The Oxford Companion to the Bible (Oxford Companions) – Save 39% Today!

Why Buy A The Oxford Companion to the Bible (Oxford Companions)?
The Bible has had an immeasurable influence on Western culture, touching on virtually every aspect of our lives. It is one of the great wellsprings of Western religious, ethical, and philosophical traditions. It has been an endless source of inspiration to artists, from classic works such as Michaelangelos Last Judgment, Handels Messiah, or Miltons Paradise Lost, to modern works such as Thomas Manns Joseph and His Brothers or Martin Scorseses controversial Last Temptation of Christ. For countless generations, it has been a comfort in suffering, a place to reflect on the mysteries of birth, death, and immortality. Its stories and characters are an integral part of the repertoire of every educated adult, forming an enduring bond that spans thousands of years and embraces a vast community of believers and nonbelievers.

The Oxford Companion to the Bible provides an authoritative one-volume reference to the people, places, events, books, institutions, religious belief, and secular influence of the Bible. Written by more than 250 scholars from some 20 nations and embracing a wide variety of perspectives, the Companion offers over seven hundred entries, ranging from brief identifications–who is Dives? where is Pisgah?–to extensive interpretive essays on topics such as the influence of the Bible on music or law.

Ranging far beyond the scope of a traditional Bible dictionary, the Companion features, in addition to its many informative, factual entries, an abundance of interpretive essays. Here are extended entries on religious concepts from immortality, sin, and grace, to baptism, ethics, and the Holy Spirit. The contributors also explore biblical views of modern issues such as homosexuality, marriage, and anti-Semitism, and the impact of the Bible on the secular world (including a four-part article on the Bibles influence on literature).

Of course, the Companion can also serve as a handy reference, the first place to turn to find factual information on the Bible. Readers will find fascinating, informative articles on all the books of the Bible–including the Apocrypha and many other ancient texts, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, Pseudepigrapha, and the Mishrah. Virtually every figure who walked across the biblical stage is identified here, ranging from Rebekah, Rachel, and Mary, to Joseph, Barabbas, and Jesus. The Companion also offers entries that shed light on daily life in ancient Israel and the earliest Christian communities, with fascinating articles on feasts and festivals, clothing, medicine, units of time, houses, and furniture. Finally, there are twenty-eight pages of full-color maps, providing an accurate, detailed portrait of the biblical world.

A vast compendium of information related to scriptures, here is an ideal complement to the Bible, an essential volume for every home and library, the first place to turn for information on the central book of Western culture.

Over 16 Five Star Customer Reviews On Amazon!

Great Resource, Excellent Scholarship
If you are looking for a great resource that is reader friendly and yet top scholarship that provides good and accurate information then this book will help you. An example if the entry on the “Herdian Dynasty”; You get information on the sources for where we get our information on the Herodian Dynasty followed by the origin of the Herodian Dynasty. You get a break down of each Herod including when they lived, ruled and where. This is one of the best encyclopedia type of bible helps. I would have to say the draw back is that there are not any maps, few charts, and no pictures.

Comprehensive and readable
My only criticism is there is no pronunciation help in the book. I also have the Oxford Bible Dictionary, which also lacks pronunciation guides. Other than that, as an Anglican, I find nothing to quarrel with in its presentation of the issues of the Bible. But since I’m not a fundamentalist, others might.

Oxford Companion to the Bible
Since I’m in the midst of reviewing books concerned with the Bible and Christianity, I’ll include a note on this book. I’m exploring this topic pretty much without having any prior knowledge of who’s who in biblical studies; and as I proceed deeper into the subject, I’m discovering authors that interest me (such as Bart Ehrman). I do have some acquaintance with a few of the older names from thirty-some years ago when I was a believer in evangelical Christianity and was intellectually, but informally, curious about the academic side of it. I know the names of some of the evangelical and conservative scholars from decades ago, but I know nothing, except what I’m now learning, about the doctrinal standing of anyone that began publishing later.

So the names of the editors of this Oxford Companion meant nothing to me at the time I bought the book. I bought it, in fact, on the recommendation of David Katz, in his book God’s Last Words, reviewed earlier. I have a few other Oxford Companions (Mind, Philosophy, Law, American History) and find them useful references. Just at the time I became interested in having this one, I found a used copy at an excellent price and have been reading in it as topics strike me or they come up in my reading within the books I’ve been reading.

Its focus is the Bible, not theology or theologians or the history of Christianity or the Church. For example, there is no article on the Reformation. There are some articles that would be considered doctrinal, such as on the topic of infallibility and inerrancy, and there’s an article on the history of interpretation, but in general the articles stick pretty close to what the title of the book suggests. For example, as I was reading Bart Ehrman’s book “God’s Problem”, he talked about Deuteronomistic History, and I was able to read more about it in the Companion, under Deuteronomic History; and as he talked about suffering and sacrifice, those topics were availble in the Companion, too.

I don’t have any doctrinal position these days by which to prejudge such a book, so I can’t comment on the so-called “orthodoxy” of the articles; and I have no idea who these people are who wrote them, except I do see that F. F. Bruce (a name I know from my past) apparently contributed something before his death. Metzger, of course, I know now from my reading of Ehrman’s books, and I have Coogan’s book on the Old Testament in my wish list here at amazon.

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The Pilgrims Progress from This World, To That Which Is to Come (Penguin Classics) by John Bunyan – Save 20% Today!

Why Buy A The Pilgrims Progress from This World, To That Which Is to Come (Penguin Classics) by John Bunyan?
The Pilgrims Progress tells the story of a man named Christian pursuing his pilgrimage through Vanity Fair, the Slough of Despond and the Delectable Mountains on his path towards the Celestial City and is one of the worlds most famous religious allegories. John Bunyan wrote the first part of his tract while in prison for his religious beliefs, and it remains a supreme classic of the seventeenth-century English Puritan tradition. Yet, he also created a profound folk-epic of the universal imagination, one that has had an immeasurable influence on the writing that followed it ever since.

Features

• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
• Condition: NEW
• ISBN13: 9780140430042
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Over 26 Five Star Customer Reviews On Amazon!

A True Classic
The principles of overcoming the flesh endure from one generation to another as the message of victory in Jesus Christ continues. John Bunyan writes about the form it took in his generation. This classic in Christian and English literature describes the journey Christian takes to the celestial city–that permanent home of believers in Jesus.

In the New Testament we’re told of the war between the flesh and the spirit. Bunyan puts it into the context of his day in this classic work. This book is a genuine encouragement to followers of Jesus in any generation. Overcomers from previous generations can continue to encourage us with legacies of this nature as we tread the path in our generation they successfully made in theirs.

Pilgrims Progress–A Blessing
This audio book has been a joy. It happens to be one of my faviorte things to listen to. All my friends at college know lines from it because I talk about it constantly. The story begins with Christian going on pilgrimage in search of heaven. I would encourage all to get this book. The narrator Edward de Souza is wonderful. The applications John Bunyan makes with the Christian life are so practical and real. As a young person its principles have encouraged me as I go about life’s journey. I’m reminded of all those who went on pilgrimage, and the reason they continued or left the way. We will find the waters of life deeper or shallower according to our faith in the King of the Place (Heaven). Buy the book. I don’t think you will be disappointed. If you don’t like it, let me know I will take it.

Inspiring
This is a great classic and a must have for any Christian striving to follow Jesus Christ and His Word. Although the Old English is hard to get through at times, it is well worth the effort for the depth of wisdom contained within the pages. It is a great ecouragement and a sober warning of the trials and tribulations we expect to face on the narrow path we’re called to walk.

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