Through a Bible Lens: Biblical Insights for Smartphone Photography and Social Media by Professor Mel Alexenberg teaches people of all faiths how biblical insights can transform smartphone photography and social media into creative ways for seeing spirituality in everyday life. It develops conceptual and practical tools for observing, documenting and sharing reflections of biblical messages in all that we do. It speaks to Jews and Christians who share an abiding love of the Bible by inspiring the creation of a lively dialogue between our emerging life stories and the enduring biblical narrative.The author is an artist, educator and writer exploring the interface between biblical consciousness, creative process, and postdigital culture. His artworks are in the collections of museums worldwide. He was professor at Columbia University and research fellow at MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies. In Israel, head of Emunah College School of the Arts and professor at Ariel and Bar-Ilan universities. He is author of The Future of Art in a Postdigital Age: From Hellenistic to Hebraic Consciousness.Through a Bible Lens speaks in the language of today's digital culture of smartphones and social media. It demonstrates to both young and old the most up-to-date thoughts on the interactions between The Bible and the impact of new technologies on contemporary life. Christians and Jews will enjoy sharing the book’s spiritual messages with their children and grandchildren.Professor Alexenberg draws on six Divine attributes in the biblical verse “Yours God are the Compassion, the Strength, the Beauty, the Success, the Splendor, and the Foundation of everything in heaven and earth” (Chronicles 1:29) to demonstrate how smartphone photographers become God’s partners in creation when photographing daily life through a Bible lens.He describes how the lives of biblical personalities exemplify these Divine attributes: Abraham and Ruth embody Compassion, Isaac and Sarah are models of Strength, Jacob and Rebecca represent Beauty, Success is demonstrated by Moses and Miriam, Splendor by Aaron and Deborah, and Foundation by Joseph and Tamar. There is a confluence emerging in the 21st century between biblical consciousness and a postdigital culture that addresses the humanization of digital technologies. Both share a structure of consciousness and its cultural expression that honors creative process and seeing with a different spirit, like Caleb who saw goodness in the Land of Israel while others could not (Numbers 14:24). We are fortunate to be living in age of digital technologies that gives us ways to experience invisible worlds becoming visible. These experiences give clues that help us appreciate the insightful imagination of ancient spiritual teachers who visualized invisible realms. Smartphones are gateways to the world that make invisible realms blanketing our planet become visible with a flick of a finger. Their imbedded cameras capture images, store them as invisible bits and bytes, and display them as colorful pictures. In all of human history, never has there been such a proliferation of images. A centuries-old Jewish method of Bible study called PaRDeS offers creative ways for looking beyond the surface of smartphone images by extending contemporary methods of photographic analysis to reveal spiritual significance. An exemplary blogart project, Bible Blog Your Life http://throughabiblelens.blogspot.com, turns theory into practice. The author and his wife Miriam created it to celebrate their 52nd year of marriage. For 52 weeks, they posted photographs reflecting their life together with a text of Tweets that relate to the weekly Bible portion. Selected blog posts from each of the first five books of the Bible demonstrate how to transform the ancient biblical narrative into a mirror for people today to see themselves. Fifty photographs from these posts are reproduced in color in the book.

It may seem that so many sermons have been preached on biblical texts that there is nothing new to say. Careful reading and imaginative thought, however, can result in new insights, especially if the biblical text becomes a lens through which we freshly view issues of human life. Larger literary units should be considered, rather than isolated Bible verses, and there is often a development in the text that is suggestive for development of the sermon. Clear thinking is necessary about real issues for people today. Discernment of the link between the ancient text and the challenges we face requires both thought and imagination. The result should be new suggestions for ways of expressing the gospel message, appropriate for our time. These sermons are presented as good examples of biblical preaching. They illustrate the qualities noted above. They can also be used in daily or weekly devotions. They are more challenging than much devotional material, but that may add to their value in nourishing a thoughtful life of faith.

Explore emerging trends in trauma studies and biblical interpretation In recent years there has been a surge of interest in trauma, trauma theory, and its application to the biblical text. This collection of essays explores the usefulness of using trauma theory as a lens through which to read the biblical texts. Each of the essays explores the concept of how trauma might be defined and applied in biblical studies. Using a range of different but intersection theories of trauma, the essays reflect on the value of trauma studies for offering new insights into the biblical text. Including contributions from biblical scholars, as well as systematic and pastoral theologians, this book provides a timely critical reflection on this emerging discussion. Features: Implications for how reading the biblical text through the lens of trauma can be fruitful for contemporary appropriation of the biblical text in pastoral and theological pursuits Articles that integrate hermeneutics of trauma with classical historical-critical methods Essays that address the relationship between individual and collective trauma

How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens connects each of the sixty-six books of the Bible to the person and work of Jesus Christ. By explaining each book’s theme and raising pertinent questions about the contemporary importance of that message, author Michael Williams sets readers on a path toward purposeful, independent reading and application of the entire Bible.

This exquisite volume beautifully reproduces and insightfully examines the most important illuminations found in French history manuscripts.

The first decades of the twenty-first century saw a resurgence of the biblical epic film, such as Noah and Exodus: Gods and Kings, which was in turn accompanied by a growth of biblical film criticism. This companion surveys that field of study by framing it in light of significant and recent biblical films as well as the voices of key biblical film critics. Non-Hollywood and seemingly “non-biblical” films also come under investigation. The contributors concentrate on three points: “context”, focusing on the 'Bible in' specific film genres and cultural situations; “theory”, applying theory from both religion and film studies, with an eye to their possible intersections; and “recent and significant texts”, reflecting on which texts and themes have been most important in 'biblical film' and which are currently at the fore. Exploring cinema across the globe, and accompanied by extended introductory essays for each of the three sections, this companion is an important resource for scholars in both film and biblical reception.

Theologian Steven Félix-Jäger offers a theology of renewal worship, including its biblical foundations, how its global nature is expressed in particular localities, and how charismatic worship shapes the community of faith. With this guidance, the whole church might better understand what it means to pray, "Come, Holy Spirit!"

The Bible is a record of and witness to divine-human encounter and relationship--period! If we read the Bible as a technical treatise in which every word stands on equal footing, we distort the meaning of scripture. If, on the other hand, we read every sentence of the Bible through the lens of Jesus Christ, we come to see God in all the glory we earth-bound and time-bound creatures can stand ... Trust Jesus and let him show you how to read the record of God's self-revelation. READ EVERYTHING BEFORE JESUS AND EVERYTHING AFTER HIM THROUGH THE JESUS LENS.