English Bible History

The word that perhaps best characterizes the Puritans and Covenanters is faithfulness. Whether Edward Dering preaching boldly before a fuming Queen Elizabeth, Sandy Peden evading the king's men on horse, or Hugh Mackail undergoing the torture of "the Boot" and then execution for his faith, the Puritans' and Covenanters' courage and conviction shines as bright as ever today.

With nearly 100 versions of the Bible in print these days, how do we know what is the actual Word of God? Does it matter? A look at history and facts concerning Bible translations and why the King James Version is the one.

Ever since he became a Christian at the age of 40, it has been Poirot actor David Suchet's dream to make an audio recording of the Bible. In between filming the final episodes of Poirot, David Suchet spent over 200 hours in the recording studio to create the very first full-length audio version of the NIV Bible spoken by a single British actor. This recording is an excerpt of that Bible.

On July 2, 1822, Denmark Vesey, a formerly enslaved man, was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina. He was convicted of plotting what might have been the largest insurrection against slaveholders in US history. Witnesses claimed that Vesey appealed to numerous biblical texts to promote and justify the revolt.

Elaine Pagels, one of the world’s most important writers and thinkers on religion and history, and winner of the National Book Award for her groundbreaking work The Gnostic Gospels, now reflects on what matters most about spiritual and religious exploration in the twenty-first century. This bold new book explores how Christianity began by tracing its earliest texts, including the secret Gospel of Thomas, rediscovered in Egypt in 1945.

2 Corinthians: Audio Lectures features author and professor Judith Diehl teaching the book of 2 Corinthians in sixteen engaging and challenging lessons. Based on Diehl's 2 Corinthians commentary in The Story of God Bible Commentary series, lessons tackle the historical distance between the New Testament and contemporary culture.

ABOUT THE BOOK Despite the Bible’s pervasive role and importance, it is commonly unread outside of churches and synagogues and often misunderstood. In The Bible Inside and Out, award-winning religious historian William Paul Lazarus presents a unique, research-based look at the Bible that helps a reader separate fact from fiction. In so doing, Lazarus’s book helps the reader come away with a deeper understanding of the Bible’s complexities and historical reality and, ultimately, a better understanding of how they may want to shape their beliefs. For those readers looking to complete ...

Brennan W. Breed claims that biblical interpretation should focus on the shifting capacities of the text, viewing it as a dynamic process rather than a static product. Rather than seeking to determine the original text and its meaning, Breed proposes that scholars approach the production, transmission, and interpretation of the biblical text as interwoven elements of its overarching reception history.

Designed for pastors, teachers, and Bible students, Jonah: Audio Lectures brings to light the universal scope of God's sovereignty and mercy. With careful analysis and interpretation of the Hebrew text, professor and scholar Kevin Youngblood traces the flow of argument in the book of Jonah, showing that how a biblical author says something is just as important as what he says.

This book covers the material which has been removed from the Book of Daniel, over time. There is a lengthy and historical introduction, discussing the various pieces and explaining their content and finally, the text of the passages themselves. This includes: The Prayer of Azariah, The Song of the Three Holy Children, the story of Susanna and the Elders, the story of the Priests of Bel, the story of Daniel Slaying the Dragon, the story of Daniel Returning to the Lion's Den and the rarely seen Seventh Vision of Daniel.

“BLACK MEN IN THE BIBLE (The blessing of “Melanin”) (Pictures and Illustrations print in color) The only book that comes with a guarantee Guaranteed, once read, you will never see the Black man quite the same again. The mystery of why the Black man is most hated will finally be solved. But understanding "why" he is most hated will come as a big surprise to most. Of all races of men, the Black man is most "unique!" he stands alone in appearance (created with a rich ingredient of "Melanin" in his cellular structure; making his skin tone dark)! For he was fashioned by our Heavenly Father...

Luke opens The Book of Acts with this: “The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.” (Acts 1:1-2) Luke’s Gospel documents all that Jesus began to do and teach in his physical body from his birth through his resurrection. His second account, the Book of Acts, tells what Jesus continued to do and teach through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in his new, mystical body, the Church.

Each Christmas, adults and children alike delight at the story of the kings from the East who followed the star to Bethlehem to offer gifts to the newborn Christ. While this familiar tale is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, another little-known version later emerged that claimed to be the eyewitness account of the wise men. This ancient manuscript has lain hidden for centuries in the vaults of the Vatican Library, but through the determined persistence of a young scholar, Brent Landau, this astonishing discovery has been translated into English for the very first time as the Revelation of the Magi.

The Patience of Job is a religious play taken verbatim from The Book of Job in the Old Testament. A new way to look at the Book of Job which brings it to life as never before. Written in the modern language of the New International Version (NIV) Bible. A must for your further religious education. The Patience of Job is written as a stage play in three acts with directions. It is well suited for the modest church stage as well as the professional full dress environment. Or, for a dramatic reading, book in hand. A religious delight. Enlightening.

From the garden of Eden to the garden of Gethsemane, trees have borne silent witness to the long arc of our redemption story. Christmas is more than a holiday we observe each year—it's a special piece of a much bigger story. In this teaching series, Pastor Skip Heitzig walks through some of the trees that mark key events in the story of God and His people—from original sin to the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This book is about the partnership of God and Mammon in the New World - about how Americans have made money and lost money, and about how they have thought about that obsessive and peculiarly American subject. Money is the basic American thing, the life's blood of the country. God and Mammon shows how the dynamics of money in its many dimensions (material, spiritual, cultural, psychological) worked to make America what it is. It traces the grand American binaries of success and failure to their theological origins in Calvinism's anxieties about salvation and damnation.

As historian Tony Lane once noted, without the King James Version of the Bible, it can be speculated that, there would be no Paradise Lost... no Pilgrim's Progress... no negro spirituals... no Gettysburg Address. And even though today there are more accurate and contemporary translations of the Bible, the KJV reigns supreme in the English-speaking world. It is printed and circulated more widely than any other version. But how did this remarkable work originate?

Have you ever wondered why so many people have different ideas about the Bible? How could one book inspire such disparate concepts and interpretations? In The Bible in Context, Jason Hensley explores why methodology matters: even though the passages in the Bible don't change from person to person, their interpretation does. Yet, the Bible was not intended to be read in whatever way one might want. This book presents a specific methodology for determining what the Bible meant when it was written, and to whom it was written. From there, it suggests ways that the message can apply today––...

King David’s life in the Old Testament was an incredible example of free will being lived out, for both good and evil in life and leadership. Unfortunately, the two chapters in 2 Samuel 11-12 would prove to be one of the greatest and most pivotal set of leadership failures for David. A series of selfish choices and far-reaching consequences that would not only shatter the innocence and lives of those caught up in them, but the innocence of his own heart and reputation as a man after God’s own heart. It was a death of innocence that would forever tarnish and weaken his trust as a leader ...

Each chapter focuses on roughly one century in the life of the Christian church, providing an even-handed view of Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and Protestant denominations. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter offer opportunities to reflect on parallels in contemporary Christian church life, considerations from a relevant Bible passage, and opportunities for application. This is an excellent text for a half-year study group.