Showing results by publisher "Tantor Media" in Commentaries

Thomas Schreiner, a respected scholar and a trusted voice for many students and pastors, offers a substantial and accessibly written overview of the whole Bible. He traces the storyline of the scriptures from the standpoint of biblical theology, examining the overarching message that is conveyed throughout. Schreiner emphasizes three interrelated and unified themes that stand out in the biblical narrative: God as Lord, human beings as those who are made in God's image, and the land or place in which God's rule is exercised.

Biblical scholars Brandon O'Brien and Randy Richards shed light on the ways that Western readers often misunderstand the cultural dynamics of the Bible. They identify nine key areas where modern Westerners have significantly different assumptions about what might be going on in a text. Drawing on their own cross-cultural experience in global mission, O'Brien and Richards show how better self-awareness and understanding of cultural differences in language, time, and social mores allow us to see the Bible in fresh and unexpected ways.

Jesus of Galilee taught through stories, which even today contain the power to startle us out of our prejudices and preconceptions. Now Father Andrew M. Greeley, one of America's most beloved storytellers, examines the parables told by Jesus in search of a fuller understanding of the man and his message. This engaging and informal collection of homilies reveals a Jesus whose simple parables carry profound lessons about the Kingdom of Heaven.

Does your knowledge of the Old Testament feel like a grab bag of people, books, events, and ideas? How many times have you resolved to really understand the OT? To finally make sense of it? Perhaps you are suffering from what Sandra Richter calls the "dysfunctional closet syndrome". If so, she has a solution. Like a home-organizing expert, she comes in and helps you straighten up your cluttered closet. Whether you are a frustrated do-it-yourselfer or a beginning student enrolled in a course, The Epic of Eden will organize your understanding of the Old Testament.

Although most people acknowledge that Jesus was a first-century Jew, interpreters of the Gospels often present him as opposed to Jewish law and customs—especially when considering his numerous encounters with the ritually impure. Matthew Thiessen corrects this popular misconception by placing Jesus within the Judaism of his day. Thiessen demonstrates that the Gospel writers depict Jesus opposing ritual impurity itself, not the Jewish ritual purity system or the Jewish law.

Popular writer and teacher Jeannine Brown shows how a narrative approach illuminates each of the Gospels and highlights the overarching stories. This book offers a corrective to tendencies to read the Gospels piecemeal, one story at a time. It is filled with examples that show how narrative criticism brings the text to life, making it ideal for courses on the Gospels. Listeners will gain hands-on tools and perspectives to interpret the Gospels as whole stories.

The modern conception of sacrifice is at once cast as a victory of self-discipline over desire and condescended to as destructive and archaic abnegation. But even in the Old Testament, the dual natures of sacrifice, embodying both ritual slaughter and moral rectitude, were at odds. In this analysis, Terry Eagleton makes a compelling argument that the idea of sacrifice has long been misunderstood. Pursuing the complex lineage of sacrifice in a lyrical discourse, Eagleton focuses on the Old and New Testaments, offering a virtuosic analysis of the crucifixion.

Eric Huffman, author of 40 Days of Doubt, helps listeners understand and cope with confusion about the Bible and provides answers to questions by reframing it as a perfect and seamless story. Huffman illustrates how the Bible, even the parts some consider ungodly, presents the beautiful story that God intended to tell. Through storytelling from his own experiences and his take on Bible stories, Huffman helps listeners understand the Bible by interpreting the entire book through the lens of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.

Union with Christ is an important theological and practical concept that has received considerable attention in recent years. But not much consideration has been given to this union and its benefits in light of Jesus's resurrection and ascension. In this follow-up to his monumental A New Testament Biblical Theology, G. K. Beale summarizes and expands on that work with an eye to fleshing out the theological implications of the resurrection and ascension.

A method of interpretation—a hermeneutic—is indispensable for understanding Scripture, constructing theology, and living the Christian life, but most contemporary hermeneutical systems fail to acknowledge the principles and practices of the biblical writers themselves. Christians today cannot employ a truly biblical view of the Bible unless they understand why the prophets and apostles interpreted Scripture the way they did.

The great fourth-century church father Basil of Caesarea once observed that, in his time, most Christians believed that hell was not everlasting, and that all would eventually attain salvation. But today, this view is no longer prevalent within Christian communities. In this momentous book, David Bentley Hart makes the case that nearly two millennia of dogmatic tradition have misled readers on the crucial matter of universal salvation.

In this astute mix of cultural critique and biblical studies, John H. Walton presents and defends twenty propositions supporting a literary and theological understanding of Genesis 1 within the context of the ancient Near Eastern world and unpacks its implications for our modern scientific understanding of origins. Ideal for students, professors, pastors, and lay listeners with an interest in the intelligent design controversy and creation-evolution debates, Walton's thoughtful analysis unpacks seldom appreciated aspects of the biblical text and sets Bible-believing scientists free.

In our modern age the biblical Genesis flood account has been probed and analyzed for answers to scientific, apologetic, and historical questions. It is a text that has called forth flood geology, fueled searches for remnants of the ark on Mount Ararat, and inspired a full-size replica of Noah's ark in a biblical theme park. Some claim that the very veracity of Scripture hinges on a particular reading of the flood narrative. But do we understand what we are reading? Longman and Walton urge us to ask, what might the biblical author have been saying to his ancient audience?

We tend to think of the Holy Spirit as the straggler of the Trinity, a latecomer in God's interaction with the world. But our first introduction to the Holy Spirit is not the drama of Pentecost in the second chapter of Acts. We first meet the Holy Spirit in the second verse of the Bible, hovering there, speaking the world into existence. Christopher Wright begins here and traces the Holy Spirit through the pages of the Old Testament.

Various ideas float around about the subject of last things, leading many Christians to conclude that they don't know what to think about the subject. Yet at the core of the Christian doctrine of last things lies two simple and complementary hopes: that God ever and always offers hope for our individual futures and for the future of the whole world. In this helpful book, Allen and Cornwall explain how we don't have to subscribe to sensationalist theories or sketchy interpretations to believe in Christian hope.

What does the Bible say about sexuality? How have traditions of biblical interpretation influenced our understanding of sex and gender? What the Bible Says About Sex answers that and many other questions. Not shy, it analyzes why the Church claimed dominion over marriage, while the female body remained a source of potential evil. It wrestles with how sexuality is used to reinforce notions of honor, and how it can be used to manipulate others. It looks brazenly at the pornographic and the erotic passages of the Bible, and how traditions of interpretation veiled them.

Many Christians today long to become reacquainted with their ancient ancestors in the faith. They see a deeper worship and devotion in the prayers and hymns of the early church. And they believe that the writings of the early church can shed new light on their understanding of Scripture. But where and how do we begin? Our first encounter with the writings of the church fathers may seem like visiting a far country where the language, assumptions, concerns, and conclusions are completely unfamiliar to us. Author Christopher Hall helps us through this cultural confusion.

Written by a linguist, ex-fundamentalist graduate of Liberty University, this book goes straight to the evidence and presents a concise case-by-case analysis of the most salient problems in the Christian Scriptures. With insightful commentary concerning frequent rebuttals used by apologists, it makes a solid case against evangelical claims to inerrancy.

The enduring influence of the New Testament does not lessen the dispute over the events and factors leading to its adoption. Five Views on the New Testament Canon presents five distinct ways of understanding how the New Testament came to be. Each contributor addresses historical, theological, and hermeneutical questions related to the New Testament canon. Contributors also include a chapter each responding to the other views presented in the volume. The result is a lively exchange suitable for students seeking to grasp the best canon scholarship in biblical studies.

This book offers updated explanations of the sins of interpretation to teach sound grammatical, lexical, cultural, theological, and historical Bible study practices.