"The author recalls how, after becoming very familiar with the Biblical Old Testament in its original Hebrew growing up, an encounter with an English language version led her on a ten-year project of examining various translations of the Old Testament and their histories, "--Novelist.

For readers of Bruce Feiler’s Walking the Bible and Kathleen Norris’s The Cloister Walk comes a powerful exploration of the Bible in translation. Aviya Kushner grew up in a Hebrew-speaking family, reading the Bible in the original Hebrew and debating its meaning over the dinner table. She knew much of it by heart—and was therefore surprised when, while getting her MFA at the University of Iowa, she took the novelist Marilynne Robinson’s class on the Old Testament and discovered she barely recognized the text she thought she knew so well. From differences in the Ten Commandments to a less ambiguous reading of the creation story to a new emphasis on the topic of slavery, the English translation often felt like another book entirely from the one she had grown up with. Kushner began discussing the experience with Robinson, who became a mentor, and her interest in the differences between the ancient language and the modern one gradually became an obsession. She began what became a ten-year project of reading different versions of the Hebrew Bible in English and traveling the world in the footsteps of the great biblical translators, trying to understand what compelled them to take on a lifetime project that was often considered heretical and in some cases resulted in their deaths. In this eye-opening chronicle, Kushner tells the story of her vibrant relationship to the Bible, and along the way illustrates how the differences in translation affect our understanding of our culture’s most important written work. A fascinating look at language and the beliefs we hold most dear, The Grammar of God is also a moving tale about leaving home and returning to it, both literally and through reading. Praise for The Grammar of God “The highest praise for a book, perhaps, is tucking it into a slot on your bookshelf where you’ll always be able to effortlessly slide it out, lay it across your lap and soak it up for a minute or a long afternoon’s absorption. The Grammar of God: A Journey into the Words and Worlds of the Bible, Aviya Kushner’s poetic and powerful plumbing of both the Hebrew and English translations of the Bible, now rests in just such an easy-to-grab spot in my library. In a word, it’s brilliant. And beautiful.”—Barbara Mahany, Chicago Tribune “Aviya Kushner has written a passionate, illuminating essay about meaning itself. The Grammar of God is also a unique personal narrative, a family story with the Bible and its languages as central characters.”—Robert Pinsky “Kushner is principally interested in the meanings and translations of key Biblical passages, and she pursues this interest with a fierce passion. . . . A paean, in a way, to the rigors and frustrations—and ultimate joys—of trying to comprehend the unfathomable.”—Kirkus Reviews “A remarkable and passionately original book of meditation, exegesis, and memoir. In Kushner’s redemptive vision, the Bible in its many translations is a Noah’s ark, and her book, too, does a work of saving. When I put it down, I wept.”—Rosanna Warren, author of Stained Glass “What a glorious book! From Sarah’s laughter to the idea of Jewish law being a dialogue and not a rigid set of rules, this is a book not only to learn from but to savor.”—Peter Orner, author of Love and Shame and Love “In this splendid book, each page is a wonder.”—Willis Barnstone, author of The Restored New Testament

[The author] traces the way the Psalms exemplify and create a grammar for living a life of faith. He explores both the genre and shape of the Psalter and focuses upon the themes of lament and of praise. He concludes that the Psalter directs readers to use the psalms of lament and praise as models for life, depending on God's justice in times of anger, singing God's praise in times of thanksgiving, and always acknowledging God as Lord over hardships and blessings. Only in this way, he argues, can humans live the faith of the Psalms -- a faith defined by complete dependence on God. -- paraphrased from jacket.

Volume II of A Grammar of Christian Faith aims to confront the widespread disarray in the language and practices of Christian faith today. As a 'grammar,' it explains how Christian faith provides special ways of speaking and acting that make sense of human life by giving it meaning, practicality, and hope.

This book lays a foundation for effective communication with the English language. The student will learn the basics of English grammar, including the definition and usage of the eight parts of speech. In addition, the student will examine how these are to be properly used in phrases, clauses, and sentences. Correct sentence structure, diagramming, pronoun usage, and forming good paragraphs are also emphasized. Grade 7."

Walter Moberly is a top Old Testament theologian known for his creative, accessible, and provocative writing. His Old Testament Theology has been well received. This book, written in a similar vein, combines biblical criticism with constructive theology and engages both Jewish and Christian interpretations. Moberly offers robust readings of eight pivotal Old Testament passages that unpack the nature of God in Christian Scripture, demonstrating a Christian approach to reading the Old Testament that holds together the priorities of both scholarship and faith.

With The Book of Intimate Grammar, leading Israeli novelist David Grossman gives us the story of the greatest and most universal tragedy, the loss of the world of childhood. At twelve, Aron Kleinfeld is the ringleader among the boys in his Jerusalem neighborhood, their inspiration in dreaming up games and adventures. But as his friends begin to mature, Aron remains imprisoned for three long years in the body of a child. While Israel inches toward the Six-Day War, and the voices of his friends change and become strange to him, Aron lives in his child body as though in a nightmare. Like a spy in enemy territory, he learns to decipher the internal codes of sexuality and desire, to understand the unyielding bureaucracy of the human body. Hurled between childhood and adulthood, between the pure and the profane, he is like a volcano of emotions and impulses. But, like his hero Houdini, Aron still struggles to escape from the trap of growing up. The Book of Intimate Grammar is about the alchemy of childhood, which transforms loneliness and fear into creation, and about the struggle to emerge an artist. Funny, painful, and passionate, it is a work of enormous intensity and beauty.

Basics of the Biblical Greek is an entirely new, integrated approach to teaching and learning New Testament Greek. It makes learning Greek a natural process and shows from the very beginning how an understanding of Greek helps in understanding the New Testament. Basics of Biblical Greek: combines the best of the deductive and the inductive approaches, explains the basics of English grammar before teaching Greek grammar, uses from the very beginning parts of verses from the New Testament instead of 'made-up' exercises, includes at the beginning of every lesson a brief devotional, written by a well-known New Testament scholar, that demonstrates how the principles taught in the lesson apply directly to an understanding of the biblical text, is the most popular first-year Greek course used in colleges and seminaries today, comes with an interactive study aid CD-ROM, containing an eight-minute greeting from the author and the fun, helpful, and graphical vocabulary-memorizing program 'Learning the Basics of Biblical Greek' (runs on Power Mac and Windows 95), where you can hear Greek words pronounced and sung in more than 200 familiar hymns. The CD-ROM also contains the powerful Greek vocabulary-drilling programs Flashworks(TM) and Parseworks from Teknia Language Tools (runs on Macintosh and Windows 3.1 and 95). A separate workbook is also available. And complimentary teacher helps are located on the author's website (http://www.homeschooling.org).