Book picks similar to
Creation and the Persistence of Evil: The Jewish Drama of Divine Omnipotence by Jon D. Levenson
theology
religion
biblical-studies
judaism
Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We've Made Up
Francis Chan - 2011
They've asked the same questions. Like you, sometimes they just don't want to believe in hell. But as they write, "We cannot afford to be wrong on this issue."This is not a book about who is saying what. It's a book about what God says. It's not a book about impersonal theological issues. It's a book about people who God loves. It's not a book about arguments, doctrine, or being right. It's a book about the character of God.Erasing Hell will immerse you in the truth of Scripture as, together with the authors, you find not only the truth but the courage to live it out.
Holman Bible Atlas: A Complete Guide to the Expansive Geography of Biblical History
Thomas C. Brisco - 1999
Utilizing 140 full color maps key to biblical events and 140 full color photographs illustrating the land, sites, and archaeology of the biblical world, the Atlas draws the reader into the biblical story.The Holman Bible Atlas begins with an introduction to the geography of the biblical world emphasizing the major physical features of the Ancient Near East with special attention given to the geographical regions of Palestine. Information about daily life and the role of archaeology in recovering ancient cultures are discussed.
Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope
Esau McCaulley - 2020
A key element in the fight for hope, he discovered, has long been the practice of Bible reading and interpretation that comes out of traditional Black churches. This ecclesial tradition is often disregarded or viewed with suspicion by much of the wider church and academy, but it has something vital to say. Reading While Black is a personal and scholarly testament to the power and hope of Black biblical interpretation. At a time in which some within the African American community are questioning the place of the Christian faith in the struggle for justice, New Testament scholar McCaulley argues that reading Scripture from the perspective of Black church tradition is invaluable for connecting with a rich faith history and addressing the urgent issues of our times. He advocates for a model of interpretation that involves an ongoing conversation between the collective Black experience and the Bible, in which the particular questions coming out of Black communities are given pride of place and the Bible is given space to respond by affirming, challenging, and, at times, reshaping Black concerns. McCaulley demonstrates this model with studies on how Scripture speaks to topics often overlooked by white interpreters, such as ethnicity, political protest, policing, and slavery. Ultimately McCaulley calls the church to a dynamic theological engagement with Scripture, in which Christians of diverse backgrounds dialogue with their own social location as well as the cultures of others. Reading While Black moves the conversation forward.
Why Everything Matters: The Gospel in Ecclesiastes
Philip Graham Ryken - 2015
The author of Ecclesiastes had his doubts, too, and these have enabled him to speak to skeptics as well as believers down through the centuries.Ecclesiastes is a book rich in literary artistry and multi-layered depths of spiritual meaning. Philip G. Ryken explores this wonderful Old Testament book, and reminds us again of the need to trust God with the questions, even when we do not have all the answers.
Laying Down the Sword: Why We Can't Ignore the Bible's Violent Verses
Philip Jenkins - 2011
But fanaticism is no more hard-wired in Christianity than it is in Islam. In Laying Down the Sword, “one of America’s best scholars of religion” (The Economist) explores how religions grow past their bloody origins, and delivers a fearless examination of the most violent verses of the Bible and an urgent call to read them anew in pursuit of a richer, more genuine faith.Christians cannot engage with neighbors and critics of other traditions—nor enjoy the deepest, most mature embodiment of their own faith—until they confront the texts of terror in their heritage. Philip Jenkins identifies the “holy amnesia” that, while allowing scriptural religions to grow and adapt, has demanded a nearly wholesale suppression of the Bible’s most aggressive passages, leaving them dangerously dormant for extremists to revive in times of conflict. Jenkins lays bare the whole Bible, without compromise or apology, and equips us with tools for reading even the most unsettling texts, from the slaughter of the Canaanites to the alarming rhetoric of the book of Revelation.Laying Down the Sword presents a vital framework for understanding both the Bible and the Qur’an, gives Westerners a credible basis for interaction and dialogue with Islam, and delivers a powerful model for how a faith can grow from terror to mercy.
Show Them No Mercy: 4 Views on God and Canaanite Genocide
C.S. Cowles - 2003
How can Yahweh be the same God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? What does genocide in the Bible have to do with the politics of the 21st century?Show Them No Mercy explores the Old Testament command of God to exterminate the Canaanite population and what that implies about continuity between the Old and New Testaments. The four views presented are:Strong Discontinuity – emphasizes the strong tension, regarding violence, between the two main texts of the Bible (C.S. Cowles)Moderate Discontinuity – provides a justification of God’s actions in the Old Testament with strong emphasis on exegesis (Eugene H. Merrill)Eschatological Continuity – a reading of the warfare narratives that ties them contextually to the book of Revelation and the Second Coming (Daniel L. Gard)Spiritual Continuity – incorporates the genocidal account into the full picture of the Old and New Testaments (Tremper Longman III)The Counterpoints series presents a comparison and critique of scholarly views on topics important to Christians that are both fair-minded and respectful of the biblical text. Each volume is a one-stop reference that allows readers to evaluate the different positions on a specific issue and form their own, educated opinion.
The Real Kosher Jesus: Revealing the Mysteries of the Hidden Messiah
Michael L. Brown - 2012
The most controversial Jew who ever lived. He has been called a rabbi, a rebel, a reformer, a religious teacher, a reprobate sinner, a revolutionary, a redeemer. Some have claimed he was a magician, others the Messiah. Some say he was a deceiver; others say he was divine. Who is this Jesus-Yeshua, and why are we still talking about him two thousand years later? Recently a prominent Orthodox Jewish rabbi presented a new version of Jesus, a “Kosher Jesus” that Jews can accept. By reclaiming Yeshua as a fellow Jew and rabbi, he has taken a very major and truly wonderful step in the right direction, but by re-creating Jesus, he has also robbed him of his uniqueness. The Real Kosher Jesus takes you on a journey to uncover the truth. It is a journey filled with amazing discoveries and delightful surprises, a journey that is sometimes painful but that ends with joy, a journey through which you will learn the real story of this man named Yeshua: the most famous Jew of all time, the Jewish nation’s greatest prophet, the most illustrious rabbi ever, the light of the nations—and Israel’s hidden Messiah.
Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament
Daniel B. Wallace - 1995
It explores numerous syntactical categories, some of which have not previously been dealt with in print, and has a number of distinguishing features, including:Exegetically significant illustrations, discussed in depth.Semantic situations—or contexts for simple semantics—are developed and analyzed.Expanded definitions and numerous examples and syntactical categories.Grammatical statistics listed at the beginning of major sections.Scores of charts, tables, and graphs.Sound exegesis requires that the exegete consider grammar within a larger framework that includes context, lexeme, and other linguistic features. This textbook faithfully equips intermediate Greek students with the skills they need to do exegesis of biblical texts in a way that is faithful to their intended meaning.The expanded edition contains a subject index, a Greek word index, and page numbers in the Syntax Summary section.
Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths
Bruce Feiler - 2002
Thoughtful and inspiring, it offers a rare vision of hope that will redefine what we think about our neighbors, our future, and ourselves.In this timely, provocative, and uplifting journey, the bestselling author of Walking the Bible searches for the man at the heart of the world's three monotheistic religions -- and today's deadliest conflicts.At a moment when the world is asking, "Can the religions get along?" one figure stands out as the shared ancestor of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. One man holds the key to our deepest fears -- and our possible reconciliation. Abraham.Bruce Feiler set out on a personal quest to better understand our common patriarch. Traveling in war zones, climbing through caves and ancient shrines, and sitting down with the world's leading religious minds, Feiler uncovers fascinating, little-known details of the man who defines faith for half the world.Both immediate and timeless, Abraham is a powerful, universal story, the first-ever interfaith portrait of the man God chose to be his partner. Thoughtful and inspiring, it offers a rare vision of hope that will redefine what we think about our neighbors, our future, and ourselves.
What Is the Gospel?
Greg Gilbert - 2010
How are we to formulate a clear, biblical understanding of the gospel? Tradition, reason, and experience all leave us ultimately disappointed. If we want answers, we must turn to the Word of God.Greg Gilbert does so in What Is the Gospel?. Beginning with Paul's systematic presentation of the gospel in Romans and moving through the sermons in Acts, Gilbert argues that the central structure of the gospel consists of four main subjects: God, man, Christ, and a response. The book carefully examines each and then explores the effects the gospel can have in individuals, churches, and the world. Both Christian and non-Christian readers will gain a clearer understanding of the gospel in this valuable resource.
Paul Was Not a Christian: The Original Message of a Misunderstood Apostle
Pamela Eisenbaum - 2009
She explores the idea of Paul not as the founder of a new Christian religion, but as a devout Jew who believed Jesus was the Christ who would unite Jews and Gentiles and fulfill God’s universal plan for humanity. Eisenbaum’s work in Paul Was Not a Christian will have a profound impact on the way many Christians approach evangelism and how to better follow Jesus’s—and Paul’s—teachings on how to live faithfully today.
Coronavirus and Christ
John Piper - 2020
The seemingly solid foundations are shaking. The question we should be asking is, Do we have a Rock under our feet? A Rock that cannot be shaken--ever?--John PiperOn January 11, 2020, a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) reportedly claimed its first victim in the Hubei province of China. By March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization had declared a global pandemic. In the midst of this fear and uncertainty, it is natural to wonder what God is doing.In Coronavirus and Christ, John Piper invites readers around the world to stand on the solid Rock, who is Jesus Christ, in whom our souls can be sustained by the sovereign God who ordains, governs, and reigns over all things to accomplish his wise and good purposes for those who trust in him. What is God doing through the coronavirus? Piper offers six biblical answers to that question, showing us that God is at work in this moment in history.
Christianity and Liberalism
J. Gresham Machen - 1922
Though originally published nearly seventy years ago, the book maintains its relevance today.
God's Word in Human Words: An Evangelical Appropriation of Critical Biblical Scholarship
Kenton L. Sparks - 2008
Between the two poles of uncritical embrace and outright rejection of these conclusions, is there a third way? Can evangelical believers incorporate the insights of biblical criticism while at the same time maintaining a high view of Scripture and a vital faith? In this provocative book, Kenton Sparks argues that the insights from historical and biblical criticism can indeed be valuable to evangelicals and may even yield solutions to difficult issues in biblical studies while avoiding pat answers. This constructive response to biblical criticism includes taking seriously both the divine and the human aspects of the Bible and acknowledging the diversity that exists in the biblical texts.
Seeing Christ in All of Scripture: Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary
Peter A. Lillback - 2016
Seeing Christ in All of Scripture is designed to help people understand the beautiful, Christ-centered structure of the Bible. This concise compilation of essays provides a unique and practical tool for personal or group Bible study. This book is packed with readable yet rich content. The book's four contributing authors, all faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary, have a total of five doctorate degrees, over 140 years of experience teaching the Bible, and over 145 years of experience ministering the gospel.