Study Commentaries

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.

Traveling in a canoe along the Yukon River with the migrating salmon, a three-month journey through untrammeled wilderness, Adam Weymouth traces the profound interconnectedness of the people and the Chinook through searing portraits of the individuals he encounters. He offers a powerful, nuanced glimpse into the erosion of indigenous culture and into our ever-complicated relationship with the natural world. Weaving in the history of the salmon run and their mysterious life cycle, Kings of the Yukon is extraordinary adventure and nature writing and social history at its most compelling.

Mental Illness is real. Will the Church get real? This book is a collection of essays from various authors: men and women, pastors and congregants, counselors and nurses, parents and children. All have a unique view of how mental health conditions affect people, and how the church has responded to these circumstances. Whispers in the Pews tackles how the mentally ill have been, and still are, treated in the church at large by sharing stories. This is not fundamentally a teaching book, but a book of moments and lives, knitted together by the common theme of mental health.

Matthew Henry had the rare ability to express profound spiritual insights with simplicity and eloquence. Over the years, his writings have been read for both their scholarship and devotion, and none more than the classic Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible. Now you can listen to the very best of Matthew Henry in this new edition of his famous commentary.

In A History of the Bible, John Barton argues that the Bible is not a prescription to a complete, fixed religious system, but rather a product of a long and intriguing process, which has inspired Judaism and Christianity, but still does not describe the whole of either religion. Barton shows how the Bible is indeed an important source of religious insight for Jews and Christians alike, yet argues that it must be listened to in its historical context - from its beginnings in myth and folklore to its many interpretations throughout the centuries....

Carrying only basic camping equipment and a collection of the world's great spiritual writings, Belden C. Lane embarks on solitary spiritual treks through the Ozarks and across the American Southwest. For companions, he has only such teachers as Rumi, John of the Cross, Hildegard of Bingen, Dag Hammarskjöld, and Thomas Merton, and as he walks, he engages their writings with the natural wonders he encounters, demonstrating how being alone in the wild opens a rare view onto one's interior landscape, and how the saints' writings reveal the divine in nature.

This second volume on the Gospel of John shows how Jesus dealt with the hostility that began to arise among the religious leaders in regard to various practices of faith and how he didn’t allow their hostility to deter him from his path. In so doing, Christ provided the ultimate example for living in the Father’s name.

Matthew Henry had the rare ability to express profound spiritual insights with simplicity and eloquence. Over the years, his writings have been read for both their scholarship and devotion, and none more than the classic Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible. Now you can listen to the very best of Matthew Henry in this new edition of his famous commentary.

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.

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.

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

"Luke Volume II", often called "The Acts of the Apostles", completes the "Pentateuch of the New Testament". The traditional title of this book is, in some respects, a misnomer: It primarily deals with the "acts" of Peter and Paul. It really should be called "The Acts of the Holy Spirit". This review will explore the continuing mysteries of Hag Shavuot in Acts 2; the surprises in the history lesson Stephen gives the Sanhedrin in Acts 7; the controversies dealt with in the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15; and more.

This two-volume expositional commentary on one of the Bible’s most powerful books integrates rigorous scholarship and clear communication. Boice not only explains the meaning of the text verse by verse and section by section, he relates the text’s concerns to the world in which we live, the life of the church, and the realities of the Christian life. Based on messages preached at Philadelphia’s world-renowned Tenth Presbyterian Church, The Gospel of Matthew displays Dr. Boice’s hallmark blend of thoughtful interpretation and contemporary insight for daily living.

More than a message of Christ’s triumph, the final chapters of the Gospel of John describe how we can triumph as well. Volume 5 covers chapters 18-21 and deals with the culmination of Christ’s earthly ministry, centering on his betrayal, trial, death, and resurrection.

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.

If you start at the beginning of the New Testament and read straight through, first you’ll find three similar accounts of Jesus’ life. Then you come to the gospel of John. From recounting Jesus’ signs to recording His famous I am statements, John puts a spotlight on Jesus’ redemptive work so that others will believe and be saved. In this volume, Dr. R.C. Sproul provides an introduction to John in his accessible, conversational style. Each chapter is packed with insights and exhortations to draw you closer to the life and light of the Savior.

Here is the multi award-winning SmartPass study guide, with and without commentary options. This is a full-cast, unabridged performance with comprehensive commentary and analysis to allow any student to fully understand and appreciate the play. Meet literature's greatest villain in this tragedy, fuelled by jealous rage. Journey into the twisted mind of Iago, who freely admits, "I am not what I am", and truly get under the skin of this wondrous play.

The multi-award-winning SmartPass study guide with and without commentary options. Full-cast, unabridged performance with comprehensive commentary and analysis for any student to fully understand and appreciate the play. Hear "A little touch of Harry" whenever you want to! Examine and appreciate the powerful language of leadership in this guided history play, considered to be Shakespeare's greatest creative statement about war.

The multi-award-winning SmartPass study guide with and without commentary options. Full-cast, unabridged performance with comprehensive commentary and analysis for any student to fully understand and appreciate the play. When characters have to ask "Are all the people mad?" you need a guide! Explore this topsy-turvy world to understand, enjoy, and analyse the language, imagery, and themes of Shakespeare's dark comedy.

What is this book good for? It establishes a clear linear understanding of biblical text in its purpose of driving the listener to see how faithfully God executes His purpose in creation. The covenantal framework from Adam to Christ, and from creation to consummation, is a most apt way of seeing the flow of the entire biblical text. One is lifted in the journey and is able to see the entire scope of Divine Providence work out the divine decree from generation to generation, book to book, event to event, person to person.