This critically acclaimed series provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The authors are scholars of international standing.

"The Bible in the Latin West" is the first volume in a series that addresses the codicology of texts. In considering how and why the appearance of a manuscript changes over the centuries, Margaret T. Gibson introduces students to the study of manuscripts and to the wider range of information and expertise that can be brought to bear on the study of manuscripts as historical objects as well as texts. Here Gibson surveys the changes in the most important book in the western world, the Latin Bible. She begins the survey in late antiquity, discussing the volumes of the great senatorial houses of the 4th century and how they influenced the early great Bibles of northern Europe. The discussion then moves through the Carolingian period, with its increased interest in commentary to early vernacular versions, and goes on to reveal how in the 11th and 12th centuries the growing numbers of monastic and university readers made new demands on the texts which led to the inclusion of glosses and other scholarly apparatus. Later, the combined influences of increased literacy and growing wealth among the population called for vernacular translations and devotional aids such as Books of Hours. Gibson completes the survey with a look at early printed Bibles. A useful volume for anyone being introduced to the firsthand study of texts and their transmission, as well as for graduate students in history, English, modern languages, classics, and religious studies. "The Bible in the Latin West" contains an introductory survey.

The Old Testament Library provides an authoritative treatment of every major and important aspect of the Old Testament. This commentary on Lamentations furnishes a fresh translation and discusses questions of historical background and literary architecture before providing a theologically sensitive exposition of the text.

This critically acclaimed series provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The authors are scholars of international standing.

Job depicts faith under trial. Psalms teach us how to express our faith. Godly wisdom is found in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. Love is the theme found within the Song of Solomon.

The destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, which led to the exile of the people of Israel, drastically changed the community's life. In the midst of this darkness, the five poems collected to form the biblical Book of Lamentations emerged as a life-embracing work. This commentary aims to make the message of Lamentations come alive to Christians today. The distinctiveness of the Palestinian voice found in these poems is maintained as they bear witness to the horror of pain and human suffering. Yet, beneath the words, a determined will to live emerges to confront human suffering, probe God's actions and anticipate a new kind of human community.

Many approaches for interpreting the Bible have been put forth in recent years. All have their strengths--and their weaknesses. The Act of Bible Reading combines the strengths of several of these approaches into one volume which will enrich our reading of the Bible. Gordon Fee and Elmer Dyck discuss history and canon, respectively, as contexts for interpretation, highlighting the importance of historical-grammatical interpretation within a canonical setting for understanding biblical texts. J. I. Packer explores the importance of theology, both as it informs and as it safeguards Bible reading. Craig M. Gay proffers key insights from sociology, especially the sociology of knowledge, as it cautions us to ask not only what the text says, but who says it says that and why should we believe what they are telling us it says. Facing the challenges of modern secular hermeneutics from Heidigger and Nietzsche to Derrida and Foucault, Loren Wilkinson counters the postmodern reaction against truth. James Houston argues that the aim of Bible reading must be godliness and not mere scholarship. And Eugene Peterson then responds to the collection of insights as a whole. For readers who want to take the next steps in understanding the Bible for themselves, here is here is a not-to-be-missed opportunity to benefit from the combined insight of a distinguished group of teachers.

The Bible, undoubtedly the most widely read book of the Western world, has outsold every other book in the history of publishing. Despite its popularity and cultural importance as the foundation of Christianity and Judaism, few people have more than superficial knowledge of the actual contents of the Scriptures. In What is the Bible? Carl Lofmark clearly and succinctly synopsizes the basics of biblical scholarship and criticism. Designed for the reader with little or no prior knowledge of the subject, Lofmark's approachable, well-organized presentation cuts through the complexities of biblical exegesis and rationalist critiques, and outlines the basic structure, history, and inherent theological controversies of the Bible. The first half of Lofmark's discussion summarizes the essential facts of biblical scholarship: how and when the various books of the Bible were compiled, a brief history of scriptural translations, the evolving understanding of the Bible's original languages, and how the various editions we know today were developed and codified across two millennia. The second half delves into major critiques of the Bible as an authoritative guide for living: its self-contradictions, its mixture of fact and fiction, the questionable and even deplorable morality of many biblical passages, the intellectual difficulties of literal or symbolic interpretation, and its inadequacy as a foundation for modern ethics. As an introduction to an important and often controversial subject, What is the Bible? will be useful to believers and skeptics alike.

More than eighty years ago Albert Schweitzer posed a question of enduring debate for New Testament scholarship. Did Jesus--and later Paul--believe that the apocalyptic kingdom of God was about to appear, bringing an end to this world? Indeed, what were the eschatological teachings of Jesus and Paul? Is there any appreciable continuity between the two? Ben Witherington takes a hard look at the Gospel texts and makes a thorough and critical assessment of Paul's eschatology. For each topic examined--the language of imminence, the dominion of God, the community of Christ, the Israel of God, the day of the Lord and the resurrection of the dead--he compares and contrasts Jesus and Paul. The result is an important contribution to our understanding of New Testament eschatology. With the second millennium drawing to a close and world events sparking the speculations of popular religious imaginations, Witherington provides a timely and sober re-examination of a topic too long neglected by serious scholarship.

Satan worship. Witches. New Age channelers. The last two decades have witnessed a vast upsurge in occult activity. Scores of popular books have warned Christians of the dangers and urged them to do battle against these spiritual forces. Few books, however, have developed a careful biblical theology on demons, principalities and powers. Clinton Arnold seeks to fill this gap, providing an in-depth look at Paul's letters and what they teach on the subject. For perspective, he examines first-century Greek, Roman and Jewish beliefs as well as Jesus' teaching about magic, sorcery and divination. Arguing against many recent interpretations that have seen principalities and powers as impersonal social, economic and political structures, Arnold contends that the New Testament view is that such forces are organized, personal beings which Jesus defeated at the cross and will bring into full subjection at his return. In his concluding section Arnold suggests practical ways in which Christians today can contend with the forces of evil. A thoughtful, biblical look at an urgent challenge facing the church.

Gerald A. Larue examines the scriptural underpinnings of occult and supernaturalistic notions that survive in contemporary society. The book is based on the author's thorough knowledge of the history of ancient Near-Eastern cultures and their mythology.

"Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion, and Morality" took form when Allen began his own exploration of the Bible, marking passages that struck him as extraordinarily beautiful, or those that were profoundly confusing. Spellbound by the very mystery of it, he perceived that much of the text leads directly to controversy. And, he urges, it is of greater importance now than ever before that all Americans be conversant with the Bible, partly because of those who would use Scriptures as a weapon to force their views on others. Allen presents his ideas as a series of alphabetically arranged essays on characters, events, and books of the Scriptures, as well as on such controversial topics as abortion, anti-Semitism, capital punishment, death, evolution, and original sin. He draws on the expertise of biblical scholars, theologians, and philosophers to demonstrate that fundamentalist assumptions about the reliability and authenticity of the Bible as the inviolable Word of God simply have no rational or factual basis.

Even though it was written some two millennia ago, Ephesians still speaks to Christians today in themes quite familiar to the modern reader. In a context where the church had become overwhelmingly, if not exclusively, Gentile, the Christian community needed to be reminded of the priority of Israel and the astonishing work of reconciliation that God willed to accomplish in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This new volume in the highly acclaimed New Testament Library series reveals the great theological promises of Ephesians while discussing issues of context, authorship, and style.

After the Civil War, Ingersoll embarked upon a career as a lecturer, touring the United States to make his thoughts on religion, women's rights, and humanism known to all. Some Mistakes of Moses, one of the most popular of these lectures, is a critical examination of the "Pentateuch" (the first five books of the Bible). Ingersoll passionately believed that the alleged divine origins of the Bible were not sufficient reason for a suspension of critical judgement. His diatribe against Old Testament religion is a call for rationality, a quality sorely missing in this time of political upheaval in the world in the name of religion.Ingersoll greatly feared that when the Bible was read as truth rather than as a collection of fables, mankind would destroy itself in its attempt to follow the teachings of Moses to the letter. Ingersoll fervently believed that the most important belief one can have is belief in man. "Theology is a superstition - Humanity is a religion" - this was the credo of Robert G. Ingersoll. Now, a new generation of readers can thrill to Ingersoll's brilliant and witty rhetoric, just as great thinkers Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, Eugene V Debs, and others did almost one hundred years ago.

The original edition of this concordance, published in 1897, was primarily based on the Greek text of Westcott and Hort but gave all the variants in the edition of Tischendorf and in the Greek text underlying the Revised Version of the English Bible. This sixth edition retains all the features of earlier ones, but it is primarily based on the Greek text in the Greek New Testament (fourth edition), which is identical with that in "Novum Testamentum Graece" (27th edition). It incorporates the main marginal readings in the former of these texts, and references to the variants in the older editions are preserved, so that the student has to hand every reading which by even a remote probability might be regarded as forming part of the true text of the New Testament. The supplement incorporating the prepositions has been included in the main text of the concordance. Where the same word occurs twice in the same verse, these occurrences are now printed on separate lines and individually verse-numbered so that it is easier to count the number of occurrences of any given word. Special new Greek fonts have been created to enable greater clarity in the printing.

Most people think they know what's in the Bible, or at least what kind of material it contains. Most of them are wrong: they are familiar only with a few church-approved texts, and are astounded not just at how awful God is in the Old Testament, but also at how less than perfect his son is in the New. As David Voas demonstrates in The Bad News Bible: The New Testament, Jesus fails to live up to his Good Shepherd reputation, while God the Father, who has already spoiled his image in the Old Testament, merely stays aloof. The promise of a heavenly afterlife comes from Paul, as does the rule that men have authority over women. Judgment Day is expected to come at any moment, and the New Testament writers seem far more eager to burn sinners than to forgive them.

This critically acclaimed series provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

This volume of the New Testament Library offers a thorough and careful commentary on the complicated book of Hebrews, showing its meaning within the context of ancient culture and the theological development of the early church. Written by one of the leading New Testament scholars of the present generation, this commentary offers remarkable insights into the Hellenistic, Roman, and Jewish contexts of the book of Hebrews.

The New Testament Library offers authoritative commentary on every book and major aspect of the New Testament, as well as classic volumes of scholarship. The commentaries in this series provide fresh translations based on the best available ancient manuscripts, offer critical portrayals of the historical world in which the books were created, pay careful attention to their literary design, and present a theologically perceptive exposition of the text.