Biblical Culture

Why does the Bible depict a world in which humans, with surprising regularity, encounter the divine - wrestling an angel, addressing a burning bush, issuing forth prophecy without any choice in the matter? These stories spoke very differently to their original audience than they do to us, and they reflect a radically distinct understanding of reality and the human mind. Yet over the course of the thousand-year biblical era, encounters with God changed dramatically.

O judaísmo e o cristianismo são verdadeiros colossos culturais. Espalhados pelo mundo ao longo de milênios, essas religiões produziram identidades tão complexas e variadas, que é preciso falar de "judaísmos" e "cristianismos". No entanto, apesar dessa diversidade, esses sistemas de crença têm origem comum e partem da leitura e da interpretação do mesmo texto sagrado: a Bíblia hebraica. Em Nós e a Bíblia, André Daniel Reinke investiga o fenômeno de como o mesmo texto bíblico pode ser interpretado de maneiras tão distintas e produzir culturas tão plurais.

John Montgomery examines Martin Luther and the German Reformation; Ulrich Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation; the principles for interpreting the Bible by comparison of the approaches of Zwingli and Luther; the life, times, and thought of John Calvin; and the influence of the Bible Reformers, especially Martin Luther, on artists such as Bach and Mendelsohn compared to 20th century artists such as Picasso.

The Christian religion is the historical unfolding of God's covenantal involvement in this world, the culmination of which is God's coming into this world in the person of Jesus Christ. Far as the Curse Is Found is a retelling of the biblical story of God's unfolding covenant from creation to new creation

God's faithfulness to Israel is an incredible affirmation of His unconditional goodness, and as we discover His heart for His chosen people, we better understand His heart for us. Israel's story begins with God's promise to make Abraham a great nation, and to this day, His hand continues to guide and protect the Jewish people. Israel Always is a sweeping journey through Israel's prolific history, its modern-day influence, and its promised future, highlighting the continuous throughline of God's provision for His people.

The Bible teaches us the real story of Christmas. The problem is people have taken this story and added onto it. Cultures have added on to it. It’s passed through countries, and they’ve tacked on their little spin. We have thousands of years of a Christmas that is built around legends and myths. The Christmas we know is, in places, more a fairy-tale. It’s an inspiring one for sure. But a fairy-tale, nonetheless. This book helps us slow down and unpack the layers so we can see just how beautiful this gift really is.

Chuck Missler, an internationally recognized biblical authority, reviews the origin of both the Old and New Testaments in light of recent discoveries and controversies.

In The Bible’s Cutting Room Floor, acclaimed author and translator Dr. Joel M. Hoffman gives us the stories and other texts that didn’t make it into the Bible even though they offer penetrating insight into the Bible and its teachings. The Book of Genesis tells us about Adam and Eve’s time in the Garden of Eden, but not their saga after they get kicked out or the lessons they have for us about good and evil.

Who was Jesus? Historical sources portray a person who was complex, multi-layered, and often contradictory to the tidy portrait that much of modern Christianity paints him as. Even the gospel accounts render him as both judge and healer, teacher and temple, servant and savior. A Doubter's Guide to Jesus is a persuasive and often challenging investigation into the historical figure found in the earliest sources. These sources, which include references both direct and indirect - from Roman, Jewish, and Christian accounts - offer us more than simple evidence that Jesus existed.

Rabbi Curt Landry helps Christians discover their roots in Judaism, empowering them to walk in the revelation of who they really are and who they are born to be. Reclaiming Our Forgotten Heritage reveals the mysteries of the church, letting Christians grasp the power that comes from connecting with their true identity.

After her brother died unexpectedly and her mother moved into a dementia-care facility, spiritual travel writer and Episcopal deacon Lori Erickson felt called to a new quest: to face death head-on, with the eye of a tourist and the heart of a pastor. Blending memoir, spirituality, and travel, Near the Exit examines how cultures confront and have confronted death by investigating Egypt's Valley of the Kings, Mayan temples, Colorado cremation pyres, Day of the Dead celebrations, Maori settlements, and tourist-destination graveyards.

This Very Short Introduction audiobook offers a clear, accessible, and concise account of the apocryphal gospels - exploring their origins, their discovery, and discussing how the various texts have been interpreted both by the Church and beyond.

I struggled with my own identity early in life. Others whispered their ideas about who I was or who I would become. Does this sound familiar to you? As humans, we are taught to find a model-"a system or thing used as an example to follow or imitate"-to fit in. Finding or even following this model may seem impossible. All of us need what I call a North Star. A North Star is something or someone guiding you to who you know you are supposed to become and guiding you to what you are supposed to be doing.

The text known as "Second Enoch," was discovered in 1886 by Professor Sokolov in the archives of the Belgrade Public Library. The Second Book of Enoch, or 2 Enoch was written in the latter half of the first century A.D. but had gone through alterations and additions to make it more acceptable to the Christian community. It was written in Slavonic, but had evidence of being translated from another language.

The God of the Old Testament commanded and endorsed many practices that we find morally reprehensible today. High on the list was the institution of slavery, which features prominently in several sections of the Hebrew Bible. Fathers could sell their daughters into slavery; masters could beat their slaves; creditors could carry off children for failure to repay a debt; and foreigners could be kept for life, passed down as inherited property. How are we to make sense of all of this from our modern point of view?

Este libro es un libro especial. En él se recogen, paso por paso, todos los días que Jesús de Nazaret pasó en la tierra. Aquí encontrarás sus enseñanzas, experiencias y milagros. Y todo ello con los sabios comentarios de Pedro Sergio Donoso Brant, uno de los máximos expertos mundiales en las Sagradas Escrituras.

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.

In Eyewitness: Tears of the Saints, John 9 comes alive with the story of the blind man, blind from birth, who is given new eyes by the Christ. But the miracle and blind man has a history. He came from Bethany, a little village less than two miles from Jerusalem. His village is the home to many other notable figures from the Scripture. The blind man's testimony will change the lives of many people, even those living 20 centuries later. It is a bible story of a spiritual journey that will inspire the faith of Christians and non-Christians alike.

The establishment of nations, governments, and the shaping of our world system evolved around historical incidents of good and evil. Roots of the Kingdom is a captivating chronology about humans, heavenly hosts, and supernatural phenomena that unveils the spiritual network. Revealed is the chain of rebellious episodes that undermined the pinnacle of creation–Yahweh’s beloved humans. Unfortunately, modern Biblical teachings usually omit or gloss over these insights.

The story of the garden of Eden is a story of a culture built entirely upon the goodness of God. It is a beacon to a way of life that now feels distant and unattainable. While we may not be able to access the garden anymore, we can embrace its essence. In Goodness Culture, you will discover the four core values of Eden that are still readily available to the body of Christ today. You will also discover the four counterfeit values the enemy has established in their place.