Product Description
This volume offers a unique approach to the history of biblical interpretation, examining the historical, theological, and philosophical presuppositions of select interpreters in order to tease out the complexity of factors that shape one’s engagement with biblical texts. Taking seriously the power of biblical texts to shape and address questions common to all humanity, these essays not only provide a window into how the biblical text was read at specific times and places and but also suggest fruitful ways to read it today. Contributions in both English and German focus on biblical interpretation in Hellenistic Judaism and early Christianity, nineteenth-century German philosophy, and contemporary biblical theology. The contributors are Harold Attridge, Wilhelm Gräb, Stephan Grätzel, Garrett Green, Christine Helmer, Bernd Janowski, Maren Niehoff, Joachim Ringleben, Marvin Sweeney, and Karen Torjesen. ... Read more

Product Description
The Black Biblican Heritage is the endeavor of thetwenty-five years of intensive research exposing many doubts and mythshanded down through the centuries by European clergy to Africa, Asiaand the Western Hemisphere.Aside from the New and Old Testaments,this remarkable book is the first printed material of its kind tohighlight the lineage of Ham, the patriarchal- ancestral father ofAfrica and sections of Asia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

good basic resource book
The Black Biblical Heritage, is an excellent resource book for the average bible student. The drawings for each character with strong african features are wonderful. Mr. Johnson has done an excelent job on his research using the Bible, historical sources as well as other modern scholars and presenting a clear concise picture of some of the under studied characters of the Bible. He presents a concise picture of Black Biblical heroes and villans by simply presenting the facts with scripture refrence. His research makes it easier for me to tell the story of God plan for Man and redemption.
I would definately recommend the book to anyone who has an intrest in Old Testament Bible Studies, or just curious about African Biblical heritage. It can be a great study guide for a youth or young adult group to introduce them the study of characters in the Bible. Most of the people he hilighted aren't discussed in a general Sunday school lesson plan.
This book is written more like a refrence book. It is not a narrative or novel that you can sit down and read from cover to cover. A book that all bible students and teachers should have in their collection.

Brian Gathright

What the world needs to know - truth.
The Black Biblical Heritage

I am so blessed to finally read in a book what I was told as a child by my dad who finished sixth grade, but when he died he had received an honorary doctorate. My dad told me that everything came out of Africa; he told me this information without fanfare and pride. I did not understand what he was saying or the implications of what he was teaching until much later in life. I am now in my sixties and I certainly understand what he wanted me to know.

Dr John Johnson has spent his life exposing the truth and now I am so thankful that I was confronted by the knowledge in the "The Black Biblical Heritage." Wow! It is an awesome document with incredible sketches that not only pictorially show the truth, but it is graphically written by Dr Johnson. This work needs to be placed in the hands of every minister so the world can be released from the bondage of the lies that have been told for centuries. I believe that Jesus Christ, the son God who sits at the right hand of the Father, would want this information to be told to the world before He returns to catch His church away. This knowledge needs to be told now, because many who may see Him could be frighten when they discover that He is a man of African descent - Negro.

With the help of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit I will do all I can to fulfill (KJV) Ephesians 4:12," For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:" I will help spread this truth.

Thank You, Dr Johnson for your faithful service and I encouraged continuing your life long work.


Loren C. Due, Ph.D., D Min.
[...]

One of the Best
Over 25 years of extensive research, Dr. John L. Johnson pursued the hidden facts by faith. He has contributed much time, and research to aid mankind understand the occult terminology of "The Divine." Dr. John L. Johnson is one of my all time favorite black authors. He presents the truth in a bold and enlightened fashion. Another good read which is written by the author is, "500 Questions and Answers on the Black Presence in the Bible." People of color will read this particular book, which is in the form of an interview with much pleasure.

Deserved Dignity
I encountered this book years ago in the University Hills Library in Austin, Texas.Burned by my involvement with my previous church and ministry, I had become disillusioned, distraught and lacking in faith.Atheism, before the current popular tomes advocating a departure from all faiths, appealed to me.This literally turned my head and halted me in my tracks.I checked it out - 3 times - before purchasing it on Amazon.

This is a wellspring that allows one to hold his/her head up as we see (now) played out in American politics the onslaught against African Americans by forces on the left and right that do not know the contributions Africans have made not only to world culture but to the most significant spiritual expression in Western civilization.Current events find European Americans still ignorant of the complex Homiletics of the African Diaspora and its spiritual entities."Black Liberation Theology" is something now discovered on Fox News and sound bites on You Tube the complete philosophy of Senator Obama's former pastor.It is a willful ignorance born of arrogance and hegemony from the previous "peculiar institution" formerly known as slavery that would birth such a tradition.

"Our people perish due to a lack of [self] knowledge."(Hosea 4:6)And the knowledge should be shared, discussed and preached.It should be used to build us up as a people; to "set the captives free."(Luke 4:18)

[...]: "About 10.4% of the entire African-American male population in the United States aged 25 to 29 was incarcerated, by far the largest racial or ethnic group--by comparison, 2.4% of Hispanic men and 1.2% of white men in that same age group were incarcerated. According to a report by the Justice Policy Institute in 2002, the number of black men in prison has grown to five times the rate it was twenty years ago. Today, more African-American men are in jail than in college. In 2000 there were 791,600 black men in prison and 603,032 enrolled in college. In 1980, there were 143,000 black men in prison and 463,700 enrolled in college."Too many of our men are in prison because they are unaware who they are, and thus misbehave.

I heartily recommend this book as enthusiastically as I did years ago when it stopped me literally in my tracks.

Confrimation/Black Biblical Heritage
Presenting the original language of the first humans , the locale and identity of these humans has long been shelved . This book should be in the educational systems of every educational institution in this country as well as international educational systems. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an illustrated introduction to the history and practice of Christian music. The main body of the text goes through the whole period of Christian music's history. The book looks at music in the Orthodox tradition and in Africa, as well as music for worship in 20th-century Europe and America. This comprehensive survey of Christian music covers a range of musical styles and tastes. It includes new material on music in Latin America. ... Read more

Product Description

The author of "The Art of Biblical Narrative" provides a fresh interpretation of the poetry of the Old Testament and a lucid, original account of how biblical poetry works. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A lifesaver
I took on the task of teaching the book of Job in my adult church class. I would have been completely lost without this book. It opened for me, and for my students, the complex and rich world of Hebrew poetry. It was clear, illuminating, inspiring, and insightful. The students gave the class rave reviews, and I openly promoted this book as the reason!

Alter is a brilliant guide to the Bible
This companion volume to "The Art of Biblican Narrative" is equally illuminating although the subject matter is very different. Still, Alter is to my mind the deepest and most perceptive literary analyst I have ever read. His writing is not easy and I sometimes have to look up words he uses -- but he reads so closely and with such sympathy and sensitivity that his insights are often simply revelatory.

Here he examines Biblical poetry with close readings from selections of the prophets, the Song of Songs, Pslams, Proverbs and most of all Job. Some of the texts he examines were faily familiar to me. Others not so much.

Biblical poetry is based on a technique called "parallelism" rather than on rhyme or meter. Parallelism splits each line into two parts and the second somehow reflects upon, amplifies, intensifies or illuminates the first. The form is quite stiff and unyielding at first sight -- yet Alter shows how in the hands of the anonymous authors whose names are mostly lost to us, it can become an instrument of tremendous power.

Anyone interested in the Bible should read this.

Great Purchase for Serious Study
Alter is beyond a good scholar. He tears apart hebrew poetry and shows you how it works. the only drawback is it is a slow process. the writing is good but difficult.

A literary approach to reading Biblical poetry
Alter continues here what he started in ' The Art of Biblical Narrative' and applies the techniques of literary criticism to the Biblical text. He does not discard Lowth's discovery of parallelism as the key technique of Biblical poetry but rather sharpens and intensifies the meaning of this concept. He shows the way different kind of parallelism operate in the text. He illustrateshow intensification of meaningcomes through repetition and variation. He closely reads some of the great Biblical poetry.
This is a wonderful work for all those who love the Bible and all those who love Poetry.

This book should never be out of print
This is one of the books that I was supposed to read for a class but didn't get around to it until now. I am halfway through this book and it is one of the most readable academic books that I've read. It is no wonder that Robert Alter has set and will set the standards by which Biblical litery criticism is judged.

The Bible comes alive under his translations and his insights into the text make this old book new and exciting. ... Read more

Product Description
"From Babel to Babylon" explores the literary and historical character of biblical texts in the Torah, Prophecy, and Writings. It considers questions of composition and the writing of history. The book situates biblical texts in their immediate and distant context. It reflects upon their intertextuality and identifies their literary sources. Key events and figures are discussed in light of the politics of the age. Gender issues are explored, with attention to the different social roles of men and women and the character of the interaction. Theology is another important topic, and the character of God keeps changing to reflect the development of historical and prophetic traditions. The books ends with biblical wisdom, with the specific instruction to rely on the experience of the sage, whose superior understanding is greater than our own. This exhortation to listen to the text directs us back to the introduction, where readers are asked to pay attention to the principles the text sets up for its own interpretation. ... Read more

Product Description
Three decades of dialogue, discussion, and debate within the interrelated disciplines of Syro-Palestinian archaeology, ancient Israelite history, and Hebrew Bible over the question of the relevance of the biblical account for reconstructing early Israels history have created the need for a balanced articulation of the issues and their prospective resolutions. This book brings together for the first time and under one cover, a currently emerging centrist paradigm as articulated by two leading figures in the fields of early Israelite archaeology and history. Although Finkelstein and Mazar advocate distinct views of early Israels history, they nevertheless share the position that the material cultural data, the biblical traditions, and the ancient Near Eastern written sources are all significantly relevant to the historical quest for Iron Age Israel. The results of their research are featured in accessible, parallel syntheses of the historical reconstruction of early Israel that facilitate comparison and contrast of their respective interpretations. The historical essays presented here are based on invited lectures delivered in October of 2005 at the Sixth Biennial Colloquium of the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism in Detroit, Michigan. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A questionable quest
This book promotes minimalist views (the title is not honest). For most archaeologists the historical Israel is merely a matter of ideology. "Political correctness" has decreed a priori that the Old Testament writings are historically unreliable and of negligible value.

Two Views from the Center
In this collection, two prominent Israeli archaeologists share their credo and philosophy as well as their views on the history of early Israel.They are not far apart.Both make it clear that they differ from revisionists or minimalists like Philip Davies and Thomas Thompson and also from the biblical school founded by William Albright.Finkelstein calls his position the center between those extremes.

The view from the center is that the Deuteronomistic History, Torah, and many prophets were compiled and edited in the late monarchy, not in the post-exilic or Hellenistic periods as revisionists claim.This view also maintains that there is historical value in the biblical historical accounts.Finklestein makes it clear that he cannot go along with revisionists who maintain that much of the Hebrew Bible was invented out of thin air.He says: "It is unthinkable that the biblical authors invented stories only in order to serve their aims.Had they done that they would have lost credibility among the people of Judah, their target population." (p. 18)

These lectures also bring out significant disagreements between Finkelstein and Mazar.Mazar still maintains there was a united monarchy under David and Solomon while Finklestein argues that David and Solomon were no more than chieftains in an underdeveloped south that was not yet a state.Mazar also stretches the period of biblical origins to the eighth through the seventh centuries rather than limiting it to the reign of Josiah.He criticizes Finklestein as seeing too much of the Deuteronomistic History as a reflection of Josiah projected backward, for Mazar thinks the collecting and editing involved passing down recollections showing the influence of earlier periods.Both scholars believe in viewing history retrospectively by honing in on the period of Josiah and looking backward from that point as through a telescope to see what parts of early history have value.

All in all, these scholars are not far apart on most of what they have to say.One of their biggest differences is that they use different approaches to dating Yigael Yadin's discoveries at Megiddo, thus leading to their divergences over the united monarchy.

This collection can be recommended to anyone interested in seeing how archaeology impacts the history of early Israel.I would also recommend the statements of personal philosophy in the first and last lectures they give.

Excellent end highly recommende!
I am halfway the book right now, have a anormous collecting of works on this topic, and am always on the look out for the ultimate wisdom of the day. Well, this is as close as you can get! I only wish authors would state that today's facts may be tomorrow's old news. Just as the Allbright's, the De Vaux's and the Yadin's have been re-interpreted, so will today's knowledgeturn out to be in need of many revisions one day soon. As long as the minimalists stay away from the essence of this great book that's fine with me!

The Quest for the Historical Israel: Debating Archaeology and the History of Early Israel (Archaeology and Biblical Studies)
Israel Finkelstein is surprisingly candid about presenting the research and inescapable conclusions with honesty and candid love for science regardless of whom the conclusions may displease.

Excellent book for those interested in the history of Israel.
This book is a great resource for those who are interested in the history of ancient Israel.It is written in a manner that is very informative, but not so academic that the material is meaningless to people to aren't scholars.The book is divided into sections, with each part consisting of a chapter by Finkelstein and a chapter by Mazar.The intent of the authors is to examine and evaluate the archaeological data that pertains to the history of Israel, which includes a look at what archaeology says about the period of the patriarchs, the story of the exodus, the conquest, and the monarchy.The book demonstrates in an engaging way that, while the authors disagree on the interpretation of some of the archaeological data they are both in agreement that the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) contains historical data within its pages, and is not, as some scholars would assert, a completely fictional work.The book also serves as a handy summary reference for the archaoleogical data pertaining to these topics. ... Read more

Product Description

From the earliest evidence of humankind in Palestine to the establishment of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, the ministry of Jesus, and the rise of the Christian Church, the richly illustrated HarperCollins Atlas of Bible History brings the Bible to life in all its geographical context.

Customer Reviews (1)

In this work, Leo Perdue has breathed life back into O.T.
In this work, Leo Perdue has breathed life back into the task of theological interpretation of the Old Testament by clearly listing, defining and highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the various categories of Old Testament interpretation

Dr. Leo Perdue points out a variety of new and imaginative directions for Old Testament theology. The Collapse of History gives the reader both an awareness and fresh appreciation of alternative models to Old Testament Theology. Models, whether in science or theology, allows one to construct a new hypothesis with which one can probe, develop and postulate the unapprehended.

What Dr. Perdue gives us is a box full of keys with which we may attempt to unlock Old and New Testament's revelation about God and ourselves. Especially provocative are the new and engaging approach of liberation theology and imagination theology. Each of these new schools of thought have encouraged me to go beyond my old paradigms and probe new salient theological truths that are implicit and explicit in scriptural text.

Both liberation and imagination perspectives approach biblical theology with vigor and relevancy for our needy world today. I remained concerned how much of academic biblical thinking has been done apart from contemporary theology leaving the learner to juxtapose the two, whereby they can bring a message of relevancy to his/her listeners.

Context is critical and so notes liberation theology. Its motif is found in its solidarity with the oppressed and the downtrodden of our world; as well as its rejection of authoritarianism and hierarchy. The underlying focus of liberation theology is freedom from sin, selfishness, indifference and arrogance to others suffering and plight, that come from Jesus Christ. Liberation theology sees Jesus Christ as the embodied extension of Yahweh's identification with the suffering, the poor and the enslaved of the Old Testament: the suffering servant, the redeeming God.

Imagination theology has given us a solution for moving from the historic text to a contemporary context. Often biblical theology becomes bogged down in the nuances of scripture, not realizing that for the majority of Christendom critical analysis, historical critique and source hermeneutics are meaningless if the text, and thus the revelation of God, can not be applied contemporaneously.

Imagination theology allows for a transcendence of the orthodox and thus produces both the opportunity and ability for God's people to embrace a new vision of order; a kingdom that is responsive to suffering, exploitation and oppression of all of creation.

Theological imagination leads to faith; and faith leads to a vital, living community of God; a community committed to ushering in "Thy kingdom come, here on earth as it is in heaven". The work of Leo Perdue is an important reference for any serious scholar or student of hermeneutics and Old Testament theology. ... Read more

Product Description
How does history work? Is it just a collection of names, places, and dates, or is there a formula for understanding an overall pattern? More importantly, do the events of history happen at random, or is there a guiding force behind them? You have probably heard theories of history that look for great men and women or underlying causes. Now we will look at the ultimate ''big picture'' and try to see the story of the world as God sees it.

More than ten years in the making, this text will look at the overlying trends to determine why major events happened in the past. Special attention will be given to these four trends:

- The spread of civilization across the world in one thousand-year steps.
- The most important attempts by man to build empires, from Babel to the great nations of today.
- The origins and development of Greek thought and philosophy, also known as ''secular humanism.''
- The actions God has taken to intervene at key moments in history, both of a positive and negative nature.

After that we will look at why Israel has been restored as a nation in our lifetime after nearly twenty-six hundred years of exile among the nations and what could happen to us in the near future. So come along for a ride through the ages, taking a new look at the greatest story to be told, and you won't think of history as a boring classroom lecture again. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Content is Excellent, the Publishing is Weak
I have long loved Mr. Kimball's online version of this book, and we used it in our homeschool years, which ended with the last child's graduation 2 1/2 years ago. The content is excellent, the authorship is engaging and very readable, and I highly recommend Mr. Kimball's website for other in-depth history of particular cultures and time-frames. (I don't know if Amazon will reject this review if I put in a URL address, so I'd just suggest that you google "xenohistorian".)

However, I couldn't give this book the 5 stars its content deserves because of the weakness of it's publishing (which, were I able to rate it separately, I'd only give one or two stars to).

First, the maps and pictures are not printed in the book where they are referred to, but they are reprinted in the back of the book.

Second, the text makes no reference at all to those pictures or maps, so you have no idea that there are illustrations that go with the text.

Third, the pages that contain those illustrations and maps are not even numbered, so you cannot even write a page number in the text to make your own reference (I will probably number the pages myself.)

Fourth, all the illustrations and maps are printed in black and white, which makes it impossible to see the progression of the spread of civilization in 1000 year increments, for instance (the first of the maps in the book). It also loses the great richness that the illustrations and photographs add to the text.

Fifth, the endnotes make no reference to the chapters that they are in, but are just simply numbered from 1 to 359 at the end of the book. They would've done much better to put the endnotes either at the end of each chapter, or better yet, as footnotes on each page. (This is an engaging but rigorous read, and having to constantly flip back to the back of the book for the author's notes is highly distracting, bordering irritating.)

Sixth, the chapter titles are not printed at the top of each page, but only the title of the book on the right hand pages, and the author's name on the left.

I'm sad that the publisher made such a hash of this so-very-excellent book. I understand from something I read on the website that there will be another publishing of this in the future, with the illustrations problem corrected. Until then, I recommend that you save your $43.00, which is a significant sum, until the better publication comes out. ... Read more

Product Description
One of Italy's foremost experts on antiquity addresses a new issue surrounding the birth of Israel and its historic reality. Many a tale has been told of ancient Israel, but all tales are alike in their quotation of the biblical story in its narrative scheme, despite its historic unreliability. This book completely rewrites the history of Israel through the evaluation of textual and literary critiques as well as archaeological and epigraphic findings. Conceived along the lines of modern historical methodology, it traces the textual material to the times of its creation, reconstructs the temporal evolution of political and religious ideologies, and firmly inserts the history of Israel into its ancient-oriental context. Mario Liverani teaches the History of the Ancient Near East at the University of Rome 'La Sapienz'. He is Lincei Academic and honorary member of the American Oriental Society. He is the coordinator of the archaeological expedition in the Acacus (Libyan Sahara). He has published Ancient Orient (1991), War and Diplomacy in the Ancient Orient (1994), Uruk: The First City (1998), and Myth and Politics in Ancient Near Eastern Historiography (2004, Equinox/Cornell UP). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Much to be gleaned from a moderate viewpoint
Though historically skeptical and reads the historical texts of the Bible to uncover ideological bias, the combination of Liverani's expertise in ANE background combined with setting Israel in the context of the larger world (esp. the sixth century BC) sets this history apart, and much insight can be gathered here. ... Read more

Product Description
This annotated bibliography contains the largest-known list of books and other materials that played a part in the formulation of Alcoholics Anonymous. Most of the material, some 23,900 items, was gathered by author Dick B. over an 18 year period of travel, research, interviews, and acquisitions from Oxford Group leaders, Shoemaker friends and family, A.A. oldtimers, Dr. Bob's library, Anne Smith's Journal, and the writings of hundreds of religious books by such diverse personages as Fulton Sheen, Frank Buchman, Emmet Fox, William James, Samuel Shoemaker, Glenn Clark, E. Stanley Jones, F. B. Meyer, John Mott, etc. The book gives the source of the acquisitions and the many who contributed from their own libraries and collections. Those who want to research all the roots of A.A. and 12 Step Fellowships will find this a necessary and invaluable resource. Many of the materials are now located at the Griffith Library at Bill Wilson's birthplace in Vermont, in the North Congregational church at Dr. Bob's birthplace in Vermont, at Rev. Sam Shoemaker's Calvary Church in Pittsburgh, at St. Paul's Church in Akron, at the Seiberling Gate Lodge in Akron, in the traveling collection of Ray G., archivist at Dr. Bob's Home, at Brown University, at the archives of A.A. General Services in New York, at Stepping Stones, and other repositories of religious information. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Greatest Annotated Bibliography of A.A. Historical Materials, Sources, and Roots
I'm a researcher. I'm a student. And I am a Marine Corps vet. I am also an avid reader of the Bible and a believer. I lived with Dick B. for a while before I joined the Marines. Then I was married, and I was stationed in Oahu and frequently saw Dick, his son Ken, an their respective huge libraries; and so did my wife. I helped Dick inventory, prepare for shipment, and ship the 23,900 historical items that he had amassed and assembled on Maui and used in his continuing research and historical publishing. Then much of the material was donated to the Griffith Library at Bill Wilson's birthplace in East Dorset, Vermont. But not before Dick had inventoried the books and materials, the places where they were acquired, the libraries from which they had come, the people who made them available, and their relevance to aspects of A.A. history like the Bible, Jesus Christ, Quiet Time, Dr. Bob and his library, Anne Smith and her journal, the Oxford Group, Sam Shoemaker, New Thought writers, William James, Carl Jung, Dr. Silkworth, the Cleveland materials, the Clarence Snyder materials, materials on alcoholism and addiction and recovery, prayer, healing, guidance, the great mentors of A.A. like the YMCA, Salvation Army, Christian Endeavor, and so on. It's all in this book. It's a reference tool worth having for life. It's a source for historical study. It is a fascinating account of all the elements that fed A.A. It's a well-done bibliography. There's nothing like the content of this book. I'm all for it.

The Best A.A. Bibliography and History Index
I personally had a hand in the immense task Dick undertook in gathering these materials. We visited Jim Newton in Florida before his death and acquired all Jim's relevant Oxford Group library. Ditto Rev. Willard Hunter in California. And I helped Dick and others display, list, and prepare for shipping the huge library of history that Dick had shelved in the Maui A.A. Research Library in a room set aside for that very purpose. Shelves lined every single wall. Work tables held the groupings. And there were several huge groupings: (1) The huge amount of Oxford Group materials Dick had obtained from Newton, Hunter, MRA leaders and offices, and MRA packrat George Vondermuhll, Jr. (2) The huge Shoemaker collection Dick had obtained from the Shoemaker family, Episcopal Archives, Shoemaker churches, personal journals, and church records. (3) A complete duplicate of all the books in Dr. Bob's Library. (4) The temperance books, the religious books, the evangelism books, the contemporary A.A. and alcoholism books and reviews, and the many stories by alcoholics that were part of AAs' studies and heritage. (5) A complete set of the Big Book Second Edition printings. (6) A large collection of printings of the Third Edition. (7) Forty binders of historical papers. (8) Several huge boxes of tape recordings, including the entire collection of Bill W.'s public talks. (9) A host of similar materials purchased from collectors Danny Whitmore and Dennis Cassidy and elsewhere. (8) Books Dick had personally acquired and used in his research and writings. It's all in this book. And most of it is now lodged, through the generosity of several of Dick's benefactors, in the Griffith Library located adjacent to Bill Wilson's birthplace at The Wilson House in East Dorset, Vermont. The books and materials are there to be studied, copied, posted on the internet, and utlized to help AAs. Their wide variety insures that this is not just a collection that fits some particular collector's fancies. It far exceeds in volume the collection at Brown University, at Stepping Stones, and at Dr. Bob's Home and the Akron archives. And it is far more accessible to those who really want to learn and get well by studying the details of their fellowship history. And doing it in the delightful New England atmosphere of East Dorset, Vermont. It also serves as a backup documentation for the thousands of footnotes and comments in the history books by Dick and others striving for an accurate picture. This compilation is a gem, should be part of every reference library, and can be obtained as part of the reference set of Dick'b books. ... Read more

Product Description
This groundbreaking volume draws together an international group of leading biblical scholars to consider one of the most controversial religious topics in the modern era: Is the Gospel of John the most theological and distinctive among the four canonical Gospels historical or not? If not, why does John alone among the Gospels claim eyewitness connections to Jesus? If so, why is so much of John s material unique to John? Using various methodologies and addressing key historical issues in John, these essays advance the critical inquiry into Gospel historiography and John s place within it, leading to an impressive consensus and convergences along the way. The contributors are Paul N. Anderson; Mark Appold; Richard Bauckham; Helen K. Bond; Richard A. Burridge; James H. Charlesworth; Jaime Clark-Soles; Mary Coloe; R. Alan Culpepper; Craig A. Evans; Sean Freyne; Jeffrey Paul Garcia; Brian D. Johnson; Peter J. Judge; Felix Just, S.J.; Craig S. Keener; Edward W. Klink III; Craig R. Koester; Michael Labahn; Mark A. Matson; James F. McGrath; Susan Miller; Gail R. O Day; Bas van Os; Tom Thatcher; Derek M. H. Tovey; Urban C. von Wahlde; and Ben Witherington III. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Hebrew Poetry
This book is most helpful in understanding Hebrew poetry beyond the notion of parallelism. It discusses grammatic and semantic parallelism, which are helpful in getting a deeper understanding of Hebrew poetry.

Best Introduction to Hebrew Poetry
The "Guides to Biblical Scholarship" took a decisive turn forthe better shortly before this volume was produced.This is easily one ofthe better volumes.Petersen clearly demonstrates the techniques andstructures utilized by the Hebrew poets with plenty of examples from thebiblical text.Terminolology has become quite confusing in this area, butPetersen cuts through these difficulties.Controversial matters such asthe existence and function of meter in Hebrew poetry are treated in abalanced manner.Furthermore, the book goes beyond mere demonstration ofpoetic features and fulfills the promise of the title by illustrating howan understanding of these features informs the interpretation of poeticpassages of scripture.This is a good place to begin before moving on tothe more extensive treatments of the subject by Gillingham or Alter, or themore complex and cutting edge analysis of Kugel.

Interested in Hebrew Poetry?Check here!
This is a very good book on Hebrew Poetry.It takes into consideration some of the more current thoughts in linguistics.If you are interested in Hebrew Poetry, you should have this book in your library. ... Read more

Product Description
In The Birth of Satan, T.J. Wray and Gregory Mobley explore howand whya rather innocuous Old Testament character morphed into The Titan of Evil. Wray and Mobley guide the reader through subjects ranging from the Old Testament to contemporary belief systems. They begin with an examination of the first glimmers of Satan found in the Bible within the personality of God. They move to a discussion of different views of Satan in the New Testament providing the reader with examples from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Wray and Mobleys interpretation ends with a look at the modern versions of Satan and how his career still flourishes beyond the pages of the Bible. Engaging and informative, this book rivals Elaine Pagels work on the subject. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Complementary readings
There are already many good reviews so I will only suggest reading the following interesting books dealing with religion in addition to this work: a) "The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach," by Moojan Momen (astonishingly encyclopedic); b) "Shamans, Sorcerers, and Saints: A Prehistory of Religion" by Brian Hayden (great overview of religion origins and development); c) "Life after Death. A History of the afterlife in Western Religion" by Alan F. Segal; d) "From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible" by Eric H. Cline; e) "Alternative Tradition: A Study of Unbelief in the Ancient World (Religion and Society)" by James A. Thrower; and f) "How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now" by James L. Kugel.

Very Textbook Oriented
This book was a great concept.It helped me to understand what I had learned growing up about Satan.Was it Biblical or not?Was it literature?This book explores is Satan real or is he just made up by people so that God isn't seen as doing things to humans that are bad.It goes into the fact that most people want to believe that God is a loving god but not the punishing vengeful god, so was Satan created to combat that?The book starts off asking all these questions and more.Then it explores Satan in the Old Testament, between the testaments and then in the New Testament.It goes through the passages and what was going on at that time.It also talks about where the concept of hell comes from.Is it the Book of Revelation or is it from Dante's Inferno or Milton's Paradise Lost?I found it to be fascinating.However, I was shocked in parts to find that it was wrote almost like a textbook in places and on a higher level than I was ready for.I would recommend this book to people wanting to think on a deeper religious level.

Amateurish and Unscholarly on Every Level
The authors use a great deal of artistic licence in interpreting many texts of the Bible, they put forward many questionable interpretations as evidence for their thesis.I really have never read such distortions and fabrications of a text as the authors do with the Bible.

One has to really question the credibility and motives of the authors in many parts of this book.The authors criticise certain Christian interpretations for making questionable assumptions, yet throughout this book the authors are forced to make so many more assumptions, and assumptions which are far less plausible. The authors often ignore the most likely explanations in favour of their obscure and invalid ones merely to suit their increasingly dubious thesis.This type of reasoning may be acceptable if this explanation was merely advanced as a possible explanation, but instead the authors assert that theirs is the ONLY explanation.This is far from being an impartial and unprejudiced study, the authors have a thesis to adhere to and it seems that not even dubious and unqualified assumptions will make them diverge from this line of reasoning.

The authors often quote from the authoritative volumes written by Jeffrey Bertrand Russell in support of their thesis, but having read these volumes myself it is clear from the below quote that Russell repudiates their thesis rather than affirming it:

"the common assumption that Satan was one of god's functionaries whose morals and motivations continually declined is less an explanation than a description that fails to say why this process should have occurred", The Devil pg 176.

This quote from Russell makes it clear that these kinds of explanations, which the authors assert, are no explanation at all, straight from their mentors mouth!

The first thing that I noticed about this book is that it was endorsed by John Shelby Spong.After seeing this I immediately had a good idea of what I was in for. But this is not a good thing, Spong is one of those Christians who feel intellectually obliged to appease every word or idea that the secular/atheist society has, thus religious fidelity becomes secondary to secular appeasement.Employing this belief in any study of Biblical history is bad enough, but when one does so with the history of satan and sin then the whole Christian theology crumbles.The very genesis of satan and sin is the temptation of Adam and Eve by satan, and when one denies this historical truth then your whole basis of the study of satan and sin is largely negated, and the thesis that you develop becomes intrinsically vacuous.
And this is what the authors have done, within a couple of words into the book they have disavowed the start of the book of Genesis. I myself can't see the point in trying to explain evil in the Biblical context when you throw out the most fundamental part of the Christian theology; the Fall from the Garden of Eden. I believe that you have to either take the Bible the way it is, or just ignore it completely, once you start changing things and eliminating other things then the whole construct of Christian theology falls apart, and you waste everybody's time trying to explain it, because it becomes increasingly incoherent, as it does for this book.

This appeasement is further displayed by the fact that they have discarded the very reliable and universal BC/AC dating scheme in favour of the politically correct BCE/CE scheme.This just isn't necessary, why discard a system that isn't broken in favour of one that not many people are familiar with, or even prefer?I can't understand why they would do this, considering the target audience of this book is layman anyway, not scholars!

I was left bewildered by the apparent intentions of this book. Despite the title and their stated thesis of this work, the authors spend a large portion of it devoted to `Bible bashing'.The first quarter of this book was spent telling us how crap the Bible is and why we shouldn't believe it.And whether this is the case or not, it is entirely irrelevant to what this book is supposed to be about.And in the end, those 50 odd pages of attempting to discredit the Bible clearly could have been dropped without ANY effect on the author's thesis.

For the educated reader the unscholarly nature of the book manifests itself in many ways. Only one of which was the common theme of the authors often assuming many details, just so they can build other invalid assumptions.And to top it all off, none of these aberrations from orthodoxy are ever credited with any kind of explanation, reference or justification at all.

As the saying goes; extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. This book just fails on so many levels, not least of which is the amateurish aura that pervades this book. If you want a more authoritative and substantive work on the history of satan, then you can't go past the series by Jeffrey Burton Russell.
One star.

Some good information, but rather annoying to read
I was rather disappointed with this book, which began when I flipped to the postscript, entitled 'Is Satan Real?'Since so much of the book is devoted to trying to paint the 'development' of human thinking on satan apart from any divine or even experiential influences (its all just rabbis and theologians coming up with petty arguments), you'd think they'd have the courage to stand by their own material and say something like, 'there is evil, but no satan.'Instead, they waffle and give a non-answer.Political campaigns take note: here are two scholars ready to help you avoid answering the public, while sounding authoritative at the same time.

The overall style of the book, one should be warned, is supposed to be 'engaging' (the back matter says something to that effect).Frankly, I found it annoying and surprisingly immature coming from scholars who should know that the term 'pious' is not a pejorative term, unless you are a tenured professor trying to make like you are still a 'counter-cultural warrior.'Yes, their idea of being engaging is to offer a few cheap shots at people who believe in ways less enlightened than themselves.I've come away quite certain these two gentlemen are very, very amused with what amounts to, in their minds, the delusions of others.

What is most indicative of the problematic conclusions of the book stems from this post-modern focus on anthropocentric logic.Just for clarification, this means that the human is the center, as opposed to God.Therefore, their definition of evil and good has to do with our personal perspective as opposed to seeing each person as part of an overall universe in which God is at the center.Obviously, this type of theological 'infantile omnipotence' not only makes one narcissistic, but incapable of understanding the actual mindset in which the Scriptures were written.It is the Zeitgeist of the Baby-Boomers, also known as the 'Me Generation.'

An example: they quote Isaiah 45:6-7 (p. 32) where God claims credit for creating 'woe,' go on to describe many similar passages throughout the Old Testament, but then suddenly arrive at the conclusion..."Satan's greatest virtue is to serve as the cosmic scapegoat, saving God from the blame for evil." (p. 176).Huh?Did the good doctors fail to read their own book?There are many occurrences, all dutifully cited in their book, that prove that God takes full credit for everything.

However, the book does offer some genuinely helpful scholarship in the matter, when one can overlook the silly way in which it is presented and analyzed.It would seem that the professors had their minds made up long before they actually wrote the book, and were not going to allow mere facts to stand in their way.Sadly, it appears that they have fallen victim to the 'contempt prior to investigation' mentality they so relish in pointing out in others.

The Birth of Satan
Very good introduction to the subject. Easy to read even for neophytes, although chronological indications can be hard to follow at times. Good synthesis of the sources involved in the birth of diabolical characters in the Bible. Satisfactory notes and bibliography. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a brief history of ancient Israel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Review of Matthews' 'Ancient Israel'
This is a short, concise and readable introduction to the history of Jews, from Genesis to Alexander. I want to emphasize that the organization directly considers Israelite history in relation to the content of the Bible. However, Matthews also makes extensive use of recent archaeology data and scholarly papers. This is meant to be an 'up-to-date' history, and in this aspect it succeeds. Reading is aided by several tables to simplify information. I dare say this is the perfect textbook for an impatient student. ... Read more

Product Description
This book presents a clear, concise history of the extraordinary multicultural civilizations of the ancient Near East.

• Bestselling narrative of the complex history of the ancient Near East
• Addresses political, social, and cultural developments
• Contains in-depth discussion of key texts and sources, including the Bible and the Epic of Gilgamesh
• Includes numerous maps, illustrations, and a selection of Near Eastern texts in translation
• Integrates new research, and greatly expands the guides to further reading for this second edition

Customer Reviews (10)

Very good introduction to the subject
This was the first book that I have read on the subject of the ancient near east. I later read Georges Roux's "Ancient Iraq" and Foster & Foster's "Civilizations of Ancient Iraq." These books all cover the same subject, but in different style, depth, and breadth.

Van De Mieroop's work is more scholarly and impersonal in its tone than the other two books, like what one would expect from a textbook. While this book is perhaps less descriptive than Roux's, it is a more coherant work (while Roux's was based on a series of articles he had written). Also, it is vastly more complete in the time period covered than Foster & Foster's. (One should note that the back cover of Foster and Foster's book contains praise and recommendation from Marc Van De Mieroop.) However, Van De Mieroop's book ends with the Invasion of Alexander the Great, where the Fosters continue on through Rome's presence in Iraq. "History of the Ancient Near East" includes in-text maps and illustrations, as opposed to "Ancient Iraq," where maps are inserted at the back of the book, and illustrations are sparse, mostly limited to picture plates at the center of the book. For somebody not used to the textbook style of history, this work's fairly deep and well rounded discussion of the material may seem dry and uninteresting at first.

I would never suggest to a person to read only one book on any subject. I would recommend they read all the above mentioned books, as well. I would recommend (to a fellow layman) that the books be read in the following order; Foster & Foster, Van De Mieroop, Roux. But no matter what books you decide to read on the subject of the Ancient Near East, or in what order you chose to read them, Van De Mieroop's "History of the Ancient Near East" should be one of them.

a solid, if pedestrian, introduction
This is a freshman-college level survey of a seminal period of history:with Bronze Age technologies and refined agriculture, the first empires arose to establish patterns of urban civilization and king-centered governance that would last more or less to the industrial revolution.It is absolutely essential stuff and very fun to know.

In the beginning, there were innumerable competing city states in Mesopotamia, who jockeyed for advantage and tiny slices of territory.Each city state had an urban elite with the beginnings of written records (in syllabic cuneiform) to cover both administrative arrangements and early narrative literature and poetry.Much was recorded on Steles,in the form of propaganda regarding some leader's exploits. In time, the organization extended to larger regions that thrived on trade and a specialized work force, enabling elaborate religions with temples to arise as well as monumental architecture, particularly with ziggurats in Babylon.The king was often also the head priest, as in Egypt, but the functions were increasingly separated.Finally, empires (e.g. Assyrian and Persian) arose over huge territories that involved vast displacements of entire populations for purposes of slave labor and mercenary uses.This order ended only with the conquest by Alexander and his heirs, who divided his empire and were more or less absorbed into the local cultures.These peoples were predominantly semitic, at the time when Jews, Arabs, and others were forming into distinctive cultures.But there were also Indo-Europeans in the Hittites and then the Persians, both of whom established formidable empires.

There were several crucial turning points that are covered in outline.These include the emergence of exploitive international elites who had more in common with eachother than with their subjugated peoples, corresponding in highly developed rhetorical forms that required extremely refined classes of scribes to write in the somewhat awkward cuneiform syllabic script (it was only with the Phoenicians that alphabetic script developed, which was far easier to master). This order faced an unexplained catastrophic breakdown around 1200 BCE, at the time when bronze was replaced by iron.This wiped out the extensive trade networks and cultural exchanges that are portrayed as a kind of golden age.The author's treament of this mystery demonstrates the limits of this kind of survey:he mentions various interpretations but refrains for getting into more engaging detail and there is very little narrative flair to any of it.

The powers that arose from the ashes of the 1200 BCE catastrophe included 1) the Assyrians, who built a kind of totalitarian state that forced entire populations into slavery by forcible removal; 2) the Persians, who pioneered an empire based on cooperation between extraordinarily varied ethic and language groups, all while respecting and indeed fitting into the local cultures and religions, which leaders regarded as useful tools to manipulate rather than as threats to stamp out or crush into submission.This was a fundamental development that required administrative genius.

I am very glad I read this and learned an immense amount. Unfortunately, the style is textbook spare and rather dry, in essence not very fun to read.Moreover, the most serious deficiency in the book is that it does not attempt to cover archaeological evidence beyond an occasional mention; I think that 100 pages of info could have been added to fill this gap.Nonetheless, the author has many wonderful text boxes of literary translations that add flavor, there are excellent maps, and a sprinkling of images that whet the appetite for more.Recommended as the most basic of introductions.It is clearly written, broadly comprehensible, if somewhat unexciting.

Review of Van De Mieroop's History of the Near East
This is a very solid history of the ancient Near East. The author works from 3000 to Alexander, covering all of the various powers and dynasties that arise in an around the region. More than Mesopotamia is considered; indeed, everyone from the Hittites to the Persians has a place in this work. Lesser known kingdoms like the Elamites and the Ammorites are considered alongside the big players (Assyrians, Babylonians, etc.). The text is supplemented with primary sources, maps and images, many credit to other scholars, which I found very humble on the author's part. The writing itself is easily to follow, and the author carefully discusses historical sources. Overall, a well-paced, well-written work of history. One criticism: organization is not always clear; the chapters overlaps chronologically, and the author only sometimes explains his reasoning for the order of each narrative. Further, this ought to be supplemented with a text on Near Eastern culture; this is mostly a study of government, trade and empire (with occasional cultural information).

Very good history of a very long time frame
This is a very solid presentation of almost 3,000 years of history in 360 pages. Don't expect anything authoritative-- the author says that early on. So much of the information historians have to work with is archaeological, which means our field of knowledge and understanding of this period is subject to change. Furthermore, the incredible length of time covered means somethings have to be left out in order to make a coherent and readable book. Very nice maps and graphics. Clearly written for the most part. The sheer number of names, of people or groups, can be hard to keep straight at times, but again that's more a reflection of the history the author deals with than the writing itself. You can tell the author's frustration with some of the archaeological work that's been done-- too much focus on palaces and forts and not enough on the vast majority of the people. It would be nice to have a history that showcased these varied societies and their economic structures and social organization. For all we know, our history of the period over-emphasizes the role of militarism and kings and under-emphasizes the role of peasants in maintaining the cultural patterns that changed only very gradually over the 3,000 year time frame.
I definitely recommend this book. It seems to be the latest scholarship, well written, and thoughtfully educates the reader on the issues facing the study of the period. It is important, afterall, to know how we know things. A great companion back good would be Wolfram Von Soden's The Ancient Orient: An Introduction to the Study of the Ancient Near East, which has a thematic rather than chronological lay-out.

enjoyable and informative
This clear, concise, informative and interesting book was a true pleasure to read.I highly recommend it to anyone that wants a fairly detailed overview of the history of this fascinatig cradle of civilization. I'm reading it again! ... Read more