"The ultimate reason for getting to know Peter is so together we might better know Jesus. For the story of Peter is the story of Jesus. Perhaps, if you and I do our best, the same will be said of us someday"--Michael Card. In A Fragile Stone, songwriter and musician Michael Card explores the dynamic, contradictory life of the apostle Peter. The fruit of years of careful study, A Fragile Stone revisits well-known passages and discovers unexpected insights, painting a portrait of Peter that is both familiar and jarring. With a scope spanning the entire New Testament, Card reveals how the impetuous fisherman of the Gospels was transformed into the pivotal leader of the early church. The life of Simon Peter thus serves as a model for Christian discipleship, offering hope that we likewise can be changed as Jesus calls us to follow him. This companion study guide, written by Michael Card with Dale and Sandy Larsen, provides nine inductive Bible studies on the life of Peter, with discussion questions for group study or individual reflection.

Do you want to study the Bible on your own but find yourself overwhelmed by complicated, cumbersome study methods? Are you a group leader looking for exciting resources to bring new life to your teaching? Is your time in the Word dry and lifeless, or do you find Scripture hard to understand? Victoria Johnson--a busy speaker, teacher, author and mother--has discovered an easy-to-follow method that has made Bible study come alive for her and for many others she has taught. In this book she reveals seven practical principles for study that can transform your life. Related with passion, warmth, wisdom and humor, Johnson's step-by-step instructions can help both individuals and groups discover the power of Bible study for themselves. Originally published asBible Study for Busy Women, this revised edition also includes a twelve-week study guide for small groups and study helps for leaders.

Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife. A perverse person spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends. Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways, and be wise. Everyday we make choices on the path of life. Proverbs are memorable capsules of wisdom, chiseled in words and polished through use by those who have traveled that path ahead of us. But the proverbs of the Bible make a greater claim than "a penny saved is a penny earned." They are woven into the web of divine revelation, rooted in the "fear of the Lord" that is the beginning of wisdom. While many proverbs speak to us directly, we can gain much greater insight by studying the book of Proverbs as a whole, understanding its relationship to ancient non-Israelite wisdom and listening to its conversation with the other great voices of wisdom in Scripture--Job and Ecclesiastes. InHow to Read Proverbs Tremper Longman III provides a welcome guide to reading and studying, understanding and savoring the Proverbs for all their wisdom. Most important for Christian readers, we gain insight into how Christ is the climax and embodiment of wisdom.

Time after time choosing selfishness over selflessness, human beings invariably destroy themselves and wreck their societies. Only God can help, says Genesis. Yet God refuses to coerce. Instead he works with individual men and women who turn around--who stop trying to make a name for themselves and start trying to be a blessing to others. The transformation is slow and arduous. God waits. Captured in one of the world's best and best-known stories, this dynamic between God and recreated individuals leads from the universal chaos of Babel to blessing for all our world's peoples. Unfortunately, most of us overlook the dramatic story of God's work in early time because we read Scripture in disjointed pieces--and we think we've heard it all before We miss the suspenseful, sweeping narrative of interconnected events. We miss the nuances of emotion and relationship between the characters. Now inGenesis: The Story We Haven't Heard Paul Borgman fits the pieces back together--revealing God's story as if it had never been read before.

In Slaves, Women & Homosexuals William J. Webb tackles some of the most complex and controversial issues that have challenged the Christian church--and still do. He leads you through the maze of interpretation that has historically surrounded understanding of slaves, women and homosexuals, and he evaluates various approaches to these and other biblical-ethical teachings. Throughout, Webb attempts to "work out the hermeneutics involved in distinguishing that which is merely cultural in Scripture from that which is timeless" (Craig A. Evans). By the conclusion, Webb has introduced and developed a "redemptive hermeneutic" that can be applied to many issues that cause similar dilemmas. Darrel L. Bock writes in the foreword to Webb's work, "His goal is not only to discuss how these groups are to be seen in light of Scriptures but to make a case for a specific hermeneutical approach to reading these texts. . . . This book not only advances a discussion of the topics, but it also takes a markedly new direction toward establishing common ground where possible, potentially breaking down certain walls of hostility within the evangelical community."

Was the resurrection of Jesus a fact of history or a figment of imagination? Was it an event that entailed a raised and transformed body and an empty tomb? Or was it a subjective, visionary experience--a collective delusion? In the view of many, the truth of Christianity hangs on the answer to this question. Jesus' Resurrection: Fact or Figment? is a lively and provocative debate between Christian philosopher and apologist William Lane Craig and New Testament scholar and atheist Gerd LUdemann. This published version of a debate originally set at Boston College is edited by Paul Copan and Ronald K. Tacelli, who invite the responses of four additional scholars. Robert Gundry, a New Testament scholar, and Stephen Davis, a philosopher, argue in support of a historical and actual resurrection. Michael Goulder and Roy Hoover, both New Testament scholars, offer their support for Gerd LUdemann's view that the "resurrection" was based on the guilt-induced visionary experience of the disciples. The book concludes with a final response from LUdemann and Craig.

By definition, a high view of Scripture inheres in evangelicalism. However, there does not seem to be a uniform way to articulate an evangelical doctrine of Scripture. Taking up the challenge, Vincent Bacote, Laura Migu?lez and Dennis Okholm present twelve essays that explore in depth the meaning of an evangelical doctrine of Scripture that takes seriously both the human and divine dimensions of the Bible. Selected from the presentations made at the 2001 Wheaton Theology Conference, the essays approach this vital subject from three directions. Stanley J. Grenz, Thomas Buchan, Bruce L. McCormack and Donald W. Dayton consider the history of evangelical thinking on the nature of Scripture. John J. Brogan, Kent Sparks, J. Daniel Hays and Richard L. Schultz address the nature of biblical authority. Bruce Ellis Benson, John R. Franke, Daniel J. Treier and David Alan Williams explore the challenge of hermeneutics, especially as it relates to interpreting Scripture in a postmodern context. Together these essays provide a window into current evangelical scholarship on the doctrine of Scripture and also advance the dialogue about how best to construe our faith in the Word of God, living and written, that informs not only the belief but also the practice of the church.

Have we really heard the message of Colossians? Is this New Testament book just another religious text whose pretext is an ideological grab for dominating power? Reading Colossians in context, ancient and contemporary, can perhaps give us new ears to hear. In this innovative and refreshing book Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat explain our own sociocultural context to then help us get into the world of the New Testament and get a sense of the power of the gospel as it addressed those who lived in Colossae two thousand years ago. Their reading presents us with a radical challenge from the apostle Paul for today. Drawing together biblical scholarship with a passion for authentic lives that embody the gospel, this groundbreaking interpretation of Colossians provides us with tools to subvert the empire of our own context in a way that acknowledges the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

God is up to something And his plans are far greater than you might imagine. Christianity is not merely about isolated individuals going to heaven. It's about God transforming the entire world and making things right. Sicknesses will be healed, sins will be forgiven, injustice will be eradicated, and all creation will be redeemed. But this is not merely a distant future. It's happening now through what Jesus came to establish--the kingdom of God. Allen Wakabayashi reawakens you to the world-changing reality of the kingdom of God. With clear, biblical insight, he unpacks what Jesus proclaimed about the good news of the kingdom and spells out the implications for you today. Focusing on the kingdom of God will revolutionize how you live out your faith, how you think about your world and how you explain the good news about Jesus. Ultimately, understanding yourself as a citizen of the kingdom will empower you to be one of God's change agents in the world. God is at work to restore everything to be the way he intended it to be, and you can be a part of what he is doing Get a glimpse of the kingdom coming, and experience his will being done--on earth as it is in heaven.

N. T. Wright's Jesus and the Victory of God is widely heralded as one of the most significant and brilliantly argued works in the current "third quest" of the historical Jesus. In this second volume of his multivolume investigation entitled Christian Origins and the Question of God, Wright uncovers a Jesus that most historians and believers have never met. Rooted and engaged in the soil of Israel's history, its first-century plight and its prophetic hope, Wright's portrait of Jesus has set new terms of discourse and debate. Through Wright's lens, familiar sayings and actions of Jesus have fresh meaning. But in the midst of all that is new, Wright also offers a profile of Jesus that bears striking lines of continuity with the Jesus of Christian belief and worship. This resemblance has captured the attention of confessing Christian biblical scholars and theologians. Wright's work thus far is of such consequence that it seemed timely and strategic to publish a scholarly engagement with his reconstruction of the historical Jesus. Like all works in progress, Wright's proposal is still under construction. But its cornerstone has been laid, the foundation has been formed, the pillars and walls are going up, and even if we cannot yet see how the ceiling, roof and parapets will look, there is quite enough to engage the minds of colleagues, critics and other curious onlookers. For the purposes of this book (and in keeping with IVP's own evangelical identity), editor Carey Newman invited scholars who are committed to Christian belief as it has been classically defined to engage Wright's Jesus and the Victory of God. Newman sets the stage with an introduction, and Craig Blomberg offers a critical and appreciative overview of Jesus and the Victory of God. Various facets of Wright's proposal are then investigated by contributors: Paul Eddy on Jesus as prophet, Messiah and embodiment of Yahweh Klyne Snodgrass on the parables Craig Evans on Israel under continuing exile Darrell Bock on the trial and death of Jesus Dale Allison on apocalyptic language Richard Hays on ethics Alister McGrath on the implications for evangelical theology Stephen Evans on methodological naturalism in historical biblical scholarship Luke Timothy Johnson on Wright's historiography To these essayists Wright extends his "grateful dialogue." He gives this spirited and illuminating reply to his interlocuters: "The high compliment of having a whole book devoted to the discussion of one's work is finely balanced by the probing, intelligent questions and by the occasional thud of a blunt instrument on the back of one's head. . . . Only once did I look up my lawyer's telephone number." After Wright takes his turn, his good friend and frequent partner in debate Marcus Borg offers his "appreciative disagreement." Newman then concludes the dialogue with his own reflections on moving from Wright's reconstruction of the historical Jesus to the church's Christ. A book assessing a scholar's work is usually an end-of-career event. But in this case interested readers can look forward with eager anticipation to Wright's next volume in Christian Origins and the Question of God--this one on the resurrection of Jesus.

First published in 1910, "The Christ Myth" drew violent criticism from theologians, the press, and the public. Eminent German philosopher Arthur Drews (1865-1935) reacts to the 'romantic cult of Jesus', which, he says is undermining intellectual truthfulness. He exposes the Jesus of the gospels as a mythical character, arguing that no basis exists for seeking a historical figure behind the Christ myth. Through a comparative study of ancient religions, Drews shows that Christianity is a syncretism of various pagan and Jewish beliefs, and that a strong pre-Christian cult of Jesus as son of God and messiah existed. This is a valuable sourcebook for students of religion, and all those interested in examining the origins of Christianity.

Is the creation story in Genesis nothing more than a botched version of a Babylonian myth? Is 'free will' illusory? Are the Jesuits really educated men? In these three classic essays "The Forgery of the Old Testament", "The Myth of Immortality" and "Lies of Religious Literature" Joseph McCabe (1867-1955), ex-priest and the 'world's greatest scholar', exposes the inconsistencies, absurdities, and outright mendacity that lie behind the most revered texts and 'truths' of Christianity. With forcefulness, clarity, and often biting humor, McCabe attacks two millennia of Christian tradition which, he says, must withdraw before the weapons of science and reason.

Originally published at the turn of the century, this classic work by a French priest and historian attempts to understand the role of Catholic dogma in a world undergoing wide-ranging changes in science, social science, historical analysis, and cultural study. His inquiries, and those of other priests and scholars, ignited a controversy within the Catholic church that culminated in Pope Pius X's intervention in 1907 with his encyclical condemning these so-called 'Modernist' views. Not since the tumult of Martin Luther's Reformation has the church undergone such internal conflict.The Modernists questioned the inerrancy of Scripture and its use as historical evidence, the historicity and divinity of Jesus, the authority of church doctrine, and other dogmas of the Catholic faith. Their efforts to embrace the separation of church and state, to assure freedom of individual conscience, and to reconcile Christians with non-Christians and non-believers were viewed by the Vatican and the Holy See to destroy the Catholic church from within. For his efforts on behalf of free religious inquiry, Loisy was forced to leave his teaching post, "The Gospel and the Church" was censured and placed on the Vatican's Index of Forbidden Books, and in 1908 Loisy was formally excommunicated. This volume includes the text of Loisy's controversial work plus two valuable additions: an informative introduction by famed biblical scholar R. Joseph Hoffmann that places the book in its proper historical context, and the complete text of the papal encyclical condemning the Modernist movement.

Does your knowledge of the Old Testament feel like a grab bag of people, books, events and ideas? How many times have you resolved to really understand the OT? To finally make sense of it? Perhaps you are suffering from what Sandra Richter calls the "dysfunctional closet syndrome." If so, she has a solution. Like a home-organizing expert, she comes in and helps you straighten up your cluttered closet. Gives you hangers for facts. A timeline to put them on. And handy containers for the clutter on the floor. Plus she fills out your wardrobe of knowledge with exciting new facts and new perspectives. The whole thing is put in usable order--a history of God's redeeming grace. A story that runs from the Eden of the Garden to the garden of the New Jerusalem. Whether you are a frustrated do-it-yourselfer or a beginning student enrolled in a course, this book will organize your understanding of the Old Testament and renew your enthusiasm for studying the Bible as a whole.

You intend to do it, but before you know it, another week has passed and you haven’t picked up God’s Word. This book provides simple tools for you to open the Bible in the morning and dig into God's Word—even if you only have five minutes!

• Minutes 1–2: Read a few verses pulled from a lengthier passage. If time allows, read the full passage listed for you in each Bible study.
• Minute 3: Understand. Ponder thoughtful, challenging questions designed to help you apply the verses from the Bible to your own life. Consider these throughout your day as well.
• Minute 4: Apply. Read a brief devotional based on the scripture you read. Think about what you are learning and how you can apply the scriptural truths to your own life.
• Minute 5: Pray. A prayer starter will help you to begin a time of conversation with God.

The 5-Minute Bible Study for Men: Mornings in God's Word will help you establish the discipline of consistent study of scripture. You will find that even five minutes focused on scripture and prayer has the power to make a huge difference in your day. Soon you will be making time for more!

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.

From the quote aficionado to the historical researcher, fans of Bartlett's will be thrilled to see BARTLETT'S BIBLE QUOTATIONS. Assembled in a new format to delight both researchers and casual readers, BARTLETT'S BIBLE QUOTATIONS is an essential collection of Bible quotes pulled from the prestigious BARTLETT'S FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS. It is both a valuable reference tool and an eminent collection to be browsed through for pleasure. The quotes are organised simply and elegantly, from Genesis to Revelations, and include Psalms, Proverbs, and the Apocrypha. Bartlett's highlights the essential passages of the beloved text (originally from the King James Version), from the educational to the ethical, from stern to stirring, creating a view of the Bible unlike any other.

This interdisciplinary study follows an international and ecumenical meeting of twenty-one scholars held in New York at Easter 2003: the Redemption Summit. After an opening chapter, which explores seven central questions for writers on redemption, five chapters are dedicated to the scriptural roots of the doctrine. A section on the patristic and medieval periods then examines the interpretation of redemption through the centuries. The volume moves on to foundational and systematic issues: the problem of horrendous evil, karma and grace, and differing views on justification. Studies on the redemption in literature, art, music, and preaching form the final part. There is a fruitful dialogue between experts in a wide range of areas and the international reputation of the participants reflects and guarantees the high quality of this joint work. The result is a well researched, skilfully argued, and, at times, provocative volume on the central Christian belief: the redemption of human beings through Jesus Christ.

Share in the wisdom of the model of leadership
tap into your own potential for greatness

Leaders are not simply born; they are molded through life s victories and failures, triumphs and defeats. No one exemplifies this process better than Moses, the most important and celebrated character in the Hebrew Bible. Faced with great internal and external challenges, he was sculpted into a great leader not only by circumstance, but also by his own determination and devotion to his people.

In this powerful and probing examination of the enduring texts in the biblical tradition, scholar and popular teacher Dr. Norman Cohen examines Moses s journey to leadership and what he can teach you about the vision, action and skills you need to be a successful leader. Cohen relives Moses s development from lonely shepherd to founder of a nation, emphasizing the salient points you can use to enrich the different leadership roles you are called on to play in your daily life, whether it be in business, religion, politics, education or other arenas.

Drawing from Moses s life, you will learn to: Articulate your expectations of others, as a group and as individuals Empower those around you to lead more responsible, ethical lives Support your co-workers and family even when they fail Challenge others to reach their highest potential

Ann Monroe has written a fascinating book about the stunning variety of ways the Bible is preached, taught, studied, and revered in the United States today. Based on interviews with biblical scholars, ministers, and Bible study groups across the country, Monroe's book offers a rich mosaic of the Bible in American culture.