Bibles Bible Studies Books

Richard Hays has produced what is perhaps one of the most enlightening commentaries on I Corinthians, as it offers not only piercing insights into the text, but the interpretation centers on a highly theological perspective. He does not organize the study verse by verse, but rather treats each pericope as a diversified whole, focusing in on the specifics as the occasion calls for it. Rather than confuse the study, however, this method serves to clarify the more difficult theological implications of the text. In regards to his interpretation, he (in typical Hays fashion) challenges the hermeneutical status quo successfully on a number of occasions, perhaps the greatest of which being his refusal to submit to the widely accepted view of overrealized eschatology as one of the root causes of the Corinthians extensive issues. Moreover, his insights into modern application of Paul's teachings are invaluable for learning to, as Hays advises, "live increasingly within the world of the Biblical story" and henceforth hear ourselves "addressed by God's word to Israel."

Paul's letter to the Cornithians arrays some important principles to the Church nowdays.Especially on themes dealing with love .A notable expression on 1Corr 11:13 "that love is better than hope & faith OR even his expression on man having words sound like angels, without love it is just like a dong.Our love today for the Lord must be very deep and strong rooted in the word of God.Mr Hays book on Corrinithians will greatly help those new souls and new church established themselves well on the word love for God.I would rather love God now and earn a place in heaven rather than hating him and deported to hell.

We are 90% complete with the study. It has been very good for probing difficult issues about the opinion of others about the church. Our study group attendance has increased and participants are engaged in discussion and the video interviews.

The challenge now is finding ways to maintain the momentum after the final module of this study.

This is an excellent resource that "yes" is built around using the DVD. To be honest, I had read the book and wanted to teach the class myself so that the class was more relational and interactive, and using this booklet coupled with the actual book worked out just fine.

Dan Kimball has a great resource here and a terrific ministry.

Ray Stedman spent most of his life doing expository preaching to church congregations. He was, however a very solid scholar who read and studied widely --and remembered everything he read. This commentary, written near the end of his life, is meaty and tightly packed--worthy of careful study one page at a time. What emerges is a picture of Hebrews as an invitation to an exciting New Covenant adventure follwing Jesus our Trailblazer out of this world towards the same heavenly city Abraham foresaw. I often use Ray's book in teaching Hebrews to college students who right away catch the vision of the open-ended adventure we have been given under the New Covenant. Ray is never obscure, never stuffy never "merely academic."

The combination of teaching how to teach scripture by using scripture makes for an interesting read. Be prepared for the small print, however.

Although Osmer bases his conclusions on his theological presuppositions, he is honest enough to admit this upfront and clearly spell out his presuppositions. Working within this framework, Osmer draws out a threefold approach to Christian education, based on the teaching ministry of Paul. At times, Osmer is a bit technical, but overall this book is a helpful and practical guide for congregations serious about dialoguing on educational ministries. This book is most useful if read in conjunction with Osmer's earlier work: The Teaching Office of the Church.

From the back cover:
In this important and groundbreaking book, the author develops a practical theology of the teaching ministry. He begins by exploring the teaching ministry of the apostle Paul, identifying in Paul's letters to his congregations the core tasks of the teaching ministry: 1) catechesis, 2) exhortation, and 3) discernment. Next he presents case studies of the teaching ministries of three contemporary congregations-one in the United States, one in Korea, and one in South Africa-developing interpretive perspectives on the teaching ministry. Finally he focuses on the development of action-building models and guidelines and explores helpful methods for guiding the teaching ministries of one's own particular congregation. This book will be welcomed by educators, pastors, and professors of Christian education for years to come.

I was very pleased when I received this bible. Different style and bound well. I love the New Living Translation, as it is very comprehendible. This particular bible is great for everyday study and the size is perfect, not too small or too large. Red letter as well. I gave it to my mom as a gift, and I plan to purchase another one like it.

Discover the Bible for Yourself: *Helpful introductions to every book *Practical approaches for study *Applications for everyday life (Arthur, Kay)
I have read and studied from Kay Arthur's study books for many years. I have just purchased several to learn how to live in these troublesome times according to God's Word. I have The International Inductive Study Bible,very helpful.A friend has the Discover the Bible for Yourself.I did not have that one,so I looked on Amazon, Of course I was happy to purchase it from Amazon. I find it very helpful.I would suggest if you are making a purchase, Behold Jesus Is Coming,is a study guide for the book of Revelations. I enjoy Amazon and the prices and shipping are very reasonable,also you recieve them very quickly, and in very good condition. Are just scroll through Amazon, type in Kay Arthur's name an many, many wonderful books will be shown.May it be a delight for you.
Until His Return I am, an will always be His child;
Carolyn L Cagle

With this book, anyone can tap into the Bible expertise of Kay Arthur and study through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Originally the material in this book was only available in the Inductive Study Bible but now you can access it with this book--and use whatever Bible to study through the Scriptures.

If you want to know more about the Bible, use this book. It's an excellent resource and guide for a self-guided study of the entire Bible. Also it's another well-written reference book which is packed with insight and information.

This is a great book, but if you alredy have the New Inductive Study Bible than you already have all the material in this book. I have the Bible and when I bought this book I was disapointed to find out it was all the same, but it still great as a gift.

What ever your need in study guides, this is an excellant book to assist you in your fellowship studies. Use it while being helped or helping others. You will give it 5 stars also.

Here is a good introductory work on the subject of the new testament gospel writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This book provides a healthy and well rounded beginners survey of the gospel material. Gives background information such as dates, authors, intent, historical-setting, message, origins, literary sytles, etc. Also goes through each gospel account section by section highlighting the main themes and flow of the material. The book finishes with a survey of extra-canonical "gospel" material, along with canonization issues, and historical Jesus studies survey. This work seems to linger somewhere between moderate to semi-conservative on most issues treated, and comes across as being fair, and careful to avoid extreme positions. Again, this is an introductory work of a survey type, so one should not expect exhaustive detail, but for an intro level work on the subject, it's pretty good. For larger and more detailed works on these subjects two excellent books treating Jesus/gospel studies are: Craig Blomberg's Jesus and The Gospels and also Lee Martin McDonald's Early Christianity and It's Sacred Literature.

This book has it all--it reviews the history of the Gospels, explains each canonical gospel verse by verse, and even summarizes the "other" gospels, including the Q source. It is easy to read and enjoyable, not at all dry like a lot of biblical commentaries. Highly recommend!

Reddish begins with a discussion of the formation of the Gospels, a discussion which must inevitably deal with the Synoptic Problem and John's relationship to the Synoptics. From there he goes on to explore the world of the Evangelists, and then he presents a chapter on each Gospel. The individual Gospel chapters discuss the social settings and major themes of the Gospels, and give both an outline and a reading guide to the Gospels.

After dealing with the Canonical Gospels, Reddish considers the apocryphal/pseudepigraphical gospels, giving a description of each and discussing its relationship, if any, to the canonical Gospels. Finally, Reddish turns to the Quest for the Historical Jesus, setting out and discussing in detail the scholarly criteria for determining historicity of the various Gospel accounts.

This slender volume has more breadth than depth, but it claims to be no more than an introduction to Gospel study. It serves that purpose well.

The strength of this book is its focus on celebrating the attributes of God. The author did a very good job bringing out the theme of the book of Revelation, which is that God will win in the end due to His nature, and He's looking out for us.

I was also impressed with the quality of analysis that went in to the various outlines provided for the book of Revelation. There are actually three different outlines included. They will help people of any interpretive approach make better sense of the book.

Since the author is an Amillennialist, I wish he'd spent more time pitching the theoretical strengths of that system. When, towards the end of the book, the millennium is addressed, it is quickly brushed aside as just another example of how God will win. While this is true in a sense, there was no attempt to refer to the literally hundreds of Old Testament references to it, and how they can be explained as allegories (as opposed to literal fulfillment).

His argument that most people get more hung up on the puzzle than the pictures is an excellent one. For that reason, I'd suggest this book to anyone studying the book of Revelation.

This paperback on Revelation brings in a simple and refreshing perspective on Revelation. For example he suggests that children can understand Revelation...that we need to stop 'puzzling' over Revelation and enjoy the Panoramic pictures of this book. His 'down home' encouragement is exactly what this book is when laid side by side with Beale's NIGTC Commentary on Revelation. (The NIGTC is a technically dense work with many many references to all kinds of sources for each verse).

Dr. Beale (2004's E.T.S. President) recommends this book as part of his course recommended reading on Revelation at Wheaton. Of the 8 or so books he recommends, this one sports a number of great visual concepts that do empower bible teachers and pastors. As a pastor who is preaching through Revelation from the Greek text, I found his material helpful on the application side of things.

For example, on the four major views on Revelation Poythress supplies a great little visual diagram of how the four views look. Just the diagram alone can help many people understand the four different view (Preterist, Futurist, Historical, and Idealist) more than most commentaries would.

The weakness is that you will not have comments of substance on every question in Revelation. It's not meant to be an exhaustive commentary on Revelation.

Enjoy it. It's well written and worth owning a copy.

The Returning King is a great introduction the book of Revelation. The first 50 pages or so contain high level discussions on the various views of Revelation (idealist, futurist, preterist, historicist) as well as other controversial aspects such as the millennium (premil, postmil, amil). This survey of all the major viewpoints alone is worth the price of the book. The rest of book is a high level discussion of the text. Poythress takes an idealist, amil view but provides a very fair discussion of all the other viewpoints.

It was written as an introduction and is very successful as such. It is not a thorough commentary of Revelation. If you have never studied Revelation this is a great place to start.

A few years ago I heard a speaker who began his talk by saying that he loved the book of Revelation because it was so simple and clear and it so neatly summed up the teaching of the Bible. I laughed because everyone knows that the book of Revelation is anything but simple and clear. He said he was serious and he mentioned that he had studied Revelation under Vern Poythress at Westminster Seminary and he had made it seem clear and simple.

At the time this book had not been published but I was able to get some tapes by Poythress, and they taught what is written in this book. When the book came out I got it right away and I have to say that I was not disappointed in the tapes or in this book.

Poythress writes like a kindly, wise elder. I say he is kind because, though he takes a position on the interpretation of the book, he is gracious to those who disagree with him. One of the things I particularly liked about this book is his discussion of how to outline the book. He listed a few different ways that this could be outlined, but rather than attacking various positions he affirmed that the existence of these differing views should cause us to marvel at the greatness of God in the book. These things show that the book of Revelation is like a giant tapestry, with many colors and patterns weaving in and out. The book is so rich that one can never tire of admiring the beauties of God in it.

As to his position, Poythress says that the book follows the pattern of recapitulation - it describes the same historical events over and over again using different metaphors and pictures. So, rather than being a straight chronological description of the end time, the book of Revelation describes the second coming, and the events surrounding it, several times.

Poythress shows that the book of Revelation is actually comprised of several cycles of judgment. He gives the tools for understanding how to identify these cycles and in doing so makes Revelation slightly less difficult.

This is the place to start in understanding the book of Revelation.

Practical, concise, and easy to read. Provides insight not usually found in this kind of book.