Bibles Bible Studies Books

She does a great job telling the stories of these women with a feministic view, but notice the tombstones before the chapters. She takes the whole Bible out of context. "She was wounded for our transgressions?" Not in my Bible. Great stuff, but the her "tombstones" upset me.

This is one of the most eye opening books I have read! Tribble writes clearly and candidly. Her stories of what happens to some of the women in the Bible are frightening. She is good at reading between the lines. Her chapter on the Levite's concubin in Judges is truly frightening. Her book definately makes the point that the Old Testament writings by and large were not kind to women. This is putting it mildly!

While this book was originally published several years ago, the stories it presents may be new to many, even to practicing Jews and Christians. When was the last time you heard a sermon on the rape of Tamar? Trible's readings of these stories may also be new to many readers. I was so engaged by her work on these difficult texts that I literally could not stop reading until I had finished the whole book. I especially found interesting her insightful word studies. But the most significant aspect of Trible's book is her "reclaiming" of these stories so that they can be used to motivate us to work actively for justice so that others are not victims of such terror.

Phillis Trible, a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, is a noted authority on feminist interpretation and literary analysis of biblical stories of the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament. From the start of her career, Trible has addressed the topic of how gender and gender/sex relationships are represented in the bible. She looks for biblical themes that have a 'depatriarchalizing principle', which she admits is a relatively minor theme in the biblical texts.

However, this particular book, 'Texts of Terror', addresses the situation from a different view - these are stories in which women suffer tremendously under the weight of different kinds of patriarchal and male-dominated societal mores. Trible employs feminist critique and literary analysis to four particular stories - that of Hagar, Sarah's maid and mother of Ishmael; David's daughter Tamar; the daughter of Jephthah, sacrificed for her father's promise; and an unnamed concubine from Judges 19, who was brutalised in an astonishingly violent episode in the bible. These stories are offered up in way of a memoriam - the text has graphic openings with tombstones to each of the women, including an epitaph for each.

Trible offers her own translations of the Hebrew texts, translating as literally as possible in most instances. She goes into great detail, drawing out the contradictions and paradoxes in the stories, and makes every aspect important. These are sad stories, as Trible says, and they deserve honesty as they come to us. Trible highlights in her introduction various pitfalls - placing the stories in a disconnected past, recasting the Hebrew stories in a solely New Testament context, and to find an inappropriately happy or redemptive ending in these without allowing the honest conclusion, that sad stories have sad endings. Her idea is rather to let the texts speak and be difficult to wrestle with, in the same manner as Jacob wrestled with the mysterious figure near the Jabbok river. We should not let the stories go until they bless us, but be aware that they may not bless us in the manner we expect.

This is an excellent book for students and scholars. There are multiple indexes (subject, scripture, Hebrew word, author/editor), extensive footnoting, and well-supported scholarship. These chapters come from the Beecher Lectures at Yale. As scholar Walter Brueggemann states in the foreword, Trible's work with the method of rhetorical criticism, operating on the presumption that every word is intentional and nothing is left to chance, is equally true of Trible's own words.

Trible's purpose, beyond the scholarship, is to offer honest and sympathetic readings of these texts of terror in the hopes that we as modern readers will recognise the kinds of conditions and issues still operative in the world, and work to end such terrors.

"Feminists have called upon bible readers to focus on the women in various texts, to read their stories through feminine eyes, so that we agonize over the rape of Tamar or the dismemberment of the unnamed woman of Judges 19."


Feminist approach:
In his review of Contemporary hermeneutics, John Newport classifies feminist Biblical scholars, in three groups. One seeks to just explore the biblical books, narratives, themes and characters relevant to modern woman situation. Another require a reading of the whole text from a female perspective, evaluating the gender impact. A third group is motivated by demolishing the 'patriarchy myth', exposing scriptures innate prejudice against women, but the social approach is the uniting theme of all three.

Biblical Terror Narratives:
In an upper-level seminar on Women's Studies, intended to develop deeper thinking with regard to the various roles of women in the Hebrew bible text and what can be learned from them. The in-depth study included some of the tragic stories and writings about women in the Old Testament within a variety of different literary genres and from a variety of different viewpoints, in the context of other ancient Near Eastern texts. Critical analysis, with an informed awareness of the sociological gender-biases that have molded both the text and its traditional interpretations are examined. Readings included:
- Reading the Women of the Bible, Tikva Frymer-Kensky, (2003)
- Women in the Hebrew Bible: A Reader, Alice Bach (Ed), (1998)
- Discovering Eve, Carol Meyers, (1991)
& Texts of Terror, Phyllis Trible, (1984)

Texts of Terror:
Focusing on four Hebrew bible violent tragedies, Trible seeks to reinterpret, in memoriam, the sad stories of those four ancient women: Hagar, Tamar, unnamed concubine, and Jephthah's daughter whose tragedy haunted me as a teenager. Trible, while inviting the reader to recognize the tragedies of those women, ignored and/or neglected in a male-dominated interpretation. Using rhetorical criticism, probing the language of the text, examining the narrative flow of textual ideas, and expecting a reader response to her analysis.

Response to Sad Stories:
James Williams of Syracuse University, who praises the book as a series of exegetical essays, relates her texts to other biblical narratives, but neglects to show how the stories fit into the greater drama of the Hebrew Scriptures. He has come to the final conclusion that: "Trible does not communicate a sense of larger biblical patterns."

this is prob the easies book to read. its not going to make you a scholar on all the detailed aspects of the bible, but it will definitely teach you about the main aspects and each book

I used this book as a primary textbook in two classes: one on the Hebrew prophets, the other a general survey of the Old Testament. I found the book to be quite readable and even enjoyable, in spots. Most of my fellow classmates grumbled about reading this book. They complained that it was boring and lengthy. However, if you have no knowledge of the OT, this book will certainly illuminate the intricacies of the Hebrew Bible. Bandstra manages to maintain a good degree of neutrality with his writing, a process that is not easy to do when writing about the Bible. There is a CD included with the book that has maps, tons of texts and other helpful information that supplements the text. If you are assigned this book for your class, don't worry. You could do much worse.

Bandstra focusses on the story line of the Hebrew Bible and does an admirable job of integrating historical and literary studies. A student reading this book will have a clear grasp of both the biblical story of Israel's history and the work of modern scholars on the subject. Bandstra writes with a sensitivity to the faith stance of the biblical writers yet does not shy away from critical issues which challenge a facile reading of the biblical texts. He introduces critical biblical scholarship as it becomes relevant to understanding those texts. Students will learn the content of the Hebrew Bible as well as scholarly methods for interpreting biblical texts.

The CD included with the book is extremely helpful. It includes the entire text of the book, the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (with links between the two at relevant points), and a wealth of learning aids for students.

I am a student at Houston Baptist University and I am currently reading this book as part of a course that studies the Old Testament. Surely there are better texts that discuss the translations of the Old Testament

This bible is great for older kids, my girls are enjoying reading it on their own and learning about new stories.

when buying children's books, i am always concerned about illustration-something they will always remember and have a fond memory. my son is very interested in these beautiful pictures and is excited to turn the page. the stories are accurate to the HOLY BIBLE and are written for a child's understanding.

After searching high and low for a textbook sized bible made for 1st thru 3rd graders I stumbled across this and have to say I'm very pleased. It's about the size of a standard math textbook. Each chapter has the biblical reference for easy comparison, unlike some Bible story books. It stays in order just as in the Bible, and includes a Lands of the Bible map, an extensive index, and a small glossary at the back. The list price on the back is $23.99, so the price at Amazon is very good. My 1st grader is reading on her own, and finds this to be much more challenging than the simpler Bible story books she has owned in the past. I highly recommend this book for 6-9 year olds. After that age, you will want to get your child a real, non-annotated bible.

I think that my bible is very interesting. It's really easy to understand and picture everything clearly. My mom says that it tells the story the same way as her king bible. I also really like the pictures and the way they are painted. It's the best book I've ever read!

This is a perfect storybook bible for children who have outgrown the cutsie little children's storybook bible like "The Beginners Bible", but who aren't quite ready for a full blown NIV bible, or even an NIrV. The watercolor style artwork is stunning. There is artwork on every page. The stories are short enough to keep my 1st grader's attention, but long enough to give more detail than the simple preschool / kindergarten bibles. I am super pleased with this book and see it being used for a few more years before she transitions to a big girl bible. Perfect for elementary age kids.

I have really enjoyed doing this study... very informative, applicable to today, lots of homework but a great way to get into the Word and learn so much. It's so worth the effort! God has already begun to teach me alot about living in our country, America, thru this book. It challenges, encourages and stretches your mind. I can't wait to do more each week and the DVDs that go along with it are a great way to see Beth's heart and hear her speak to open up what God has shown her thru the book of Daniel.

This study is pivital in understanding the Old Testament. It took a lot of my time searching through the Bible for references. It was very involved. Plan to do lots of homework!

We give this bible to all our third graders. Then we hold a class for third graders and their parents where they work together to discover all the "special effects" that attract kids to this particular bible. The kids end up loving their new bibles!

This is an excellent Bible for upper elementary kids. We give this Bible out to our 3rd graders every year and use it in our children's ministry classes. I can understand the reviewer who is worried about some of the "Sticky Situations". However, the reality is that most upper elementary aged kids are already starting to think about most of these things or will be very soon. The "Sticky Situations" are well done and useful in helping kids through these kind of things and making good choices.

This is a wonderful concept, but like the adult version, some of the 'applications' are more obvious than they are unique.

As said by a previous reviewer, this is more for teens than preteens. The work is nicely organized, and (I feel) moderately helpful. Rather than getting this for your teen however, consider a good study bible, and allow the youth to glean the applications through study, and your personal insight.

Although better than a bible with no 'helps' at all, I cannot say this is the best use of $$ for parents trying to help their son/daughter learn the bible.

If you are looking for really good 'applications' style that teens (and others) really enjoy, I would suggest the format used in a book about Revelation for Teenagers called: "Dragons, Grasshoppers & Frogs!". This format really nails it, and was written by a teacher.

The author did a similar style in another book (about Joseph), but it is more adult Christian oriented.

I recently purchased this bible for my 10 year old son. My husband and I both have life application bibles and love them. I'm sorry to say while there are some good attributes to this bible...overall I was disapointed. It is missing some key things: this is not a red letter bible therefore making it very difficult for a child to know when exactly Jesus is speaking, it's missing a dictonary & concordance in the back and most of all it's missing the one thing that's makes an application bible an application bible...it's missing ALL the explanations for verses etc at the bottom of the page! If you're just looking for a basic bible w/out red letter this would be perfect for you. But, if you are buying it thinking you're getting an actual life application bible I'm afraid you'll be greatly disapointed.

If you are looking for a Bible that is easy to understand (this is the New Living Translation which reads very much like the Living Bible) for a "kid," i.e., preteen, you might want to look for a different Bible than this. My wife and I both believe this would be a great first Bible for a young teen not raised in a godly home, but several of the themes in the "Sticky Situations" are a little to "sticky" for a preteen. (Our credentials for this assessment? A married daughter with 3 children, a 23 year old son, a 15 year old son, and 20 years of ministry combined with the academic ingredients, blah, blah blah!) :)

A few of the "Sticky Situations" from the approximately 50 that are found at various places in the "Kid's Bible" that make this Bible more suitable for a teen than a preteen...

Example #1: This one is placed in the Song of Solomon on page 730..."A few years ago, you weren't interested in the opposite sex. In fact, you didn't want anything to do with them. Lately, however, you've been changing and have even found yourself thinking about love and sex. The DJs on your favorite radio station talk about sex all the time..."

Example #2: On page 1012..."Lately, you've been having fun with some of the kids who live a few blocks away. You've spent some time with them after school and on the weekend. Recently, they have been talking about forming a club. The only problem is that there's an initiation..."

Example #3: On page 1221..."You are not allowed to see PG-13 movies. When you asked your parents if you could go to a movie tonight, they said OK because the movie is rated G. Your dad drops you and your friends off at the theater, and you all buy your tickets. But once inside, your friends walk past the G movie and head for one rated PG-13..."

The "Sticky Situations" vignettes are a helpful way to encourage the young reader to evaluate their heart in light of God's Word using real life situations, and for that it is very commendable, but not for a preteen.

I love this bible! It is so easy to read and it has a ton of information to help everything make sense.

The Contemporary English Version is very easy to read. This learning Bible has lots of extra information and pictures. This is a very large book. You don't want to carry it around with you. However, it is a great addition to your home library.

The Contemporary English Version of the Bible is a modern translation (as opposed to a paraphrase). This book has extensive notes and background material. The paparback version is reasonably priced and makes a good tool for any serious student of the Bible.

I think this a great learning bible, however it is not for those of us of the Catholic religion as it leaves out about 9 chapters of our bible. I do however feel that for most other religions this is both a great teaching and study bible.

The overall layout and graphics of this study bible make it a standout among others I've seen in bookstores. It's a rare combination of beauty and accessibility.

I agree with an earlier reviewer, though, about some problems with the comments in the introductions and side columns.

Some comments contradict what I've heard from and read in respected sources, such as The Life Application Bible. For instance, comments introducing the letters of James and of Jude use phrases like "early church tradition says," questioning the actual authors of the letters. Also, the book contains so many arguments, like "some scholars believe, while others believe," that authority and reliability suffer. Possibly, too much information.

Just a note to new readers about study bibles in general ... you might benefit from reading a verses-only version of the Bible before reading a study bible -- one for the message and one for the background. It's important to read God's Word before reading about it, even if you don't understand it all. By their nature, study bibles sometimes bring a secular, observational coldness to the Lord's Word, and a new reader might miss the God-inspired message.

The commentary is important to consider, because as readers, we tend to pay more attention to callouts and comments than to the body of the text (ask any print advertiser).

I'd like to find a study bible that combines comments with the authority of The Life Application Bible and the beauty and layout of The Learning Bible. I recommend The Learning Bible, but not as the sole source of The Word.

Trible provides some excellent insight into women's roles in the history of the three big religious traditions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; it's a good read, pretty quick, and opens your eyes to the huge role gender plays in the biblical narratives, even though gender tends to be downplayed by the Christian church and arguably even the biblical accounts themselves.

I worked through this book in 1994-5 when I was going through a very difficult transition in my life. The part that has stayed with me in the last 13 years is choosing to be thankful and grateful each day and writing what you are thankful for down.

Between the spiritual discipline of thankfulness, the weeks of taking time in them morning and evening to pray through the Psalms, and the art and poetry in the book, I was able to come out of a dark period of my life when new appreciation for the small things each day and an increased observation of life and the world around me.

A friend loaned this book to me. I have been blessed many times throughout the collection of quotes and art the author has culminated and shared. I was extremely pleased to learn this is a very affordable book. Pick one up--it'll warm and strengthen your heart.

This is a tremendous resource. I am currently on my second copy of this book. Unlike many spirituality books, this one is not in any way preachy or directive. Postema provides artwork, hymns, reflections, scriptures, and excerpts from various sources, all of which can serve as a jumping off point for the reader's own reflections and prayer. Rather than telling us, "You should pray more" he gives us materials that draw us into wanting to pray.

I particularly recommend this book for anyone who is feeling hesitant about God or the church or who has become jaded toward a lot of what they hear from the church and Christians, but who is not quite ready to throw in the towel. This is a beautiful gentle book that will help open your heart to God if you let it. I have found that despite a great deal of hesitation about many "things religious," I can usually only read a page or two of this book at a time, because as I begin to read I feel a tremendous desire to pray and connect with God, and I abandon this book in favor of prayer. I think this is as it was intended to be.

The formatting of the book is very helpful. It has very large margins and lots of space around the quotes, which facilitates writing and/or journaling directly in the book. I've found it very helpful to write my reflections into the book as I go along, and have found there to be ample room for this. I also like the way there is a lot of art interspersed with text. There are times when I just can't read "religious" text, but can look at a Van Gogh painting and allow God to speak to me through it.

Overall, I highly recommend this to both those who are struggling but drawn to God, and those who are deeply committed to the daily practice of the Christian faith.

This is my second time in the study of Space For God. It achieves the fact how important we should take time to experience God in our lives. The only way is to make space for Him. Don Postema gives excellent points on how to do this.

For leaders, I recommend the Leader's Guide. It helps in bringing your class together for a rich bible class experience.

This devotional guide is essential for sane living in today's world. I ordered this copy because I have loaned my original to a friend and hate to ask her to return it; I hope she's enjoying it as much as I have for many years.

It's perfect for restoring a parched, or even slightly dry, spiritual life; it's also perfect for starting each day regardless of spiritual condition.

The overall premise of the book is good: that we need to go beyond a strict fundamentalist approach to looking to the Bible (solely as a source of doctrine and hard answers to every concievable subject). It might be helpful to someone who has been burnt out in the past by overly rigid approaches to the Bible. It does well to uncover that God and his Word are far more mysterious than many Evangelicals are willing to admit. Yet, I can't help thinking that all this has been said before (and perhaps better) both inside and outside of the Emergent Church Movement. Most notably Brian McLaren's works such as his A New Kind of Christian trilogy.

As well the book uses far too much insider jargon (common to the Emergent Movement and Post-modern philosopy). Not that all that is said is bad, but someone who is not in-the-know may be left wondering what is really being said by these words.

Finally, for a counterbalance to this book's view on the Bible (which at some points may go a bit too far), see Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church, by Don Carson.

Debbie Blue's latest book, From Stone to Living Word, is a rarity. It's an original work of theology from the pen (or keyboard) of a working preacher. Too often, we assume seminary professors write original theology, while working pastors write "inspirational" books with "take-aways" for how to live a Christian life. Blue is part of an older tradition, dating back at least to the apostle Paul, and carried forward by Augustine, Luther and Calvin, among others. Her vocation as a founding pastor House of Mercy, one of the world's most vibrant emergent churches (located in St. Paul MN), has shaped her deeply humane and original approach to reading the Bible.

Blue realizes that all-too-often, we Christians read the Bible as if on a mission to jam its uncanny, poetic and evocative language into the confines of a moralistic worldview. Whether fundamentalist, mainstream or liberal, we want the Bible to resolve our doubts and tell us what to do. But what if the Bible doesn't work like that? What if it confounds our certainties and challenges our convictions? Blue invites us to converse with, rather than worship, the Bible. She suspects this conversation will illuminate mysterious and wild paths to God. Drawing on the Midrash, as presented in the work of Avivah Zornberg, Blue looks beneath the ossified surface of our habitual responses to the Bible. She thereby uncovers contested meanings and alternative voices that grace the text. The Bible opens us to mystery, presenting fluid rather than fixed meanings. Blue is not without ethical concerns, however. Influenced by the writings of James Alison, she advocates a humane reading of the Bible, a reading that avoids the creation of villains and scapegoats. She invites the reader to suspend habitual judgments, to open herself to new images of God. In Blue's writing, the reader encounters an oceanic God -- a God who flows beyond the stony confines of our harsh judgments and small bigotries.
I should add that this book is a page-turner, which counts for a lot if one thinks theology ought to be read in churches, homes and on the bus, not just in seminaries and universities. Students of Barth, Nietzsche and the like will be amazed at how agilely Blue addresses weighty issues in readable, lively prose. She writes with the clarity and grace of an E.B. White. This is a book you'll actually want to read, not just stare at on your bookshelf.

Debbie Blue's latest book is both intellectual and personal, down to earth and yet also extremely deep. Debbie is a pastor at House of Mercy and "emerging" church in the Twin Cities. This book is not so much a linear argument, but rather a series of examples of how to read the Bible as a living document that confounds our idolatrous systems of doctrines and easy answers. In fact, I get the impression that the chapters in this book could have been written as sermons for her church, in that each one of them not only stands alone, but the each also take a particular text of scripture and reflect on how it confounds our expectations about God and tears down the idols of our day to day lives.

If there is any overarching theme of the book it is idolatry, which as Debbie defines it, is pretty much anything that we use to tame life, control the uncertainty of existence, and bring stability to the chaos. Blue shows us how even our many religious conceptions about the Bible and the God of the Bible are themselves idols if we use them to try to contain and control and tame God. She seems to be advocating that faith that is more about simply living in the wildness and mystery and confusion of life, than about trying to use faith to bring stability and certainty to life. This is a message that is at the same time both liberating and frightening. Liberating in that I don't have to try to explain away all the messiness anymore, or make excuses for God. But frightening too, in that I like my idols: my revolutionary ideals, my hope in what I think is God's plan for the future (both personally and globally), my picture of who Jesus is and what he was about. And Debbie herself shares many of these ideals. And yet at the same time she is relentless about mocking and smashing even her own idols.

In their place she recommends only love, but not in a sappy, generic, overused way. Rather she presents love as itself an almost undefinable mystery that confounds our attempts to idolize it. Love as unconditional acceptance even to the point of undermining our sense of justice (think Jesus with the tax collectors). In so doing she opens up the Bible in new ways, asks new questions, forces us to sympathize with characters (the Pharisees for instance) that we were comfortable relegating to the idolatrous category of "villain".

This is a way of reading scripture that I am slowly learning - to read it not as a source of mere ideas or ideals, but as a living conversation, whose point is to tear down my conceptual idols, not build them up. People will often hold up the contradictions and difficult parts of the Bible as evidence of its worthlessness as scripture - if God's will isn't clearly spelled out in black and white, what good is it? But according to Blue, those difficulties and contradictions may be the whole point. What if God's main concern is not to give us a book that will answer all our questions and bring us stability in a chaotic world, but rather, is to give us a book that will shake us up, that will leave us with more questions than when we started, so that we will be forced to wrestle through them and search together in community for how to live with love in this crazy, messy, chaotic world? What if the point of the Bible is not information, but transformation? What if it's supposed to be not propositional, but provocative? What if it is in itself a challenge to idolatrous faith, including idolatrous Bible-based faith? Blue's book does a good job of demonstrating how the Bible is exactly that.

In "From Stone to Living Word," Debbie Blue acknowledges that even those of us who claim our faith can easily and habitually become unaware of how God literally inspires us: God breathes life into our bodies and creativity into our souls. The Bible asks us to believe some wild stories, often twisted, tamed or made mundane in Sunday school and Bible studies. As Blue writes, "The Christian church has often had an antisensual bias (to put it mildly)." When Blue tells these stories, we see how joy-filled the revolution could be, if only we could comprehend God's love and mercy as we live and breathe. In my struggle to live in the awareness of God's presence, I return often to Debbie Blue's book.

While the title to this review might be a bit sarcastic, I suggest that anyone who has grown up in traditional Evangelical circles give this book an open and fair try.

Debbie Blue's second book, From Stone to Living Word: Letting the Bible Live Again, is a work that has been years in the making. Anybody who follows Blue's sermons at the House of Mercy will recognize that she has pieced together many of the ideas, phrases and in some cases, entire messages to form this book. For those of you that think this is a problem... think again.

While the ideas that Blue presents are far from new, it is refreshing to see that somebody is willing to come forward and write a book that hardly recognizes itself for being "trendy" or "revolutionary". She covers a variety of topics that we have taken for granted, and by presenting new views of these subjects, she forces the reader to grapple with their own beliefs.

"From Stone to Living Word" reads a lot like a segment or interview on NPR. It isn't flashy, but it doesn't need to be. It conveys its message in an engaging manner, but still manages to draw the reader in with lush, full language. Amidst best lives that can be lived now and irresistible revolutions, it is a shame that this book isn't receiving more attention. Unfortunately, the very reason that the book is so good--the thorough treatment of the ideas and the lack of flare--might be the reason that many people are turned off by it.

I would definitely suggest this book to anyone with a desire to critically think past simple solutions and "radical" gimmicks; Blue indulges neither.