Lao Tzu and The Bible: A Meeting Transcending Time and Space Yuan Zhiming Translated by Chen Shangyu Has God's light ever shone on the vast land of China-"Land of God, ' so named by her ancient ancestors? This book vividly recaptures God's universal light shown to the Chinese sage Lao Tzu 600 years before Jesus was born. By comparing Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching with the Bible, Yuan Zhiming offers a ground-breaking interpretation of Lao Tzu's Tao in light of the Word, or Logos. Yuan Zhiming juxtaposes Lao Tzu's "Holy One" with Jesus Christ, systematically and thoroughly unveiling the nature and characteristics of the mysterious Tao in a concrete and understandable manner, resolving a riddle of 2,600 years. "The text speaks to our time, because so many people believe that mere secular teaching of "morality," such as Confucius taught, is sufficient, and because what we really need is a deep spiritual awakening, such as Lao Tzu announced. The profound teaching in Lao Tzu and the Bible enriches the spirit of not only the Chinese people but also the people of the West." -Dr. Paul de Vries, president of New York Divinity School and author of The Taming of the Shrewd Lao Tzu and the Bible offers not only a spiritual feast to the analytical minds about Tao/Word/Logos, illustrating Tao in a tangible form, the Holy One/Jesus Christ, but also provides helpful advice about how to follow and be united with Tao. A work of great erudition and wisdom, it contains deep insight, opening up the secrets of the Tao while also illuminating the Bible. This book will surely delight the hearts and minds of seekers of Tao.

Lao Tzu and The Bible: A Meeting Transcending Time and Space Yuan Zhiming Translated by Chen Shangyu Has God's light ever shone on the vast land of China-"Land of God, ' so named by her ancient ancestors? This book vividly recaptures God's universal light shown to the Chinese sage Lao Tzu 600 years before Jesus was born. By comparing Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching with the Bible, Yuan Zhiming offers a ground-breaking interpretation of Lao Tzu's Tao in light of the Word, or Logos. Yuan Zhiming juxtaposes Lao Tzu's "Holy One" with Jesus Christ, systematically and thoroughly unveiling the nature and characteristics of the mysterious Tao in a concrete and understandable manner, resolving a riddle of 2,600 years. "The text speaks to our time, because so many people believe that mere secular teaching of "morality," such as Confucius taught, is sufficient, and because what we really need is a deep spiritual awakening, such as Lao Tzu announced. The profound teaching in Lao Tzu and the Bible enriches the spirit of not only the Chinese people but also the people of the West." -Dr. Paul de Vries, president of New York Divinity School and author of The Taming of the Shrewd Lao Tzu and the Bible offers not only a spiritual feast to the analytical minds about Tao/Word/Logos, illustrating Tao in a tangible form, the Holy One/Jesus Christ, but also provides helpful advice about how to follow and be united with Tao. A work of great erudition and wisdom, it contains deep insight, opening up the secrets of the Tao while also illuminating the Bible. This book will surely delight the hearts and minds of seekers of Tao.

This volume explores a number of instances of unexpected but influential readings of the Bible in popular culture, literature, film, music and politics. The argument in all of them is that the effects of the Bible continues to have an effect on contemporary culture in ways that may surprise and sometimes dismay both religious and secular groups. That the Bible was at one time chained in churches is true. The subversive misreading of this enchainment as a symbol of a book in captivity to the established church is hard to suppress, however. Yet, once released from these chains, the Bible proves to be a text that gets everywhere and which undergoes surprising and sometimes contradictory metamorphoses. The pious advocates of making the Bible accessible who sought to free it from the churches' chains are the very people who then decry some of the results when the Bible is free to roam.

Though the Bible is a product of West Asia, its influence on Europe and the Americas has received far more attention than its complex career in the East. R. S. Sugirtharajah corrects this imbalance with an expansive new study of Asia's subversive and idiosyncratic relationship with the Bible. This is the story of missionaries, imperialists, exegetes, reformers, and nationalists who molded Biblical texts according to their own needs in order to influence religion, politics, and daily life from India to China. When the Bible reached east and south Asia in the third century CE, its Christian scriptures already bore traces of Asian commodities and Indian moral stories. In China, the Bible merged with the teachings of Buddha and Lao Tzu to produce the Jesus Sutras. As he recounts the history of how Christianity was influenced by other Asian religions, Sugirtharajah deftly highlights the controversial issue of Buddhist and Vedic influence on Biblical religion. Once used to justify European rule in Asia, the Bible has also served to promote the spiritual salvation of women, outcasts, and untouchables. The Bible has left a literary mark on Asia in two ways: through its influence on Asian writers and through the reinvigoration of modern Asian vernaculars when proselytizing missionaries introduced Western print culture to the East.

"[T]he problem which this collection of essays addresses is rooted in the fact that no other society in the world is so imbued both with the aura and aroma of the Bible, while simultaneously subjecting it to such parasitic cultural captivity . . . This little book reflects the power of what can happen when bright, passionate minds embrace the problem of the American myth . . . No other American biblical scholar until now has responded more courageously to the issues of deconstructing the American myth . . . What finally matters [here] is that a theologian finally loves the Bible enough, and finally loves his culture enough, to question how both are being used in our time and place for the gain of the few, at the expense of the many." --Charles Mabee, StABH series editor

Discover facts, insights and inspiration in God’s word. In just 30 days, you can develop a fuller understanding of the Bible! Best-selling author J. Stephen Lang helps make the Scriptures more accessible through a conversational writing style and intriguing behind-the-scenes details. It is not only informative, but entertaining too. Enjoy insights into: • Cultural traditions • Biblical and world history • Story summaries and captivating character studies In just 30 days, you will know what the Bible meant to the people it was written for, plus the inspiring message it holds for you today. Know the Bible in 30 Days will help to renew your enthusiasm and faith!

This beautiful leather-bound Collector's Edition will allow you to dig deeper and the find the answers you've been looking for! Hank Hanegraaff has heard it all. He knows what questions plague believers and nonbelievers. And he's done something about it—he's spelled out the answers. The Complete Bible Answer Book is a simple guide covering over 170 of the top questions that the Bible Answer Man has dealt with in his ministry. Topics include parents and kids, religions, difficulty, faith, fear, sin, salvation, and many more issues vital to understanding the path to better understanding God. Each question is approached in Hanegraaff's scholarly, easy-to-understand style, and he even suggests additional sources for readers who want to explore the topics further.

Once again the Bible Answer Man brings his straightforward style to address 82 crucial and challenging questions asked by students ranging from high school through college.

Lords of the Scrolls analyzes ancient literary sources to show how biblical and gospel scribes borrowed and imitated themes from earlier literature to create heroic legends around Hebrew figures and Jesus. Comparisons between the Epic of Gilgamesh; Enuma Elish; Canaanite, Egyptian, and Greek legends; Homeric epics; the histories of Herodotus; and selected biblical and gospel passages reveal thematic and literary similarities. Tracing literary classics from the birth of writing to the first millennium of the modern era, this book demonstrates that Hebrew scribes used previous literature to establish a national identity, and that gospel scribes borrowed heavily from Homer to create epic legends around the person of Jesus.

Beyond Agreement addresses the thorny question of how to make interreligious dialogue productive when the religious differences are so large that finding common ground seems unlikely. The book offers a way to think about interreligious dialogue that allows people to stay committed to their own truth as they have come to know it while being open to learning from other religions. It then outlines a way for Christian theologians to enter into a profitable dialogue with the beliefs and traditions of other religions by presenting practical steps to follow in order to keep the dialogue productive and respectful of similarities and differences among religions.