helpful text for my seminary class on the Old Testament.

The pictures in this book are great. I bought it for my nephew's first communion and my husband wanted to keep it for ourselves. A great choice and well done bible.

We ordered this bible as a gift to our religious education students. The illustrations are beautiful. I think the kids appreciated the bibles.

I bought this book for my second-grade son, who is preparing for his First Communion. He really likes this book, which is full of illustrations and Bible stories. It's really nice that the stories are about one page each, which makes it easy to pick up the book and read for a short while. The stories are just the right legnth for early readers. It's also good that the book has a Catholic perspective--tells about the first pope, so that it's consistent with what children are learning in the Catholic education classes.

I thought this book was going to be set up like a real Bible, chapters and all. It is set up like a story book. Also, the stories are not really written for pre-school age. It is more for kids around 7+.

My wife and I have found this Bible to be a perfect companion to teaching our son about Jesus through a Catholic theology. This will help in to grow in love and understanding of Jesus and the Catholic Faith.

The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era: Exploring the Background of Early Christianity by James S. Jeffers. 1999. 352 pages.

I picked this book up in the religious section at Half Priced Books. It sat on my too read pile for quite sometime. Once finished I let some time pass before I sat down to write this. First let me say I wish that this had been a required text in seminary.

The reason for that statement is exactly what this book does. This book puts scriptural references in context (this book has an index of ten pages of just scriptural references and citations). It is one thing to read a book about what life was like in Judea or even in the Roman Empire in the era from say 50 BC to 100 AD. And this book actually does a good job of explaining what life was like on an everyday basis across the spectrum of experience. It begins in a house and moves outward to the empire. You will gain a decent understanding of what was going on and why people did the things they did in the way they did them. You will grasp the gulf between a pre-Christian and a Christian influenced society. To compare society then with society now is a favorite of preachers and it is not an honest assessment or comparison, more like apples to oranges.

But intertwined in that narrative of Roman law, religion, morals, education, etc is a constant reference to the Bible, especially the New Testament. It allows the reader to better understand what was going on in the Bible and why it was. This is important because there is a decided lack of understanding. Our understanding has been clouded by an adherence to the words and interpretations of Patristics. You see The Fathers of the Church did not routinely use examples from scripture in the context that they were written. Rather the Fathers most often used the scriptures to comment on what was occurring in their own times, their interpretations were meant to address the context in which they were living and writing. And the two are not the same!

I think you will find that the book on the Roman -Greco world is not the most in depth book on the subject; you can certainly find volumes on each subject in the book. However it is much more scripturally centric (something the Fathers would really approve of!) and as such it is an excellent pivot point to start with.


Thinking further about the value of the book on the Greco-Roman World you only need to look at the role of women in society at that time. The book gives you a picture from the broad to the narrow. It starts with Roman women across the spectrum, then Hellenistic areas and lastly in Judea itself. In many ways the role or place of women was more akin to what we see in places like Saudi Arabia then in Europe today. Along comes the message of St. Paul ... No! not the one read at the Orthodox Wedding but rather that there is neither man nor women, free nor slave, Greek or Jew. Because ewe live in a society so far removed from Roman society at the time we are unable to really grasp how extremely radical that notion was. In fact how radical it was that men and women worshipped intermingled in the same place at the same time and that in many communities it was women not men who held the influence and power. This Christian notion and the way in which it was carried out in the beginning was far more liberating and far more radical then anything put forward by any women's liberation movement.

That is our inheritance. What is sad is that there some in Christendom who want to reconstruct that form of male social dominance.

This book was very shallow and too general. Didn't go in depth at all.

This book is a must for anyone that truly wants to understand the world of the first-century and its impact on the social, economic, political and history of the New Testament. I teach Bible classes, and during the course of my classes I will be using excerpts from this book. It's easy to read and follow. Do yourself a favor and purchase this work. It's well worth the cost.

This is the most wonderful book to supplement and tie ancient Roman and Greek culture to the roots of the early Christian church. I have used it to give my middle school students a greater understanding not only of the New Testament Scriptures, but a cohesive picture of the ancient world as the forces of government ebbed and flowed into the lives of the early Christians and Jews.

To understand the biblical world is important if we want to be more familiar with our Bible. But the problem is often, if not all, books about New Testament Background is not written for Christians in general. Most of them are dry or very dry to read. This one is a rare exception. You will be driven to read it from start to finish as soon as possible because EVERY chapter is ranged from good to very good, from interesting to very interesting.

If you want to have the most encyclopedic book about New Testament World what you must buy is Backgrounds of Early Christianity, 3rd ed. by Everett Ferguson. But for the rest of us, this book is the best option.

Paul's Letter to the Philippians by Gordon Fee is in the New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT) series published by Eerdmans. In this important commentary on this gem of a letter, Fee delves deeply into Paul's thought and Paul's world. I deeply enjoyed reading Fee's exposition, and was continually challenged by Paul's deep faith and his unflagging focus on Jesus Christ.

Fee surveys the important issues in the interpretation of Philippians, in constant dialogue (mostly in the notes) with other important commentators, and especially with O'Brien (NIGTC on Philippians), Silva (BECNT on Philippians), R. P. Martin, and Karl Barth, to name a few. But his commentary never gets bogged down in scholarly minutia. While he engages the pertinent issues, he almost entirely leaves his thoughtful technical discussions for the notes, where interested parties can easily find them, but where they can be left to the side to keep the focus on Philippians itself.

Fee looks at the question of the setting of the letter, and leans toward the more traditional view of Paul's Roman imprisonment as the setting (as opposed to either Caesarea or Ephesus, the latter of which has gained a good bit of attention in recent years), though the decision doesn't have much significance for understanding the letter itself. Of the more substantive matters in the letter, the "Christ Hymn" in Phil 2:5-11 has gained a mountain of scholarly attention, and Fee's careful discussion of that passage is insightful and fresh. He argues, against the tide of most modern scholarship, that the "hymn" really isn't a hymn at all, but a Pauline composition integral to the letter, even if poetic in form. And above all, he stresses that regardless, it should be treated as fully endorsed by Paul and integral to the letter, wherever one stands on its origin: Paul included it here for a reason, and it wasn't merely to give us a window into earlier hymnody.

With regard to the interpretation of the letter as a whole, Fee argues that it is a letter of friendship, and that this designation illumines many of the discussions throughout the letter, and especially the more "formal" elements at the beginning and end. This friendship can also be seen throughout in what he describes as a three-way bond between the Philippian believers, Paul, and Christ, which informs many of Paul's discussions and admonitions. As to the content of the letter itself, Fee sees steadfastness (in face of persecution and trial), unity (in face of challenges both within and without), and the unswerving focus on the gospel (living in Christ through the Spirit) as the three recurring themes and ongoing emphases throughout the letter.

There is far too much to comment on in a short review, but this great book deserves reading from cover to cover. Philippians, though not often seen as integral to understanding Paul's theology, is a very important window into Paul's heart. This volume is a great study of this short letter. It also reminds me that I really enjoy the NICNT series. It has great in-depth study of the text and the important exegetical issues, while keeping the discussions of Greek words to the notes. And the authors usually include a relatively brief reflection on the continuing significance or application of a passage to today at the end of each section. This volume, by the current editor of the series, shows why this tends to be the first place I go for NT scholarship.

If you are looking for a readable commentary that goes deeper into the meaning of Phillipians and it's application today but you aren't a pastor or a bible school student, then I would highly recommend this one. I thought his comments on the structure and intent of the letter were outstanding and a revelation to me. I think there is also much in this book for the serious student but for a layman like me just wanting to understand what God could say to me through Paul's little letter, this book is a dream come true!

I have been doing a Sunday School classes on Philippians and have found this commentary indispensible. It is thorough beyond expectation, insightful to the core and complete with life applicaiton sections following each section. I have been blessed and challenged so often by what he has to say. The Christ Hymn (so some - I prefer Christ Story), 2:5-11, had me in tears of joy and worship. It's a must have for any serious student of the Word. You won't regret this purchase.

One of the most attractive features we sometimes find in NT commentaries is the proposed reconstruction of historical circumstances or of social/cultural setting that serves as the framework for the whole study and accounts for all the details in a consistent way. To the extent that it is hypothetical we can never be sure matters were as reconstructed; to the extent that everything comes together so well we must admit the possibility. Gordon Fee, in his commentary on First Corinthians (NICNT, 1987), posited a history of conflict between the Corinthian church and Paul having to do with Paul's apostolic authority and with his gospel, and came up with an exegetical tour de force. Fee duplicates the feat in this commentary on Philippians. He understands the whole letter in terms of first century Greco-Roman conventions of letter writing, specifically letters of "friendship" and of "moral exhortation", applied to the respective situations of Pual and the Philippians when the letter was written, but typically transformed by Paul. This apostle's overriding concern is Christ and the gospel. As Fee says, "For in Paul's hands everything turns into gospel..." The three-way bond between Paul, the Philippians and Christ "is the glue that holds the letter together from beginning to end." The exposition accords with this understanding and with the chronological scheme on pages 38-39 (which became a point of reference that I returned to several times as I read through the commentary), and succeeds in presenting a coherent whole.

The content of the letter allows ample scope for theological consideration, to which Fee responds with insight (many insights). A striking example is the concept of theology in Philippians taking the form of story (p. 47); thus the famous Christ hymn (2:6-11) is consistently referred to as the Christ narrative. Fee agrees with other commentators before him that the purpose of the hymn (narrative) was the presentation of Christ as the ultimate model to be emulated by the Philippians (love, humility, obedience); but at the same time this passage represents "the heart of Pauline theology" because it summarizes so movingly the central role of Christ and the true nature of God. If Paul is passionate about Christ, so is Fee, and it shows through in a number of eloquent passages. He is no mere academic; to him, what Paul told the Philippians in the first century remains "a word for all seasons" (Fee's expression).

Technical matters and interaction with other scholars are mostly restricted to the very full and rewarding footnotes. I can't help thinking, though, that a few of these are needlessly argumentative. At least where Hawthorne is concerned, I checked some of Fee's objections and found Hawthorne (WBC, vol. 43) to be equally convincing. The oft-repeated advice stands: Always consult more than one commentary. This does not detract from the value of Gordon Fee's contribution; it should be on the shortlist of everyone looking for a solid, detailed, and readable study of Paul's Letter to the Philippians. [Four and a half stars, had fractional ratings been possible.]

Dr Fee has provided a commentary that is thoughtful and well constructed. The introductory material, 55 pages worth, provided an insightful context for the study of the letter. He went into adequate detail on controversies in the text without getting bogged down. I would recommend this to intermediate to advanced Bible students.

This book is wonderful! So uplifting and inspiring!! So needed in today's world, it's so easy to loose track of what we should be doing. Prayer should always come first and Guidance in prayer is always a need. Cynthia Heald is awesome! Check out all her other Becoming books.

An excellent purchase. This is a book of moving, heart deepening daily devotions. An excellent study in God's Word on prayer with personal application.

Cynthia's Heald's books "Becoming a woman of..." books are excellent for any woman, whether you are just starting to read the Bible or have read it 10 times. Cynthia's writing style was truly impressive to me. Each chapter starts with a reflective Bible verse and an exerpt from a Christian author or speaker. Then it gives you three or four different verses to look up in the Bible, sections to write your notes, and then a section with the Author's reflection on the concept of the chapter. The chapters increase in complexity, each more challenging as you go on through the book.

Yet another of Mrs. Heald's inspired Bible studies, this one has revolutionized my prayer life. It especially helped me to begin to recognize the enormous role that the Holy Spirit wants to play in my prayers, and how through prayer itself He can increasingly conform me to Christ. I am preparing to lead a small group Bible study using the book, and I expect God to do more life changing--that is my prayer. I would encourage any woman who wants to grow in Christ to study this book.

I am a huge fan of Cynthia Heald, and was excited to find this devotional. I spend time each day engaging in devotion and Bible study, but often find that I have trouble coming up with the words for prayer. I sometimes feel like the prayers are rehearsed and repeats of the day before, so I was eager to jump into this study: I was not disappointed! Ms. Heald shares some really great thoughts on prayer from various authors, as well as her own thoughts and ideas, that bring a new meaning to the intimate act of prayer. I feel that my prayer life has been enriched by this devotional. The only reason that I only gave it 4 stars is because I just finished "Becoming A Woman of Grace," which I rated 5 stars, and although I loved this book and reccommend it to anyone who enjoys daily devotionals, the latter is hard to beat.