The Prophets provides a unique opportunity for readers of the Old Testament, both Christian and Jewish, to gain fresh and deep knowledge of Israel's prophetic movement. The author's profound understanding of the prophets also opens the door to new insight into the philosophy of religion.

If the Bible isn't a science book or an instruction manual, then what is it? What do people mean when they say the Bible is inspired? When Rachel Held Evans found herself asking these questions, she began a quest to better understand what the Bible is and how it is meant to be read. What she discovered changed her--and it will change you too. Drawing on the best in recent scholarship and using her well-honed literary expertise, Evans examines some...

"Cox explores three different lenses commonly used to bring the Bible into focus: literary--as narrative stories of family conflict, stirring heroism, and moral dilemmas; history--as classic texts with academic and theological applications; activism--as a source of dialogue and engagement to be shared and applied to our lives. By bringing these together, Cox shows the Bible in all its rich diversity and meaning and offers us a contemporary activist...

"The inimitable Jane Yolen has teamed up with Barbara Diamond Goldin (a prolific author in her own right) to retell Bible stories from the point of view of twelve women (in nine chapters, as some come in pairs). After each story, there is a reflection "imagine" piece written from the voice of each woman (written by Barbara) and a poem about her (written by Jane). Intermixed with the main text are sidebars called "midrash" in the singular or "midrashim"...

Across the Western world, the Ten Commandments have become a source of inspiration and controversy, whether in court rulings, in film and literature, or as a religious icon gracing houses of worship of every denomination. But what do they really mean? According to polls, less than half of all Americans can even name more than four of them. For most of us, agnostics and faithful alike, they have been relegated to the level of a symbol, their teachings...

[This book] explores how Christianity began by tracing its earliest texts, including the secret Gospel of Thomas, rediscovered in Egypt in 1945 ... [The author explores] historical and archeological sources to investigate what Jesus and his teachings meant to his followers before the invention of Christianity as we know it ... [She] compares such sources as Thomas' gospel ... with the canonic texts to show how Christian leaders chose to include some...

They were just ordinary people--a loyal servant, a woman who desperately wanted a child, an old man who still had hope, and a young teenager who couldn't quite believe God's great love. Ordinary people who prayed extraordinary prayers to an extraordinary God. They weren't always eloquent. They weren't always the type of person you might think God would listen to. But they trusted God and his plans for their lives, and that made all the difference....

Explores the New Testament book of Revelation in a historical first-century context, reinterpreting the book as a scathing attack on the decadence of Rome that was subsequently adopted by early Christians as a weapon against heresy.

One of the vital challenges facing thoughtful people today is how to read the Bible faithfully without abandoning our sense of truth and history. Reading the Bible Again for the First Time provides a much-needed solution to the problem of how to have a fully authentic yet contemporary understanding of the scriptures. Many mistakenly believe there are no choices other than fundamentalism or simply rejecting the Bible as something that can bring meaning...