"The books of Luke and Acts tell a cohesive narrative story that shapes not only our understanding of Jesus, but also our vision of the Church and the mission of God. Michael Bird invites readers to explore some of the challenging topics present in the books of Luke and Acts, exploring the horizons of scholarship and offering helpful solutions for readers just beginning to navigate the history of interpretation. Seminary students, scholars, and pastors...

The acclaimed Bible scholar and author of The Historical Jesus and God & Empire -- "the greatest New Testament scholar of our generation" (John Shelby Spong) -- grapples with Scripture's two conflicting visions of Jesus and God, one of a loving God, and one of a vengeful God, and explains how Christians can better understand these passages in a way that enriches their faith. Many portions of the New Testament, introduce a compassionate Jesus who turns...

Grace is supposed to be amazing, but all too often the Christian life can be more about keeping stuffy rules than enjoying a relationship with Christ. The tendency to add works to salvation has been a thorny problem since the gospel was first preached. Legalism--the doctrine of salvation by works--robs the Christian of the grace-filled life. The book of Galatians is like an emancipation proclamation that says, "If the Son has set you free, then you...

The central figure of the Quran is not Muhammad but Allah. The Quran, Islams sacred scripture, is marked above all by its call to worship Allah, and Allah alone. Yet who is the God of the Quran? What distinguishes the quranic presentation of God from that of the Bible? In this illuminating study, Gabriel Said Reynolds depicts a god of both mercy and vengeance, one who transcends simple classification. He is personal and mysterious; no limits can be...

This book "is for those who are confused by, afraid of, and/or preoccupied with the book of Revelation. In rescuing the Apocalypse from those who either completely misinterpret it or completely ignore it, Michael Gorman has given us both a guide to reading Revelation in a responsible way and a theological engagement with the text itself. He takes interpreting the book as a serious and sacred responsibility, believing how one reads, teaches, and preaches...

"The Gospel of John is often found at the center of discussions about the Bible and its relation to Christian theology. It is difficult to quantify the impact John's Gospel has had on both the historical development of Christian doctrine and the various expressions of Christian devotion. All too often, however, readers have failed to understand the Gospel as an autonomous text with its own unique story to tell. More often than not, the Gospel of John...

Wisdom's Wonder offers a fresh reading of the Hebrew Bible's wisdom literature with a unique emphasis on "wonder" as the framework for understanding biblical wisdom. William Brown argues that wonder effectively integrates biblical wisdom's emphasis on character formation and its outlook on creation, breaking an impasse that has plagued recent wisdom studies. Drawing on various disciplines, from philosophy to neuroscience, Brown discovers new distinctions...

Late one night in 1823 Joseph Smith, Jr., was reportedly visited in his family's farmhouse in upstate New York by an angel named Moroni. According to Smith, Moroni told him of a buried stack of gold plates that were inscribed with a history of the Americas' ancient peoples, and which would restore the pure Gospel message as Jesus had delivered it to them. Thus began the unlikely career of the Book of Mormon, the founding text of the Mormon religion,...

The Heart of the Qur'an is a collection of loving letters sent from God to humanity. The Prophet Noah would plead with his people, saying "I am delivering my Lord's messages to you" [Qur'an 7:62]. With the current paradoxical climate of increasing secularization and the rise of fundamentalism across the world, there is no better time to search for fresh insight and guidance from the Qur'an. The Heart of The Qur'an is a well-researched commentary on...

This "little book with a big message" will completely transform your understanding of what Jesus meant when he answered the request, "Lord, teach us to pray." He answered by reciting what we now have come to know as the Lord's Prayer, in the common language of his day, Aramaic. Within these short pages, you will journey back to hear the original words for yourself and, in doing so, will receive the true essence of Jesus' message regarding how we should...