Showing titles in Commentaries

Daniel's story is one of extraordinary faith in God lived out at the pinnacle of executive power. It tells of four teenage friends, born in the tiny state of Judah about 26 centuries ago, but captured by Nebuchadnezzar, emperor of Babylon. Daniel describes how they eventually rose to the top echelons of administration. Daniel and his friends did not simply maintain their private devotion to God; they maintained a high-profile witness in a pluralistic society antagonistic to their faith.

From beginning to end, the very structure of the Gospel of Matthew emphasizes that Jesus is the son of God. At climactic points, Jesus is so identified - by Peter, by a Roman centurion, by Jesus himself, and by God the Father. With The Gospel of the Son of God, David Bauer provides a comprehensive introduction to this Gospel that has been so foundational to the Christian church. Arguing that the nature of Matthew itself should provide us with the framework for its study, he presents a holistic inductive approach with a literary, theological, and canonical focus.

"Like a child eating cotton-candy at the circus, many people who expect to bite into something real end up with a mouthful of nothing. They waste priceless years on empty substitutes for reality." Through clever word pictures like this that strike the audience with their simple truth, acclaimed best-selling author and former pastor Warren Wiersbe shares priceless unchanging realities as he opens up the book of I John.

Taking Religion Seriously is Murray’s autobiographical account of the decades-long evolution in his stance toward the idea of God in general and Christianity in particular. He argues that religion is something that can be approached as an intellectual exercise. His account moves from the improbable physics of the Big Bang to recent discoveries about the nature of consciousness, from evolutionary psychology to hypotheses about a universal Moral Law.

The Zondervan Biblical and Theological Lectures series provides a unique audio learning experience. Unlike a traditional audiobook's direct narration of a book's text, Biblical Critical Theory Audio Lectures, Part 2 includes high-quality live recordings of college-level lectures that cover the...

In Beyond Belief, renowned religion scholar Elaine Pagels continues her groundbreaking examination of the earliest Christian texts, arguing for an ongoing assessment of faith and a questioning of religious orthodoxy. Spurred on by personal tragedy and new scholarship from an international group...

Most people try to read the Old Testament but never complete it. Nor do they understand it. They get frustrated and confused and literally give up. But H.K. provides a solution to all that in this book. He holds your hand and walks you through the entire Old Testament in an easy to understand language, giving you a thorough Biblical understanding of all the 39 books. The books have been re-arranged, their literally designs broken down and outlines provided, acting as a road-map for the big picture view of the entire Old Testament, leading to the New Testament. The book is written for the ...

Beginning with Jesus' birth, Ken Bailey leads you on a kaleidoscopic study of Jesus throughout the four Gospels. Bailey examines the life and ministry of Jesus with attention to the Lord's Prayer, the Beatitudes, Jesus' relationship to women, and especially Jesus' parables. Through it all, Bailey employs his trademark expertise as a master of Middle Eastern culture to lead you into a deeper understanding of the person and significance of Jesus within his own cultural context.

N.T. Wright's accessible new volume, built on his Cambridge University Hulsean Lectures of 2004, takes a fresh look at Paul in light of recent understandings of his Jewish roots, his attitude toward the Roman Empire, and his unique reframing of Jewish symbols in relation to his experience of the risen Christ. Then Wright attempts a short systematic account of the main theological contours of Paul's thought and its pertinence for the church today.

The singular blending of testimony, prayer, and praise in Psalm 119 is admirable. In one verse, the psalmist bears witness; in a second verse, he praises; in a third verse, he prays. It is an incense made up of many spices, but they are wonderfully mixed and worked together to form one perfect sweetness. The blending greatly increases the value of the whole. This wonderful psalm, from its great length, helps us to marvel at the immensity of Scripture.

For generations, the Old Testament has shaped Western culture—etched into our laws, language, and morality. But what if we've misunderstood it all along? Beneath the familiar tales of creation and commandments lies a far more unsettling truth: these texts weren't written to enlighten, but to persuade. Crafted by priests and kings, they served as political tools to assert power, justify violence, and shape collective memory.

Your greatest regret at the end of your life will be the lions you didn't chase. You will look back longingly on risks not taken, opportunities not seized, and dreams not pursued. Stop running away from what scares you most and start chasing the God-ordained opportunities that cross your path.

Marriage in the Bible: What Do the Texts Say? is an honest engagement with the relevant passages in the two primary Testaments of the Christian Bible. Rather than making the Bible confirm a specific stance on marriage, the author invites her readers to be honest about what these biblical stories, laws, commands, and sayings meant in their original contexts.

David Bentley Hart undertook this new translation of the New Testament in the spirit of "etsi doctrina non daretur", "as if doctrine is not given". Reproducing the texts' often fragmentary formulations without augmentation or correction, he has produced a pitilessly literal translation, one that captures the texts' impenetrability and unfinished quality while awakening listeners to an uncanniness that often lies hidden beneath doctrinal layers.

Do you have the courage to test your faith? Are you looking for a comprehensive dissection of scripture? You are not alone. In Crucifying the Bible, you will find the support and answers you have been searching for. After more than three decades of unquestioning belief and deep involvement in the church, Deborah Grace began studying scripture to better understand her faith, leading to a shocking revelation: The Bible is not true.

The Zondervan Biblical and Theological Lectures series provides a unique audio learning experience. Unlike a traditional audiobook's direct narration of a book's text, Letters to the Church: Audio Lectures includes high-quality live recordings of college-level lectures that cover the important...

The most basic and natural way we seek to understand who we are, where we are, what is wrong with us (especially why we die), and how we can be restored is by telling stories. Every culture in every era in every part of the world has a story or stories by which people navigate the mystery of being human on earth. In this series of expositions, Darrell Johnson suggests that the first eleven chapters of Genesis (what he and others maintain constitute the “first half ” of the Bible) help make sense of all our other stories, for they speak to the fundamental questions we ask in every age. ...

How can we persevere through persecution? First-century Christians wrestled with this question. They were often harassed, slandered, beaten, and ostracized for their faith. As they endured these difficult circumstances, we can imagine their joy upon receiving two encouraging letters from the Apostle Peter. No stranger to suffering, Peter likely penned these letters while in a Roman prison just before his martyrdom. In this volume, Dr. R.C. Sproul takes us through Peter’s epistles line by line.

As you dust off the memoirs of this ordinary man, Nehemiah, you will likely be inspired to serve the faithful God whom Nehemiah followed: the One who led His obedient servant to attempt impossible, extraordinary things for His glory. Join Stephen in this study as he encourages you to make a stand for Christ . . . even when you stand alone.

The Book of Jubilees, also known as The Little Genesis and The Apocalypse of Moses, opens with an extraordinary claim of authorship. It is attributed to the very hand of Moses; penned while he was on Mount Sinai, as an angel of God dictated to him regarding those events that transpired from the beginning of the world. The story is written from the viewpoint of the angel. The angelic monologue takes place after the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt. The setting is atop Mount Sinai, where Moses was summoned by God. The text then unfolds as the angel reveals heaven's viewpoint of history.