Study Commentaries

In Shepherds for Sale, Megan Basham of the Daily Wire documents how progressive powerbrokers—from George Soros, to the founder of eBay, to former members of the Obama administration—set out to change the American church. Their goal: to co-opt evangelicals for political purposes.

Written between A.D. 413 and 426, The City of God is one of the great cornerstones in the history of Christian thought, a book which is vital to the understanding of modern Western society. Augustine originally intended it to be an apology for Christianity against the accusation that the Church was responsible for the decline of the Roman Empire, which had occurred just three years earlier. Indeed, Augustine produced a great amount of evidence to prove that paganism was responsible for this event. However, by the time the work was finished, the book had taken on a larger theme.

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 of our favorite Bible stories and possible interpretations, retelling them through memoir, original poetry, short stories, soliloquies, and even a short screenplay. Undaunted by the Bible’s most difficult passages, Evans wrestles through the process of doubting, imagining, and debating Scripture’s mysteries. The Bible, she discovers, is not a static work but is a living, breathing, captivating, and confounding book that is able to equip us to join God’s loving and redemptive work in the world.

Throughout much of human history, our most important stories were passed down orally - including the stories about Jesus before they became written down in the Gospels. In this fascinating and deeply researched work, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Erhman investigates the role oral history has played in the New Testament - how the telling of these stories not only spread Jesus' message but helped shape it.

Often called Paul’s magnum opus, Romans has been pivotal to Christians’ understanding of salvation for generations. It had a profound influence on Augustine and Luther. Calvin saw it as the key to understanding all of Scripture. In this volume, Dr. R.C. Sproul introduces us to Paul’s fullest, grandest, most comprehensive statement of the gospel and explains why it is just as vital for believers today as it has been for believers throughout history. Verse by verse, Dr. Sproul unfolds the vast truths that Paul has clearly and carefully woven throughout this book.

Elinor Cleghorn became an unwell woman 10 years ago. She was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease after a long period of being told her symptoms were anything from psychosomatic to a possible pregnancy. As Elinor learned to live with her unpredictable disease, she turned to history for answers, and found an enraging legacy of suffering, mystification, and misdiagnosis. In Unwell Women, Elinor Cleghorn traces the almost unbelievable history of how medicine has failed women by treating their bodies as alien and other, often to perilous effect.

In this unabridged audiobook of Walking in Wonder, John O’Donohue’s friend and frequent collaborator John Quinn collects a series of talks and essays from the poet-philosopher on humanity’s relationship with the land, the ache of absence, our place in an often mysterious universe, and the great adventure of death itself.

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells - taken without her knowledge - became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than 60 years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects.

Andrew Murray (1828-1917) was a South African writer, teacher, and Christian pastor. This Best Of collection comprises seven of his most trenchant books.

In this addition to the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, two well-respected New Testament scholars interpret the Gospel of John in its historical and literary setting as well as in light of the Church's doctrinal, liturgical, and spiritual tradition. They unpack the wisdom of the Fourth Gospel for the intellectual and spiritual transformation of its followers and connect the Gospel with a range of witnesses throughout the whole history of Catholicism.

When Brian Doyle passed away at the age of 60 after a bout with brain cancer, he left behind a cult-like following of devoted listeners who regard his writing as one of the best-kept secrets of the 21st century. Doyle writes with a delightful sense of wonder about the sanctity of everyday things, and about love and connection in all their forms: spiritual love, brotherly love, romantic love, and even the love of a nine-foot sturgeon.

Have we been taught to discount the veracity and deeper meaning of our emotional resonance with the world around us? In The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis looks at the curriculum of the English "prep school" and begins to wonder if this subliminal teaching has indeed produced a generation who discount such a nature.

Revelation is a lens that puts the entire Bible into focus. The lens is focused on the person of Jesus Christ, and his destiny is imminent. This is a book of victory: We are overcomers! We are the ultimate winners in the game of life! (I read the ending: We win!) One of the reasons this book strikes us as strange is because of our lack of understanding concerning the Old Testament. The Book of Revelation consists of 404 verses that contain over 800 allusions to the Old Testament. These are detailed, along with Chuck's analysis of the design and structure of this fascinating book.

Millions of us use restrictive diets, intermittent fasting, IV therapies, and Ozempic abuse to shrink until we are sample-size acceptable. But for the 30 million Americans who live with eating disorders, it isn’t just about less. More, Please is a chronicle of a lifelong fixation with food—its power to soothe, to comfort, to offer a fleeting escape from the outside world—as well as an examination of the ways in which compulsory thinness, diet culture, and the seductive promise of “wellness” have resulted in warping countless Americans’ relationship with healthy eating.

Christopher Hitchens continues to make the case for a splendidly godless universe in this first-ever gathering of the influential voices past and present that have shaped his side of the current (and raging) God/no-god debate. With Hitchens as your erudite and witty guide, you'll be led through a wealth of philosophy, literature, and scientific inquiry, including generous portions of the words of Lucretius, Benedict de Spinoza, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Mark Twain, and more.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke are synoptic in portraying the savior’s humanity in different aspects with his deity. Since Mark presents the savior as a slave, he does not tell his genealogy and status, because the ancestry of a slave is not worthy of note. Furthermore, in contrast to Matthew, who presents to us the savior’s marvelous teachings and parables concerning the heavenly kingdom, and John, who presents his profound revelations of the divine truths, Mark’s intention is not to impress us with the slave’s wonderful words, but with his excellent deeds in his gospel service.

Over the past several decades, globalization has homogenized what we eat, and done so ruthlessly. The numbers are stark: Of the roughly 6,000 different plants once consumed by human beings, only nine remain major staples today. Just three of these - rice, wheat, and corn - now provide 50 percent of all our calories. Dig deeper and the trends are more worrisome still.

The Bible is the world’s most influential book, but do we really know what it says? Every day across social media and in homes, businesses, and public spaces, people try to cut debate short by claiming that "the Bible says so!" However, they commonly disagree about what it actually does and doesn't say, particularly when it comes to socially significant issues. For instance, does the Bible say we should be on the lookout for an antichrist associated with the number 666? Does it say women shouldn’t wear revealing clothing? Does it say it’s okay to hit your kids?

Acts is a book of action. But whose actions does it follow? The most obvious answer is the Apostles’. The book’s full name is the Acts of the Apostles, for it recounts their efforts to take the gospel to the nations. Yet we can also think of it as the Acts of the Holy Spirit. Poured out like a mighty rushing wind (Acts 2:2), the Spirit empowered the Apostles’ witness and opened hearts to believe. In this volume, Dr. R.C. Sproul offers an in-depth study on the Spirit’s work through these Christians and in the growth and spread of the early church.

From the majestic beauty of the wild Scottish landscape to the hidden traces of its history waiting to be uncovered in every town and village, Andrew McAlindon is enthralled by the country he is lucky enough to call home. As one of Scotland’s busiest tour guides in real life and online, Andy travels around the country to ancient sites such as castles, cemeteries, burial chambers and prisons, celebrating the history, folklore, superstitions and the fascinating people that make Scotland so unique. Lochs and Legends is Andy’s love letter to Scotland.