The Bible contains the greatest story ever told. It reveals the God of history, who is writing his story through history's events. It tells us about life, and it itself is life. It tells us about Jesus, God's Son, who secured salvation for a lost world two thousand years ago. Maybe you've tried to read the Bible all the way through before and didn't finish. Maybe you need a tool to guide you in your journey. That's what we hope this book will be for you. The Bible is sixty-six books, yet it is one book with one story. It was written over 1,500 years ago, but with one theme--Jesus! The Bible has forty human authors, but one divine author and one central story. It invites us into that story to embrace the life God designed for us. Scripture's Grand Story can help people with little Bible knowledge achieve a basic framework for grasping the Bible's main story. Those with a basic understanding of Scripture will benefit by seeing how each story plays a part in the one central story--Jesus.

It has been some time since Catholic and liberal Protestant theologians stopped writing seriously on bibliology. Meanwhile, conservative evangelical theologians guard against the introduction of new ideas. In an effort to make headway through this gridlock, Carlos Bovell has commissioned a roundtable discussion on the prospect of whether the inspiration of Scripture might extend beyond authors and texts, and if so, what this might entail for the authority of Scripture. Taken together, the essays in this volume make an invaluable contribution to contemporary literature on the inspiration and authority of the Bible.

A broad, sweeping volume that breaches the walls separating biblical and theological disciplines Biblical scholars and theologians engage an important question: Who is Israel’s God for Christian readers of the Old Testament? For Christians, Scripture is the Old and New Testament bound together in a single legacy. Contributors approach the question from multiple disciplinary vantage points. Essays on both Testaments focus on figural exegesis, critical exegesis, and the value of diachronic understandings of the Old Testament’s compositional history for the sake of a richer synchronic reading. This collection is offered in celebration of the life and work of Christopher R. Seitz. His rich and wide-ranging scholarly efforts have provided scholars and students alike a treasure trove of resources related to this critical question.

“The scope of your learning...will be unlimited and enhanced by leaps and bounds as you use this wonderful tool.” from the Foreword by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr New discoveries are constantly being made as archaeologists work to uncover the ancient history of the Bible lands to tell a more complete story of the people, customs, and events of that era. Archaeologist Steven Collins and Bible scholar Joseph M. Holden have spent decades making and researching those discoveries and now offer a wealth of information based on the latest findings. This exciting addition to The Harvest HandbookTM series provides a textual and visual bird’s-eye view of ancient Near Eastern biblical geography, culture, history, and chronology. If you’re looking for an accurate, readable, and user-friendly resource to further your study of God’s Word, The Harvest HandbookTMof Bible Lands provides a valuable backdrop for biblical narratives and literature. With the most up-to-date information from biblical and archaeological disciplines, you will find your knowledge greatly enriched through well-written narrative-style text, numerous maps, instructive photographs, illustrations, and charts. This must-have tool will become your favorite resource as you study Scripture.

Book and CD-ROM. The 'Chronology of the Old Testament' has one goal to accomplish: to demonstrate that every chronological statement contained in the Sacred Writ is consistent with all other chronological statements contained therein. The author carefully and thoroughly investigates the chronological and mathematical facts of the Old Testament, proving them to be accurate and reliable. This biblically sound, scholarly, and easy-to-understand book will enlighten and astound its readers with solutions and alternatives to many questions Bible scholars have had over the centuries. Were there 66, 70, or 75 'souls' in Egypt when Jacob arrived? Were the Hebrews in Egypt for 430 years, or a shorter length of time? How long did Jacob have to wait before marrying the first of Laban's daughters, and how long did he wait for the second? What year was Christ born? With reliable explanatory text, charts, and diagrams, this book provides a systematic framework of the chronology of the Bible from Genesis through the life of Christ. Wall-sized chronological charts included on CD-ROM.

In order to reconcile the discrepancies between ancient and modern cosmology, confessional scholars from every viewpoint on the interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis agree that God accommodated language to finite human understanding. But in the history of interpretation, no consensus has emerged regarding what accommodation entails at the linguistic level. More precise consideration of how the ancient cognitive environment functions in the informative intention of the divine and human authors is necessary. Not only does relevance theory validate interpretative options that are inherently most probable within the primary communication situation, but the application of relevance theory can also help disentangle the complexities of dual authorship inherent in any model of accommodation. The results also make a salutary contribution to the theological reading of Scripture.

Why does the Christian walk often feel like an ongoing struggle and why does God’s creation include imperfection, let alone forces that are intent on thwarting God’s creative work? In seeking a response to these questions, this book argues that the biblical accounts describe creation in terms of a progressive transformation process whereby the initially incomplete created order will reach perfection only in the fulfillment of new creation. The following discussion then outlines a comprehensive framework for the biblical theology of humanity’s struggles, centered on three key themes: corporeal temptation, deficient social structures, and the much-debated notion of spiritual warfare. The book presents an overarching canonical narrative that threads together a series of diverse biblical topics, from Job's temptation to the Atonement. The final part surveys biblical teaching on how human conduct can be aligned with God’s creative purpose, and discusses three “assignments” from Jesus to believers: to celebrate the Eucharist, to pray the Lord’s Prayer, and to fulfill the Great Commission.

This volume is a scholarly tribute to Bustenay Oded's distinguished career from some of the many contemporaries, colleagues, and former students who not only admire, and keep being inspired by his achievements, but who also count him as a friend. The title points to the remarkable span of Bustenay Oded 's research and research interests. Accordingly, the Festschrift's thirty original contributions deal with a wide range of topics, focusing on the Assyrian Empire, as well as on the Hebrew Bible and other cultural contents.