Jacob and Solomon were polygamists. Tamar and Rahab were prostitutes. What are polygamists and prostitutes doing on the pages of Holy Scripture? And God told the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute. What about Cain—did he really marry his sister? Abraham did, and he was also a polygamist. Lot offered his daughters up for rape, David committed adultery (or rape?) and the Bible calls both men righteous. Love, Old Testament style, was bizarre. As readers of the Old Testament encounter these weird, confusing, and horrific “love” stories they ask, “What’s up with sex in the Old Testament?” The church often ignores the R-rated bits of the Bible, so it’s hard for people to find answers to their disturbing questions about sex in Scripture, which can lead people to give up on God and God’s word. However, these stories were included in the Bible for a reason, to reveal an even more shocking “love” story. When humans behave badly, God behaves graciously. God not only forgives people with sexual baggage, but also redeems their lives and includes them in his mission. God’s word records their story to benefit us. Just as sex was not often ideal in the Old Testament, it’s often not ideal today. Instead of ignoring these stories, Prostitutes and Polygamists engages, discusses, and learns from them.

Hailed as "the most radical repackaging of the Bible since Gutenberg", these Pocket Canons give an up-close look at each book of the Bible.

Are all the moral commands of the Bible meant to be obeyed exactly for all time, or are there some that need to be adapted for our modern world? Scripture contains lots of guidance on ethical issues, including statements about polygamy, slavery, divorce, sex, and other things that sound strange to our modern ears. Even Christians, who believe the Bible is God's word, disagree on whether women should wear head coverings, whether Christians can ever lie, whether women should preach, and whether Christians should drink alcohol. How can we resolve these issues and figure out how to apply the Bible to our lives? David Instone-Brewer helps answer this question by showing how the Bible's moral commands were understood in their ancient cultural context. The more we understand what God and the biblical authors intended to communicate to the original audience, the better we will be able to make sense of how to apply those commands today. In brief chapters that address a wide variety of moral issues, Instone-Brewer equips Bible readers with a paradigm they can use to discern matters for themselves: Is a biblical command timeless or time-bound? If the command itself is time-bound, what is the timeless purpose behind it? And how do we remain faithful to the Bible's commands today even when handling subjects the Bible does not address? The Scripture in Context series is driven by the conviction that there is nothing as exciting, direct, provocative, and spiritually enlightening as the Bible when we read it as it was meant to be read. Each book in the series dives into the ancient cultural context behind Bible passages, examining the effect this context had on what the Bible writers were saying and how we should understand their words today. When we read the Bible in light of its context, it is anything but boring. Instead, God's word can speak to us as powerfully as it did to those who first read it. Chapters are short and informal, so it's easy to read one chapter at a time or the whole book straight through.

Our world is changing dramatically, yet many Christians still rely on cookie-cutter approaches to evangelism and apologetics. In his magnum opus, Os Guinness presents the art and power of creative persuasion—the ability to talk to people who are closed to what we are saying. Discover afresh the persuasive power of Christian witness.

A recent string of popular-level books written by the New Atheists have leveled the accusation that the God of the Old Testament is nothing but a bully, a murderer, and a cosmic child abuser. This viewpoint is even making inroads into the church. How are Christians to respond to such accusations? And how are we to reconcile the seemingly disconnected natures of God portrayed in the two testaments? In this timely and readable book, apologist Paul Copan takes on some of the most vexing accusations of our time, including: God is arrogant and jealous God punishes people too harshly God is guilty of ethnic cleansing God oppresses women God endorses slavery Christianity causes violence and more Copan not only answers God's critics, he also shows how to read both the Old and New Testaments faithfully, seeing an unchanging, righteous, and loving God in both.

In Defense of Biblical Polygyny (Multiple Wives) Elisha J. Israel makes a compelling case for the morality of plural marriage. In this book, Israel explains the prevalence of polygyny among the ancient Israelites. Israel also explains how Christians came to uphold monogamous marriage as the only legitimate marital structure. In Defense of Biblical Polygyny (Multiple Wives) also combats the most popular Biblical arguments against polygynous marriage. This book will undoubtedly challenge your beliefs about marriage. This book is a must read!

Questions run the breadth of the Mormon experience, including doctrinal questions as well as questions about the LDS lifestyle.

“An explosive, fascinating book that reveals how the Bible cannot be used as a rulebook when it comes to sex. A terrific read by a top scholar.” —Bart Ehrman, author of Misquoting Jesus Boston University’s cutting-edge religion scholar Jennifer Wright Knust reveals the Bible’s contradictory messages about sex in this thoughtful, riveting, and timely reexploration of the letter of the gospels. In the tradition of Bart Erhman’s Jesus Interrupted and John Shelby Spong’s Sins of Scripture, Knust’s Unprotected Texts liberates us from the pervasive moralizing—the fickle dos and don’ts—so often dictated by religious demagogues. Knust’s powerful reading offers a return to the scripture, away from the mere slogans to which it is so often reduced.