No book has sold more copies. No book has influenced so many people. The Bible has informed all of the world's religions. Yet for many, it remains a mystery. Would you like to read and understand the Bible for yourself? The studies in this guide are designed to help you do that. You will look at four major themes in the Bible: what God is like what people are like who Jesus is how to meet Jesus Passport to the Bible will take you on a journey like no other. It offers definitions for the new and difficult vocabulary you may encounter in the Bible. And it provides questions to help you uncover key ideas as you read through each book of the Bible. For discussion group leaders, notes at the back of this guide offer additional insight and direction. In short, everything is included to help you get to know the Bible--whether you study on your own, one-to-one with a friend, or in a small group. Here is a valuable introduction to the best book you will ever read.

Read the New Testament from a biblical-theological perspective. Featuring contributions from nine respected evangelical scholars, this volume introduces each New Testament book in the context of the whole canon of Scripture, helping anyone who teaches or studies the Bible to apply it to the church today.

This profusely illustrated book is doubly valuable! It introduces the reader to both the content of the Bible and to the life, faith, and history of ancient Israel, early Judasim, and early Christianity.

The Old Testament is not just a collection of disparate stories, each with its own meaning and moral lessons. Rather, it's one cohesive story, tied together by the good news about Israel's coming Messiah, promised from the beginning. Covering each book in the Old Testament, this volume invites readers to teach the Bible from a Reformed, covenantal, and redemptive-historical perspective. Featuring contributions from twelve respected evangelical scholars, this gospel-centered introduction to the Old Testament will help anyone who teaches or studies Scripture to better see the initial outworking of God's plan to redeem the world through Jesus Christ.

Evangelical Theology is a systematic theology written from the perspective of a biblical scholar. Michael F. Bird contends that the center, unity, and boundary of the evangelical faith is the evangel (= gospel), as opposed to things like justification by faith or inerrancy. The evangel is the unifying thread in evangelical theology and the theological hermeneutic through which the various loci of theology need to be understood. Using the gospel as a theological leitmotif—an approach to Christian doctrine that begins with the gospel and sees each loci through the lens of the gospel—this text presents an authentically evangelical theology, as opposed to an ordinary systematic theology written by an evangelical theologian. According to the author, theology is the drama of gospelizing—performing and living out the gospel in the theatre of Christian life. The text features tables, sidebars, and questions for discussion. The end of every part includes a “What to Take Home” section that gives students a run-down on what they need to know. And since reading theology can often be dry and cerebral, the author applies his unique sense of humor in occasional “Comic Belief” sections so that students may enjoy their learning experience through some theological humor added for good measure.

Examines "christology's"--Or evaluations of Jesus' identity and divinity--based upon his words, his public ministry, and the Resurrection.

What is the Bible? How did it get to us? Why are translations so different? And what influence has the Bible had on culture? From its very first pages, The Bible: An Introduction, Third Edition, offers clear answers to the most basic questions that first-time students and curious inquirers bring to the Bible. Without presuming either prior knowledge of the Bible or a particular attitude toward it, Jerry L. Sumney uses straightforward language to lead the reader on an exploration of the Bible's contents and the history of its writings, showing how critical methods help readers understand what they find in the Bible. Filled with maps, charts, illustrations, and color photographs to enhance the student's experience with the text. This third edition offers a number of revisions and a new section on the deuterocanonical books. Neither polemical nor apologetic, The Bible presents the biblical writings as the efforts of men and women in the past to understand their lives and their world in light of the ways they understood the divine.

A survey of the Bible as a whole, with a summary of each book's context, outline, and content.

A user-friendly guide to the study and interpretation of the Psalms.

This is an ideal introduction to modern biblical studies. Readers are introduced to questions of inspiration, canon and authority. This is followed by chapters on historical approaches to the Bible, such as source, form and redaction criticism. Comparisons with other literature, such as ancient flood stories or Egyptian psalms help to set the context for this. Moyise also asks such questions as 'How did we get the Bible?' and, 'why do modern versions of the Bible differ among themselves?' Moyise considers a number of approaches to the Bible. Beginning with literary criticism, he shows how texts 'speak' to readers and influence their attitudes, emotions and behaviour. This is followed by liberation, feminist and finally a variety of theological approaches used by those who consider the Bible to be sacred scripture. For the third edition Moyise has added two sections, one giving a basic outline of the biblical story together with a timeline and key dates, and another on dating the New Testament.