Joel Lohr
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I Still Believe
$24.99Add to cartI (Still) Believe explores the all-important question of whether serious academic study of the Bible is threatening to one’s faith. Far from it-faith enhances study of the Bible and, reciprocally, such study enriches a person’s faith. With this in mind, this book asks prominent Bible teachers and scholars to tell their story reflecting on their own experiences at the intersection of faith and serious academic study of the Bible.
While the essays of this book will provide some apology for academic study of the Bible as an important discipline, the essays engage with this question in ways that are uncontrived. They present real stories, with all the complexities and struggles they may hold. To this end, the contributors do two things: (a) reflect on their lives as someone who teaches and researches the Bible, providing something of a story outlining their journey of life and faith, and their self-understanding as a biblical theologian; and (b) provide focused reflections on how faith has made a difference, how it has changed, and what challenges have arisen, remained, and are unresolved, all with a view toward the future and engaging the book’s main question.
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Hebrew Bible For Beginners
$44.99Add to cartIntroductions to the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament) tend toward extensive scholarly discussion with little to introduce the student to the tremendous influence this seminal collection has had on contemporary society or to the complexities of reading ancient religious literature today. Further, few books, if any, discuss the differing ways Jews and Christians approach this common scripture, or how each group appropriates its teachings in divergent, conflicting, and often complex ways. Related to this issue is the problem of how scholarly approaches to reading this literature often stand in stark contrast to popular and religious approaches. This disparity of methods usually startles the inexperienced student and can be alarming, indeed shocking, to religious practitioners. Even mentioning, for instance, that Moses might not have written all of the Torah, or that Job may not be historical, makes some students and religious adherents uncomfortable and sends others into strong feelings of suspicion toward the one speaking. This book will seek to take an approach that addresses such concerns in a sympathetic yet critical fashion and also provide overviews, charts, timeline, glossary, and other student helps.
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Abingdon Introduction To The Bible
$45.99Add to cartThis comprehensive introduction launches beginners into the world of biblical studies.The Bible has profoundly influenced the western world. Many of its characters and stories are well known and yet, oddly enough, wide swaths of the Bible are unknown and misunderstood. The laws and teaching contained within it have shaped contemporary thinking in ways many do not realize. Equally important, two of the world’s largest religions-Judaism and Christianity-consider the Hebrew Bible to be sacred and to contain enduring truths about beginnings and creation, life and death, the world, and what it means to be human.
This comprehensive introduction launches beginners into the world of biblical studies with clarity and precision. The authors give an overview of each book of the Bible with a brief discussion of relevant controversies and debates. Jewish and Christian (Protestant and Roman Catholic) views are compared and contrasted, while simultaneously illustrating the importance of the Bible for religion, western jurisprudence, ethics, and contemporary conceptions of the family, morality, and even politics. With illustrations and charts, this a text that is both student and teacher friendly.