Continuing a Gold Medallion Award-winning legacy, the completely revised Expositor's Bible Commentary puts world-class biblical scholarship in your hands. A staple for students, teachers, and pastors worldwide, The Expositor's Bible Commentary (EBC) offers comprehensive yet succinct commentary from scholars committed to the authority of the Holy Scriptures. The EBC uses the New International Version of the Bible, but the contributors work from the original Hebrew and Greek languages and refer to other translations when useful. Each section of the commentary includes: An introduction: background information, a short bibliography, and an outline An overview of Scripture to illuminate the big picture The complete NIV text Extensive commentary Notes on textual questions, key words, and concepts Reflections to give expanded thoughts on important issues The series features 56 contributors, who: Believe in the divine inspiration, complete trustworthiness, and full authority of the Bible Have demonstrated proficiency in the biblical book that is their specialty Are committed to the church and the pastoral dimension of biblical interpretation Represent geographical and denominational diversity Use a balanced and respectful approach toward marked differences of opinion Write from an evangelical viewpoint For insightful exposition, thoughtful discussion, and ease of use—look no further than The Expositor's Bible Commentary.

Fiddled out of Reason is a study of several poems spanning the life and career of Joseph Addison, who, along with John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Ambrose Philips, Isaac Watts, and many British poets of the turn of the eighteenth century, helped to cultivate a broad new current of nonliturgical "hymnic" verse that became immensely popular across that century, though it has eluded critical notice until now. The texts the book examines—Addison's St. Cecilia's Day odes (1692, 1699), his libretto for the opera Rosamond (1707), and a sequence of five hymnic works in The Spectator (1712)—precede by twenty-five years John Wesley's publication of the first hymnal for use in the Church of England. The book argues that "secular" hymnic works such as Addison's emerged alongside religio-political controversies and anxieties about British national identity, morality, and expressions of "enthusiastic" passions. Church and Tory interests largely rejected hymnic verse, claiming it would only "fiddle" unwitting readers "out of their reason" and reignite the dangerous fervor of Revolution-era Nonconformity and Dissent. As is evident from his poetry, Addison, a moderate Whig, ardently opposed this view, arguing that the hymnic could in fact be a portal to national and individual amelioration. After an introductory chapter exploring period conceptions of hymnic poetry and the highly contested term "hymn" itself, the argument proceeds through three sections to trace the hymnic's upward trajectory through Addison's early, mid-period, and mature verse. The book devotes the lion's share of its attention to the last of these three, which includes the five-poem Spectator sequence (a poem from the sequence, "The Spacious Firmament on High," will be familiar to many readers). Indeed, in addition to offering new readings of hymnic works by Dryden and Pope, Fiddled out of Reason provides the first extended critical treatment of these five important poems. Publication of the book coincides with the 300th anniversary of Addison's death and with the appearance of a new Oxford edition of Addison's nonperiodical writings.

Biblical criticism, originally known as Higher criticism of the Bible, got started throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. At that time, Protestant scholars attacked the Bible: an intellectual, academic attack. They devised a method of studying the Bible that became known as higher criticism and now biblical criticism. These Bible critics taught that most of the Bible contained legend and myth. Some even claimed that Jesus never existed. For the liberal-moderate Bible scholar then and now, the Word of God, the Bible has become the word of man, and a very chaotic, distorted word at that. The modern-day liberal-moderate Bible scholar says that much of the Bible “is just wrong.” This thinking is the result of biblical criticism. Biblical higher criticism is conjectural and uncertain, doubtful in the extreme. Today, these Bible scholars who make up most of our seminaries explain the Bible accounts of miracles as myths, legends, or folk tales. They do not even entertain the idea that there is the possibility that they actually occurred. This viewpoint is subjective and gives no reliable reason to reject the Bible as inspired, fully inerrant, authentic, and trustworthy. Biblical criticism is highly defective, and its centuries-long assault on the Bible has not proven that the Bible is not the Word of God. Many conservative Christians have been doing their best to defend God’s Word. Herein, THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH puts Biblical Criticism on trial, judging their claims as subjective (based on or influenced by personal feelings or opinions), not objective (factual, actual, real, empirical, verifiable) in biblical studies.