Until we pray them from the heart we miss their purpose. If you love, or want to love, or think perhaps you ought to love, the Psalms, this first instalment of a two-volume set on the Psalter is for you. Christopher Ash gives us a practical and theological handbook to equip us to pray and to teach the Psalms. He faces the difficulties and shows how praying them in Christ does justice to their original meaning and context as well as their place in the whole bible.

    When her baby brother, Moses, was in grave danger, Miriam and her mom saved his life. As Miriam matured, she became a gifted musician and discovered other God-given talents. And when God called Miriam—along with her siblings—to guide the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, she was ready to lead. With God's help, you can be just like Miriam—called and courageous!***Called and Courageous Girls - Bible Heroes That Inspire Your Child's Faith in GodCalled and courageous girls are disciples, political and spiritual leaders, philanthropists, moms, businesspeople, evangelists, prophets, and so much more. Called and courageous women of the Bible face overwhelming odds, finding strength, faith, and courage to join God's Story. Through examples of steadfast faith and—ultimately—God's direction, the Called and Courageous Girls series invites your children to answer God's calling to discover and use their talents, passions, and gifts to journey with Him on a lifelong adventure. God is calling every courageous hero—including your child— to arise, trust in Him, and join the Greatest Story.

    As he explained to the disciples on the Emmaus road, a correct understanding of those Scriptures is vital to our faith and hope. For anyone looking to interpret the Old Testament wisely and well, Jason DeRouchie provides a logical twelve-stage process to deepen understanding, taking us from an analysis of a passage's genre all the way to its practical application. Hebrew grammar, historical context, biblical theologyand much moreare also studied. Learn how to track an author's thought-flow, grasp the text's message, and apply the ancient Word in this modern world, all in light of Christ's redeeming work. Then plunge into DeRouchie's recommended resources to go further in your studies every step of the way.

    Bray and Hobbins also draw deeply from the long history of Jewish and Christian interpretation. Their translation and notes offer the reader wisdom and delight.

    T. Wright. His signature contention, that Israel's continuing exile was a pivotal issue in the emergence of Christianity, has found a central place in contemporary New Testament scholarship. Israel had grievously sinned against Yahweh and suffered the judgment of exile from its land. But even though Israel had returned, the majority of Jews of the second temple era regarded themselves in paradoxical exile under Roman rule and still awaiting their full restoration. It was this crisis of exile that reached its climax and resolution in the person and work of Jesus Christ. This, according to N. T. Wright, is the controlling narrative that shaped the thinking of Jesus and Paul. While many find this a compelling key to understanding the New Testament, critical responses also abound. This book engages a variety of scholars in conversation with Wright's thesis. The scene is set in an introduction by James M. Scott, who has made significant contributions to the debate. Then, in a programmatic essay, Wright clearly restates his thesis. Next comes eleven essays from scholars such as Walter Brueggemann, Philip Alexander, Jorn Kiefer, Dorothy Peters, and Scot McKnight. They interact with Wright's thesis from various perspectives: Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, early Judaism, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the New Testament. Hans Boersma and Ephraim Radner then engage Wright's thesis from theological perspectives. Finally, Wright offers a lively response to his interlocutors. Exile: A Conversation with N. T. Wright takes our understanding of this critical issue to a new level. It is essential reading for anyone engaged with Wright's work and the Jewish setting of Jesus and Paul.

    Inconsistency in the Torah

    Covering a time in Judah's history when it was being attacked and threatened on all sides, each chapter is full of rich biblical truths, revealing the character of Yahweh and His plan for His children. Although the remnant of His people would be reduced to a stump, a shoot would come forth - Immanuel, God with us.

    What are we to do with obscure prophecies of long expired nations? Why should we read and study ancient laws that even the New Testament says are eclipsed by Christ? How can we reconcile Jesus' Sermon on the Mount with the Old Testament's graphic narratives of sex and violence? What does the Old Testament offer that is not surpassed and even made irrelevant by the New Testament? John Walton has spent a career engaging deeply with the Old Testament's text and ancient context. He has studied, taught, and written about the issues. His signature approach can be introduced in one sentence: The Old Testament was written for us but not to us. We must not conform it to our own understanding. We will fully grasp the Old Testament and its theology only when we are immersed in the ancient cultural current of Israel within its broader cultural river of the ancient Near East. In Old Testament Theology for Christians, John Walton invites us to leave our modern--and even inherited Christian--preconceptions at the threshold as we enter the world of the Old Testament. He challenges us to see it anew--as if for the first time--as guests in a strange and fascinating foreign land. Then we will rediscover its testimony to God's great enterprise. In this capstone to a career of studying and teaching the Old Testament, Walton unfolds a grand panorama of Yahweh and the gods, of cosmos and humanity, of covenant and kingdom, of temple and torah, of sin and evil, and of salvation and afterlife. Viewed within its ancient Near Eastern cognitive environment, the text takes unexpected turns and blossoms into fresh and challenging insights. No matter how you are accustomed to viewing the first testament of the Bible, Old Testament Theology for Christians will challenge and sharpen your perceptions.

    Zvi Grumet explores the Book of Genesis in search for answers to the fundamental questions of human existence: Who are we? Why are we here? What does God want from us and what can we expect of Him? Shuttling deftly back and forth between the microcosmic and the macrocosmic, Rabbi Grumet offers a sensitive verse-by-verse reading of the biblical text, occasionally stepping back to reveal the magnificent themes that underlie the narrative as a whole: Creation and God, mortality and sin, family and covenant. Ambitious in scope and meticulous in execution, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant presents a remarkably original interpretation of the Book of Genesis and the Divine quest at its heart – the quest for a meaningful relationship with humankind.

    But how do you maintain faith when overwhelmed by grief? When prayer goes unanswered? When all you have are questions, not answers? What do you say to God when you know he is in control but the suffering continues unabated? Is there any alternative to remaining speechless in the midst of pain and heartbreak? This book is about finding words to use when life is hard. These words are not new. They are modes of expression that the church has drawn on in times of grief throughout most of its history. Yet, the church in the West has largely abandoned these words--the psalms of lament. The result is that believers often struggle to know what to do or say when faced with distress, anxiety, and loss. Whether you are in Christian leadership, training for ministry, or simply struggling to reconcile experience with biblical convictions, Finding Lost Words will help you consider how these ancient words can become your own. "As the contributors to Finding Lost Words so insightfully point out, the Psalms offer us a robust invitation to express our honest feelings before God. I found this volume utterly compelling and encourage everyone to read this book and let the laments of the Psalms teach you how to pray." --Tremper Longman III, Westmont College "This book is a work the church needs. Lament is a missing practice in the praying life of too many Christians in a broken world. It needs to be recovered. After all we find it in psalm after psalm. . . . Scripture not only gives us a language for our joys, it also gives us a language for our confusions, disappointments, and even anger towards God. In this work, a constellation of careful thinkers and practitioners serve us so very well. I commend it without reservation."  --Graham A. Cole, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School "There is a level of superficiality in the spiritual experience of today's church that needs to be challenged. . . . Finding Lost Words is an excellent set of readable essays dealing with the theology and practice of lament from an exegetical, historical, and pastoral perspective. I don't want to overstate things but, if we really hear the message of this book, it will change the way we do church." --Jamie A. Grant, Highland Theological College UHI "Like a well-cut diamond, this collection of essays radiates light in many directions, helping readers to see the biblical concept of lament from different perspectives with greater clarity. . . . This timely volume offers a much needed rebalance to Christian theology that often appears to have lost sight of the pain and suffering caused by the reality of evil in our broken world." --T. Desmond Alexander, Union Theological College, Belfast G. Geoffrey Harper is Lecturer in Old Testament at Sydney Missionary and Bible College. He has written several essays and articles on intertextuality in the Old Testament. Kit Barker is Lecturer in Old Testament at Sydney Missionary and Bible College. He is the author of Imprecation as Divine Discourse (2016).

    Yet we discover on the road to Emmaus that Jesus' way of explaining who he was and why he came was to work his way through the Old Testament--through Genesis and Exodus, Psalms and Proverbs, Isaiah and Jeremiah.In Seeing Jesus, Nancy Guthrie takes us through 60 selected Old Testament readings to see how they reveal Jesus in their promises and prophesies, sacrifices and shadows. Your eyes will be opened to the epic scope of the Bible's story like never before, as you see what God's plan for His people has been all along.(Adapted from The One Year Book Of Discovering Jesus In The Old Testament ; now in a deluxe LeatherLike binding.)

    Palmer Robertson captures the passion and purpose of their extraordinary writings. After examining the origins of prophetism, the prophets' call, and their proclamation and application of law and covenant, Robertson devotes special attention to the biblical-theological significance of the exile. Viewing that phenomenon through the lens of several prophets, he draws our focus to the glorious restoration of God's people in Christ.

    It identifies seven major themes or movements of transformation working through the text and the experiences from which it arose. Together these dynamic themes produce an overall movement of human change. They create a thrilling inversion of human meaning, from oppression to justice, from wrath to compassion, from violence to forgiveness. Seven Stories shows us a method of Bible interpretation that does not rely on a flat literal reading, but is something much more powerful and compelling. It shows a God working against the grain of violent human culture to bring about what has been intended all along: a creation birthed to peace and life by the revelation of a nonviolent God in the midst of history. The engine of human change as demonstrated in the stories is itself the divine self-revelation, and the measure, by which the truth of everything else is to be judged. Each of the seven stories contains three sub-stories or lessons, moving from the emergence of a theme in the Old Testament to its radical conclusion in Jesus. Together with introductory cycle the pattern produces a course of twenty four sessions, roughly a six month program. The way in which each motif builds on the other, both through history and the slow knitting together of new human meaning for the student, creates a teaching that is as urgently needed as it is transformative.

    It’s presented as sermons, divided into chapters that conclude with a “Reflect & Discuss” section, making this series ideal for small group study, personal devotion, and even sermon preparation. It’s not academic but rather presents an easy-reading, practical and friendly commentary. The series is projected to be 48 volumes.

    One of the many women in the Bible only listed in relation to the men in her life. But just like every person across history, she had her own childhood, personality, pains, victories, her own life. Open these pages to be immersed in what could be her untold story. Asenath: Vision of Egypt. The story of a girl who is struggling under the constraints of controlling parents. A young woman navigating through the plots of the Egyptian elite. A broken heart with nowhere to go. An impossible couple. A God never heard of in Egypt. A well-known story with a different perspective, the vision of Egypt.

    

    For example, Westerners are often “blind” to the social dynamics of honor and shame. The Honor-Shame Paraphrase helps you understand the Bible according to its original cultural context. We highlight social nuances to unlock the meaning of Scripture in insightful and accessible ways. This series is ideal for personal devotions, teaching preparation, ministry training, Bible studies, and life groups. This paraphrase of Esther unlocks the subtle plot dynamics of this intriguing and theologically rich narrative. Thanks to providential circumstances, Jewish exiles in Persia escape complete humiliation and gain an honorable status. The socio-historical introduction explains key honor-shame motifs such as feasts, social hierarchy, and status in the story of Esther. Learn more about the Honor-Shame Paraphrase series at http://HonorShame.com/hsp. ENDORSEMENTS: "This lively and engaging paraphrase of Esther, like all the biblical paraphrases in this series, seeks to illuminate and express key implicit cultural assumptions shaping biblical discourse. Sumptuous food and fabulous feasting, role violations and status reversals, male honoring and female defiance, enemy plotting and counter-cultural female heroics are all displayed here as strands of a fascinating story of honor denied and honor bestowed." —Dr. John H. Elliott, Professor Emeritus, University of San Francisco, author of 1 Peter, Anchor Bible Commentary “The Honor-Shame Paraphrase series gives us a fresh look at an ancient perspective. As a paraphrase, each book nicely serves as a middle ground between a commentary and a translation. Accordingly, they aptly highlight diverse and subtle ways that honor and shame influence the biblical writers. One easily sees the care given to remain biblically faithful and culturally meaningful. I commend this series both as a useful tool for personal study and public ministry.” —Dr. Jackson Wu, professor to Chinese pastors, author of Saving God’s Face "Applying shame and honor as ever present realities in the ancient world, Jayson Georges powerfully accents the cultural values behind the words that would otherwise seem flavorless. His paraphrasing penetrates deeply into the intentions of the heart that often lay hidden from readers. We are exposed to life as it was lived, feelings as they were felt and hidden motives as they were brought to light. The biblical text breathes afresh with meaning." —Dr. Duane H. Elmer, Emeritus Distinguished Professor, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, author of Cross-Cultural Servanthood "In a rapidly globalizing world cultural differences are confronting us daily. Not only have these cultural differences exposed a cultural bias in our daily lives, but they have also exposed the significant role culture plays in our approach to the Bible. The Honor-Shame Paraphrase provides a great resource that helps people understand how the Bible would have been understood in the Ancient Near East. I am both thankful and excited to recommend a resource that will help us understand the Bible." —Spencer MacCuish, President, Eternity Bible College

    

    The Old Testament in Archaeology and History combines the most significant of these archaeological findings with those of modern historical and literary analysis of the Bible to recount the history of ancient Israel and its neighboring nations and empires.Eighteen international authorities contribute chapters to this introductory volume. After exploring the history of modern archaeological research in the Near East and the evolution of biblical archaeology as a discipline, this textbook follows the Old Testament's general chronological order, covering such key aspects as the exodus from Egypt, Israel's settlement in Canaan, the rise of the monarchy under David and Solomon, the period of the two kingdoms and their encounters with Assyrian power, the kingdoms' ultimate demise, the exile of Judahites to Babylonia, and the Judahites' return to Jerusalem under the Persians along with the advent of Jewish identity. Each chapter is tailored for an audience new to the history of ancient Israel in its biblical and ancient Near Eastern setting.The end result is an introduction to ancient Israel combined with and illuminated by more than a century of archaeological research. The volume brings together the strongest results of modern research into the biblical text and narrative with archaeological and historical analysis to create an understanding of ancient Israel as a political and religious entity based on the broadest foundation of evidence. This combination of literary and archaeological data provides new insights into the complex reality experienced by the peoples reflected in the biblical narratives.--John R. Barker "The Bible Today"

    It is the account of the rise and fall and rise of a great king, David of Israel. But it is also the story of the God who rules his people, who forgives his people, and who promises to send the King whose greatest fall will bring our eternal rise. This accessible, absorbing expository guide opens up this book for new and mature Christians alike. It is less academic than a commentary, making it a great resource for personal devotion, as well as useful for leading small group studies or sermon preparation.

    In this inaugural volume, the richness of Old Testament allusions and background in Mark clarifies puzzling passages and explains others in fresh ways.The exodus motif structures Mark. Mark also presents Jesus as the true temple of God in contrast to the existing temple, which has been corrupted. These important themes are hidden to modern eyes without the insight of an Old Testament perspective, and this commentary builds on that insight to emphasize how the gospel applies to the daily lives of Christians today.

    More importantly, it highlights how a compassionate and justice-seeking God transforms the lives of victimized people so that they may experience life in all its fullness in his holy presence. The story of Exodus illustrates an all-important paradigm for understanding the nature and goal of divine salvation, anticipating an even greater exodus that will come through Jesus Christ.Desmond Alexander grapples with the varied complexities of the carefully constructed literary collage of Exodus. As an integral part of the longer narrative that runs from Genesis to 2 Kings, Exodus recounts a dramatic and unified story of how the Israelites come to a deeper and closer relationship with the Lord God. Narrating past events, Exodus speaks to contemporary society, revealing a God who passionately desires to draw people into an intimate and exclusive relationship with himself. This detailed commentary sheds light on one of the most influential books ever written.

    Burleson thoroughly furnishes the reader with the evidence affirming that the Bible we hold in our hands is trustworthy in all respects.

    Based on the original twelve-volume set that has become a staple in college and seminary libraries and pastors’ studies worldwide, this new thirteen-volume edition marshals the most current evangelical scholarship and resources. The thoroughly revised features consist of: • Comprehensive introductions • Short and precise bibliographies • Detailed outlines • Insightful expositions of passages and verses • Overviews of sections of Scripture to illuminate the big picture • Occasional reflections to give more detail on important issues • Notes on textual questions and special problems, placed close to the texts in question • Transliterations and translations of Hebrew and Greek words, enabling readers to understand even the more technical notes • A balanced and respectful approach toward marked differences of opinion

    It has served as both an inspiration for Puritans, American revolutionaries, abolitionists, Mormons, the modern civil rights movement, and revolutionaries the world over. In Jewish tradition, the Exodus is also applied to every person s life journey with its struggles, liberations, and revelations. This groundbreaking interfaith book explores the Exodus as the foundational story that links Judaism and Christianity together, and looks at ways that each of us can free ourselves from the egypts and pharaohs in our own lives."

    Based on the original twelve-volume set that has become a staple in college and seminary libraries and pastors’ studies worldwide, this new thirteen-volume edition marshals the most current evangelical scholarship and resources. The thoroughly revised features consist of: • Comprehensive introductions • Short and precise bibliographies • Detailed outlines • Insightful expositions of passages and verses • Overviews of sections of Scripture to illuminate the big picture • Occasional reflections to give more detail on important issues • Notes on textual questions and special problems, placed close to the texts in question • Transliterations and translations of Hebrew and Greek words, enabling readers to understand even the more technical notes • A balanced and respectful approach toward marked differences of opinion

    And while examining the book's structure and key themes, author David Beldman draws in stories from his life and the world today, showing how this Old Testament book, in its darkness and heroism, gives us a lens to see God's at work throughout history.

    Based on the original twelve-volume set that has become a staple in college and seminary libraries and pastors’ studies worldwide, this new thirteen-volume edition marshals the most current evangelical scholarship and resources. The thoroughly revised features consist of: • Comprehensive introductions • Short and precise bibliographies • Detailed outlines • Insightful expositions of passages and verses • Overviews of sections of Scripture to illuminate the big picture • Occasional reflections to give more detail on important issues • Notes on textual questions and special problems, placed close to the texts in question • Transliterations and translations of Hebrew and Greek words, enabling readers to understand even the more technical notes • A balanced and respectful approach toward marked differences of opinion

    These texts make important theological statements about the divine name YHWH and the contours of the divine character. From the enigmatic statements in Exod 3:13–15, most scholars reconstruct the original form of the name as “Yahweh,” which is thought to describe YHWH’s creative power or self-existence. Similarly, Exod 6:3 has become a classic proof-text for the Documentary Hypothesis and an indication of different aspects of God’s character as shown in history. Despite their seeming importance for “defining” the divine name, these texts are ancillary to and preparatory for the true revelation of the divine name in the book of Exodus.This book attempts to move beyond atomistic readings of individual texts and etymological studies of the divine name toward a holistic reading of the book of Exodus. Surls centers his argument around in-depth analyses of Exod 3:13–15, 6:2–8 and Exod 33:12–23 and 34:5–8. Consequently, the definitive proclamation of YHWH’s character is not given at the burning bush but in response to Moses’ later intercession (Exod 33:12–23). YHWH proclaimed his name in a formulaic manner that Israel could appropriate (Exod 34:6–7), and the Hebrew Bible quotes or alludes to this text in many genres. This demonstrates the centrality of Exod 34:6–7 to Old Testament Theology. The character of God cannot be discerned from an etymological analysis of the word yhwh but from a close study of YHWH’s deliberate ascriptions made progressively in the book of Exodus.

    Numerous footnotes and appendices provide valuable background information and explain translation decisions. The story of Ruth is the first book to be released in this series.

    Dever offers a welcome perspective on ancient Israel and Judah that prioritizes the archaeological remains to render history as it was--not as the biblical writers argue it should have been. Drawing from the most recent archaeological data as interpreted from a nontheological point of view and supplementing that data with biblical material only when it converges with the archaeological record, Dever analyzes all the evidence at hand to provide a new history of ancient Israel and Judah that is accessible to all interested readers"--

    James explores the Song's underlying interest in the natural world. Engaging with the fields of geography, landscape architecture, and literature, James critiques the tendency of scholars to reify a perceiveddichotomy between nature and culture and instead argues that the poetic attention to landscape indicates an awareness of a viewer. Nature is here a poetic device that informs James's close-readings of agrarianism, gardens, cities, social control, and feminism and the gaze in the Song. With thistwo-fold emphasis on landscape and lyric, Landscape of the Song of Songs shows how the Song persistently envisions a world in which human lovers are embedded in the natural world, complexly enfolded in relationships of fragility and care.

    Based on the original twelve-volume set that has become a staple in college and seminary libraries and pastors’ studies worldwide, this new thirteen-volume edition marshals the most current evangelical scholarship and resources. The thoroughly revised features consist of: • Comprehensive introductions • Short and precise bibliographies • Detailed outlines • Insightful expositions of passages and verses • Overviews of sections of Scripture to illuminate the big picture • Occasional reflections to give more detail on important issues • Notes on textual questions and special problems, placed close to the texts in question • Transliterations and translations of Hebrew and Greek words, enabling readers to understand even the more technical notes • A balanced and respectful approach toward marked differences of opinion

    In this most recent title of the extensive Focus on the Bible series, Richard Belcher expertly deals with the difficult themes of this practical book, showing how it is still acutely applicable to the lives of believers.

    William P. Brown begins not with the biblical text itself but with the reader, helping students to identify their own interpretive lenses before engaging the biblical text. Brown guides the student through a wide variety of interpretive approaches, including modern methodologies--feminist, womanist, Latino/a, queer, postcolonial, disability, and ecological approaches--alongside more traditional methods. This allows students to critically reflect on themselves as bona fide interpreters. While covering a wide range of biblical passages, Brown also highlights two common biblical texts throughout the work to help show how each interpretive approach highlights different dimensions of the same texts. Students will appreciate the value of an empathetic inquiry of Scripture that is both inclusive of others and textually in-depth.

    The third volume examines the final and culminating special grace covenant: the New covenant. The three volumes taken together present the covenant as an expression of God's nature, and show a paradigm of activity by which God works in covenantal relations, first to create the world and then, through a redemptive program after the fall, to redeem what was lost.The proposed paradigm, by which all the divine-human covenants are expressed and understood, is a new and, it is hoped, helpful way of portraying God's covenant making dynamic, and it also thereby illustrates the divine consistency. The work also develops further the idea that all divine-human covenants are both unconditional and conditional, in contradistinction to prevailing terminology and understanding of the covenants as either conditional or unconditional, or unilateral or bilateral. Ancillary to the discussion of the covenants is a fresh exploration and demonstration of covenant making and covenant sustaining terminology.

    In this book Paula Gooder and Brad Anderson provide a clear and accessible introduction for those beginning Bible study. Key themes such as creation and the flood, exodus and liberation, as well as covenant and law are presented and analyzed. These themes are explored in their ancient context and from the standpoint of contemporary concerns such as liberation theology, gender issues and ecology.For this new edition introductory sections on the five books of the Pentateuch have been expanded and supplemented, while recent developments in the quest for the origins of the Pentateuch have also been updated. A new chapter on academic approaches to the study of the Pentateuch has been added, along with a section on the 'afterlife' of the Pentateuch which focuses on its place in the history of interpretation, as well as in the arts and culture. Reading lists and references have been updated throughout to take account of the most recent scholarship.

    Written by internationally renowned scholars, this multivolume work comprehensively treats the many different methods of interpretation, the important interpreters from various eras, and the key issues that have surfaced repeatedly over the long course of biblical interpretation. This third installment examines the period after the Reformation until the dawn of the twentieth century. Its essays cover broad intellectual and historical movements such as historical criticism, textual criticism, and the quest for the historical Jesus. Other contributions focus on particular individuals, including Baruch Spinoza, Friedrich Schleiermacher, and F. C. Baur. Each chapter also includes a helpful bibliography for additional study.

    At sixty-six books, nearly 800,000 words, and numerous kings, prophets, and deliverers, as well as priests and apostles, where should you begin? In what order should you read it? Why are there narratives here and over there, but other things mixed between? And is there an alternative to reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation? In A Reader’s Guide to the Bible John Goldingay places the biblical books in their times and settings, and then lays out a memorable pattern for understanding the Bible. Three categories of biblical books—story, word, and response—form three doors into the cathedral that is the Bible: the story of God and his people, the word of God to his people, and the people’s response to God.Whether you are a person of Christian faith or other faith, or no faith at all, here is a reliable guide to exploring the Bible. Written by a highly accomplished biblical scholar, A Reader’s Guide to the Bible joins a clear and direct style with a maestro’s touch.

    Based on the original twelve-volume set that has become a staple in college and seminary libraries and pastors’ studies worldwide, this new thirteen-volume edition marshals the most current evangelical scholarship and resources. The thoroughly revised features consist of: • Comprehensive introductions • Short and precise bibliographies • Detailed outlines • Insightful expositions of passages and verses • Overviews of sections of Scripture to illuminate the big picture • Occasional reflections to give more detail on important issues • Notes on textual questions and special problems, placed close to the texts in question • Transliterations and translations of Hebrew and Greek words, enabling readers to understand even the more technical notes • A balanced and respectful approach toward marked differences of opinion

    Based on the original twelve-volume set that has become a staple in college and seminary libraries and pastors’ studies worldwide, this new thirteen-volume edition marshals the most current evangelical scholarship and resources. The thoroughly revised features consist of: • Comprehensive introductions • Short and precise bibliographies • Detailed outlines • Insightful expositions of passages and verses • Overviews of sections of Scripture to illuminate the big picture • Occasional reflections to give more detail on important issues • Notes on textual questions and special problems, placed close to the texts in question • Transliterations and translations of Hebrew and Greek words, enabling readers to understand even the more technical notes • A balanced and respectful approach toward marked differences of opinion

    Kikawada and Arthur Quinn persuasively argue that the first eleven chapters of Genesis are not a literary patchwork by different editors as widely supposed, but are the work of one author of extraordinary subtlety and skill. Comparing Genesis 1-11 with primeval histories from the ancient Near East, Kikawada and Quinn urge their readers to appreciate the ingenuity of Genesis's author: ""When we think we find this author napping, we had better proceed very carefully. As with Homer or Shakespeare, when you think you have seen something wrong, there may well be something wrong with your own eyes. You are more likely to be wrong than either of them."" Providing a solid case for the unity of Genesis's first eleven chapters, Kikawada and Quinn move on to show how these chapters provide a formal structure for other Old Testament histories. Destined to have lasting impact on biblical scholarship, Before Abraham Was will give scholars, clergy, and students a new appreciation of critical biblical studies and a new hypothesis for the formation of Genesis. Isaac M. Kikawada taught Near Eastern Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned his PhD. Arthur Quinn taught Rhetoric at the University of California at Berkeley and holds an MA and PhD from Princeton University.

    Akin, and Tony Merida, this new commentary series, projected to be 48 volumes, takes a Christ- centered approach to expositing each book of the Bible. Rather than a verse-by-verse approach, the authors have crafted chapters that explain and apply key passages in their assigned Bible books. Readers will learn to see Christ in all aspects of Scripture, and they will be encouraged by the devotional nature of each exposition. Projected contributors to the series include notable authors such as Russell D. Moore, Al Mohler, Matt Chandler, Francis Chan, Mark Dever, and others.