Introduction.
Quick Start: How to Find a Specific Bible Book.
How This Book Is Organized.
Special Elements Used in This Book.
I. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BIBLE.
1. Getting to Know the Bible.
The Greatest Story Never Told
Obstacles to Reading the Bible
2. Where Did the Bible Come From?
Disputed Questions
The Story of the Hebrew Bible
Literature of the Early Christian Church
Councils and Canons
The Public Bible
Theology
Literacy
Technology
3. How to Read the Bible.
Three Ways of Looking at the Bible
As Holy Scripture
As History
As Literature
Lost in Translations
The King James Version (1611)
The Douay-Rheims Bible (1609)
The New International Version (1984)
The Jewish Publication Society Tanakh (1985)
The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
The New American Bible (1990)
The New Living Translation (1996)
II. THE BOOK OF MOSES.
4. The Meaning of Torah in Judaism.
Torah Study in Judaism
The Plain Meaning (Peshat)
The Hinted Meaning (Remez)
The Deeper Meaning (Derash)
The Secret Meaning (Sod)
The Other Torah
Two Essential Prayers from the Torah
The Shema
The Song of Miriam
5. Who Wrote the Torah?
The Books of Moses
Four Groups of Authors
6. The Creation and the Flood.
And the Earth Was Without Form
In the Garden of Eden
40 Days and 40 Nights
7. Rise of the Nations.
Races and Nations in the Bible
Faith of the Fathers
A Man Called Israel
From Canaan to Egypt
8. From Slavery to the Promised Land.
Under Pharaoh's Rule
Let My People Go
10 Plagues and a Holiday
Parting the Waters
The 613 Commandments
The Covenant Code (Exodus 20:22-23:33)
The Ritual Decalogue (Exodus 34:1-26)
The Priestly Collection (Leviticus 1:1-16:34, 27:1-34)
The Holiness Code (Leviticus 17:1-26:46)
The Book of the Law (Deuteronomy 12:1-26:15)
40 Years in the Wilderness
III. PROPHETS AND KINGS.
9. Covenants Broken and Covenants Renewed.
A Chosen People
The Deuteronomistic Cycle
10. Conquests and Chaos.
This Land Is My Land
Here Come the Judges
Ehud the Benjaminite (3:15-4:1)
Deborah and Barak (4:4-5:31)
Jephthah the Outlaw (11:1-12:7)
Samson the Nazirite (13-16)
Horrors of Anarchy
11. The Era of Kings.
The United Kingdom (1020-920 B.C.)
Saul and the Rise of David
The Legacy of David
Two Kingdoms
By the Rivers of Babylon
12. The Era of Prophecy.
The Second History
Isaiah: The Great Prophet
Jeremiah: The Weeping Prophet
Ezekiel: The Visionary Prophet
Daniel: The Prophet-Hero
The 12 "Minor" Prophets
Hosea: The Marrying Prophet
Joel: The Locust Prophet
Amos: The Earthquake Prophet
Obadiah: The Avenging Prophet
Jonah: The Reluctant Prophet
Micah: The Perceptive Prophet
Nahum: The Triumphant Prophet
Habakkuk: The Pleading Prophet
Zephaniah: The Fiery Prophet
Haggai: The Temple Prophet
Zechariah: The Hopeful Prophet
Malachi: The Justifying Prophet
13. Ruth and Esther.
The Moabite Widow
Queen Takes Knight
IV. POETRY AND WISDOM LITERATURE.
14. Biblical Poetry and Wisdom Literature.
The Books of Wisdom
The Biblical Voice
15. Psalms and Proverbs.
Hymns of Ancient Israel
Hymns of Praise
Psalms of Trust
Thanksgiving Psalms
Laments
Royal Psalms
Wisdom Psalms
Liturgical Psalms
Historical Psalms
Speaking of Wisdom
16. Mortal Questions.
And You Think You've Got Problems?
The Problem of Evil
Biblical Existentialism
Sex and the Single Bible
V. BEYOND THE BIBLE.
17. The Books of Tradition.
Fired from the Canons
The Incredible Shrinking Bible
18. Nowhere in the Bible.
The Second Place Finish
Lost Books of the Bible
10 Important Extrabiblical Texts
Five Books Connected to the Hebrew Bible
Five Books Connected to the New Testament
19. The Dead Sea Scrolls.
11 Caves
New Life by the Dead Sea
VI. THE LIFE OF CHRIST.
20. The Search for the Historical Jesus.
Jesus, We Hardly Knew Ye
Jesus in the Bible
Roman Historians on the Life of Jesus
21. Before He Was Christ.
Away in a Manger
The Missing Years
Jesus and the Holy Grail
The Prophet Isa
22. The Good Shepherd.
The Power and the Glory
The Good News
The Greatest Commandment (Matthew 7:12 and 22:36-38; _Luke 10:26-28)
The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:27; Luke 6:17-49)
The Parables
23. This Is My Body.
Into Jerusalem
Stations of the Cross
He Is Risen
VII. THE NEW COVENANT.
24. The First Christians.
The Magnificent 12
Simon Peter, the First Pope
Andrew, the First Patriarch of Constantinople
James the Great
John the Beloved
Philip the Serpent-Slayer
Bartholomew the Flayed
Thomas the Doubter
Matthew the Tax Collector
James, Brother of Jesus
Jude Thaddaeus, Patron Saint of Lost Causes
Simon the Zealot
Matthias the Chosen
That's the Spirit
25. A New Religion.
The Spread of Christianity
The Apostle Paul
26. Letters of the Early Church.
Message in a Bible
How to Write an Epistle
The Pauline Epistles
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
The Catholic Epistles
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
27. The End of the World.
Signs and Visions
Missed It By That Much
VIII. APPENDIXES.
A. Biblical Phrases We Use Every Day.
A Man After His Own Heart
A Still, Small Voice
By the Skin of My Teeth
The Land of the Living
Out of the Mouths of Babes
The Apple of Your Eye
At Wit's End
The Powers That Be
In the Twinkling of an Eye
A Labor of Love
Fight the Good Fight
Stranger in a Strange Land
B. Great Quotations from the Bible.
On God
On Love
On the Meaning of Life
C. 25 Great Bible Websites.
Online Bibles and General Reference Sites
The Bible @ Beliefnet
The Bible Gateway
BibleMaster
Biblenotes
Bible Resource Center
Biblical Studies on the Web
The Blue Letter Bible
The New Testament Gateway
StudyLight
The Unbound Bible
Jewish Bible Study Resources
Project Genesis
Tanach Study Center
Virtual Beit Midrash
Quizzes and Entertainment
Bible Games
Bible Quizzes
The Brick Testament
Organizations
The American Bible Society
Catholic Biblical Federation
The Society for Biblical Literature
Miscellaneous
Bible Query
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Daily Bible Reading
Early Christian Writings
Early Jewish Writings
The New Media Bible
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible
D. 12 Good Books Based on the Good Book.
Jesus Reimagined
Nobel Endeavors
Women of the Hebrew Bible
Men of the Hebrew Bible
E. 12 Great Movies Based on the Bible.
F. Choosing a Study Bible.
Index.
Finding an introduction to the Bible without any denominational strings attached is difficult, if not impossible. Browse the shelves at any bookstore and you'll find dozens of books calling themselves introductions to the Bible, but once you get to the text instead of scholarly, unbiased information you'll find what the author or his denomination thinks the Bible says. You will also find that very few of these books actually make the reader want to pick up a Bible and read it. The Bible is a complex work simply too good to be left to wide-eyed televangelists and cranky old scholars alone-this book provides the information about the Bible many readers crave without making them feel like they have stumbled into somebody else's religious service. Absolute Beginner's Guide to the Bible gives readers, whether new to the Bible or looking for a refresher course, a framework to their Biblical studies. Tom Head, a theological Ph.D. student and author, teaches readers how to look at the Bible with an eye for history, literature, interpretation, and fun. In addition readers will learn a vocabulary they can use to study and discuss the Bible with others. With thorough coverage of the history of the Bible and how it came to be the book it is today, the fascinating stories and people of the Old and New Testaments, as well as resources for further study, this book will change the way people read and feel about the Bible.
By day, Tom Head is a freelance nonfiction writer best known for his ability to turn nonexperts into experts. By night, he's a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy and religion at Edith Cowan University. A lifelong student of the Bible with years of formal training in theology, hermeneutics, and biblical languages, he is primarily interested in giving people the tools to read the Bible with confidence, regardless of their academic background or personal beliefs. "Religion can be intimidating," Tom explains, "mainly because people grow up hearing that they're not good enough to ask the kinds of questions religion asks. But the secret is that nobody's 'good enough'; whenever we start talking about God, the universe, and the meaning of llife, we're all absolute beginners."
His 22 books includeConversations with Carl Sagan (University Press of Mississippi),Possessions and Exorcisms: Fact or Fiction? (Greenhaven Press), andFreedom of Religion (Facts on File). He also maintains www.absolutebible.com, a site dedicated to serving the needs of this book's readers.
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
