Another great study to understand Gulen and Dialogue
588897
This book is a milestone to understand dialouge and Gulen's perspective especially for those who are not familiar with the concept. Thanks to Jill Carroll for this book and I hope we will see more studies like this one in near future.
4133004
This is an excellent study that really focuses on Biblical friendships and what we need to do to develop them in our own lives.  It has been wonderful for developing and strengthening the relationships within our group.

The book suggests 90 minutes for each week, however I would recommend at least two hours (depending on the size of your group) to allow for the conversations to develop and the intimacy level to deepen.

I'd definitely recommend this study for women who are looking to develop new friendships and for women who are looking to strngthen ones they already have!
1801082
Fee's major work "God's Empowering Presence" is foundational in the area of Pauline pneumatology.  This book successfully condenses the heavy exegesis of the larger work into an easily readable text.  Fee has a lot of poignant and challenging things to say concerning modern-day evangelicalism's understanding of the Holy Spirit.
The greatest danger of this condensation is the tendency some readers will have to accept Fee's conclusions without first examining his exegetical work.  I believe that Fee makes a number of exegetical mistakes--some minor, some major--which may lead the unlearned student astray.  While the work as a whole holds up against scrutiny, his explanation of Romans 7 is forced and inadequately supported (I believe this comes from his holiness background).  Likewise, he attempts to explain the fruit of the Spirit entirely in a community sense.  This also comes across forced and ignores the most natural meaning of the text.  (In this case, his focus on community seems to have overshadowed common sense in exegesis).
The book overall is a wonderful work and I would highly recommend it to anyone desiring to know more about the Holy Spirit.  Fee's emphasis on community is refreshing and his understanding of Paul far exceeds most scholars of this day.  May the Holy Spirit continue to work through this book for the glory of the Father and the revival of the church.
531432
I have been studying Syriac with Sidney Griffith for two years now. I will be getting into another specialty of his this coming year: Christian-Muslim relations in the early centuries of Islam. That is why I decided to read this book. As it happens, there was more hidden treasure in this subject than I had suspected. Christians did not just live silently under Muslim domination; they interacted with Muslims at the highest levels. There was a very fruitful mutual exchange of ideas for several centuries. Each community helped shape the way in which the other expressed itself, and even the topics each chose to address.

In view of the rancorous relations currently prevailing between certain segments of the Muslim and Christian/Western communities, both sides would benefit from doing as Dr. Griffith suggests toward the end of this book and re-examining the records of these interactions. Many of them show that it is possible for Muslims and Christians to have intelligent conversations about theological matters without the constant bitterness and recriminations that now poison the atmosphere between the two sides.
1077724
In these written talks, one gets "bite size" versions of C.S. Lewis' works.  In his excellent way of examining the basic calls of the Gospel on their clear and practicable level, stripped of all our excuses.  All of these have much insight to offer the read and may be read repeatedly, but all should read the title talk.  For those used to this title, it has come out in multiple forms over the years - this newer (comparatively) compilation will have more of his works than the older ones.
3382512
This study is a great study. Mark has a way of taking questions and flipping them around to form eye opening challenges.
4859168
I'm thoroughly enjoying Deeper into the Word: Old Testament Words, by Keri Wyatt Kent. Kent takes her readers through a short, but meaningful survey of one hundred words significant in Old Testament Scriptures. She provides a solid framework by which readers are able to ponder the deeper meanings of each word as they learn original derivatives, definitions and connecting ideas.

Though Deeper in the Word is easy to read continually, I am gaining much by reading only one or two words a day; chewing over Kent's partial dissection of the word, appreciating that she has left its wonder not completely revealed. This is a gift Kent offers her readers - enticing us into each word's importance, yet allowing for our own deeper meditation and further study to provide each word's personal significance.

As a testament to this: reading about "alien" I was led to ponder and think more of the significance of adoption; when I read "blessing", my mind turned towards my son whose name is so similar to "barak" - Hebrew for 'I am blesser or blessed'.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone desiring a closer relationship with Christ, who - as Kent mentioned in her opening - loved and treasured these same hundred words. It is excellent as a stand-alone devotional, companion study or reference book.
268517
I haven't finished this study yet, but I am loving it. Cindy Bultema's love for God's Word is clear, and she communicates God's love for us with a sense of humility, mercy and grace. I'm impressed by her research, but this isn't unusual for a bible study teacher. What is unusual is her ability to take what she knows and teach it with grace, humor, and tender truth. She weaves her own story throughout the study seamlessly, not to bring attention to herself but to compare this day and age with the Corinthian setting. It's very effective in painting a picture of what Paul faced in Corinth. I've been a Christian for over forty years, and I've studied First Corinthians, but never have I had such a vivid picture of the realities of Corinth as I have with the Live Full Walk Free study. I highly recommend this for women's ministry groups, small groups, or individuals.
2508892
I thoroughly enjoyed the bringing together of these old testament scriptures regarding the nature of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Humber has to be congratulated for bringing to our attention these scriptures in chronological order and pointing out not only our Lord's true nature, but also for this thoughtful comments regarding them. The Tanakh or Old Testament is divided into three sections (the Torah or Law, the Ketuvim or Writings and the Nevi'im or Prophets. He demonstrates in this book the many types, foreshadowings, preincarnate manifestations and appearances of our Lord. Analyzing each of the scriptures, Humber details their implications, clearly showing their later fulfillment. This book is an excellent resource for one studying these matters and I highly recommend it.
626847
I just studied the New Testament under Dr. Minor this past semester, fall 2008, and she is a wonderful scholar and communicator.  That is what prompted me to buy her two books on Mark, "The Spirituality of Mark" and "The Power of Mark's Story".
"The Power" is quite easy to read and yet, full of scholarly insights that I am sure most of you will have never heard of before.

 It is not a verse by verse commentary, but rather, she takes up some of Mark's major themes such as, "the way" and "seeing", which are seen more prominently in the Greek.  She also intertwines Mark's stories with many awesome and ancient stories that, too me, are almost worth the price of the book.

Here's one of my favorites, Rabbi Joshua ben Levi asks Elijah when the Messiah will come.  "Go and ask him yourself," replies Elijah.  "Where is he?" asks the rabbi.  When the rabbi then asks how to recognize him, Elijah says, "he is sitting among the poor covered with wounds."

This would be a great book to use for a Bible study or discussion.
3580237
Romans is a great book with many great commentaries written for it. Some of them, like that of Barnhouse, are multiple volume works with painstaking exegesis over every verse. The problem with works like that, as great as they may be, is that they tend to be commentaries of the Scriptures using Romans as a launching point.
Guzik's commentary on Romans is a thorough study of the Book of Romans that focuses on the content and context of the letter to the Romans. I highly recommend it to pastor, theologian, and layman alike, All will be blessed by it.
4831404
Drawn to the ideas of G. I. Gurdjieff some years ago, my real introduction was through "In Search of the Miraculous" by P. D. Ouspensky. As I read and reread that book, I could not understand how Mr. Ouspensky could choose to break with the source of what he clearly regarded as a remarkable teaching. William Patrick Patterson brings both a scholar's rigorousness and a deep background in the Gurdjieff tradition to the study of the question of Mr. Ousepensky's "break." He begins by exploring the relationship between Ouspensky and Gurdjieff, from development to apparent conclusion. The sub-text of all this is the relationship between teacher and student (also directly examined in two essays added to the second edition). The creation of a connection between the teacher/transmitter and the student/receiver inevitably will create a struggle within the receiver, between those aspects seeking transformation and those opposed to any change. When a student is of the high caliber of Mr. Ouspensky, the struggle becomes truly mythic.
Mr. Patterson also looks at the roles played by A. R. Orage and J. G. Bennett. They too were men, and students, of high caliber who offered great potential for stepping down and transmitting the teaching.
I found the historical presentation to be very interesting; the exegesis of the struggle to be illuminating, thought provoking, and moving.
549424
As one who never quite made it to Bible College, I am not crazy about commentaries designed to shed further light on various books of the Old and New Testaments. Most of them are written by theologians with a string of degrees and an understanding of Hebrew and Greek, and Ive no doubt many of them make a worthy contribution to the spread of Christian knowledge. But Simon Ponsonbys God is for Us, a brilliant commentary on the Book of Romans, is a great read, quite apart from offering a revolutionary insight into gospel truth from the greatest of apostles, St Paul. Crucial among Simons discoveries is a key to understanding why Israel is so important to God as Paul spends much of this, his longest epistle, explaining how God is not finished with the Jews just because many of them made the mistake of rejecting their Messiah at his first coming, but that he has wonderful plans for them still and that they are sure to welcome him when he comes for a second time. The book is helpfully split into 52 easily digestible chapters, making it ideal for year-round home group study.
3699018
The work by Dr Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg is a scholarly work designed for all those who seek to know more about the Gospels in particular and the Biblical stories of the Children of Israel and their relationship with the Christian community as told by the author of Johns Gospel. As one who has a deep love of Israel and the heritage gained as a Christian through study of our related Jewish beginnings, I have found that Elis book has helped me tremendously in my further understanding of this Scripture.

I found it fascinating the way in which Eli used sources from many early writings to support his study. For example: Parallels from the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls within Johns gospel. The Book of Enoch. The distinction he has made between the Judean and Jewish people. The explanation he has made of the relationship between Judean, Jews, Samaritans and Christians. As a simple example, as Eli has drawn a word picture of the Judean/Samaritan animosities, I have been better able to understand the animosities between the Sunni and Shia Muslims. His use of the expression Samaritan Israelites is revealing. This is a book I will certainly be recommending to my friends.

John Rawson
4438422
Ben Witherington is one of the most prolific New Testament scholars writing today, and he brings a great volume of learning to the texts. In this book, a "socio-rhetorical" commentary, he takes a careful look at Paul's letter to the Romans, paying special attention to the social setting of Paul and his readers, and also analyzing carefully Paul's rhetorical structure and flow. These two emphases make this book a bit different than many commentaries, in that they bring out these two facets of the text, but I think this makes his book the stronger for it. This well-written commentary does justice to this very important and theological letter, discussing the many important issues of interpretation, all the while keeping Paul's "rhetorical strategy" in view. This helps, in my estimation, to help keep sight of the forest among the trees, by placing particular verses and passages within the larger narrative flow, to help see the relations between the passages and their role in supporting his main argument or countering possible objections. This, in turn, helps keep Paul's main idea always in view.

Witherington, with the help of doctoral student Darlene Hyatt, also adds "Bridging the Horizons" sections that illumine applications of texts and themes to our modern day, a very helpful addition. It is certainly not a comprehensive "application" section, but it demonstrates one possible direction one could go when looking at a particular text, and some of them prove quite insightful.

Overall, I think this is a great book on Romans. Witherington's Methodist leanings certainly show through, as do any commentators, but I think this provides a refreshing, non-Reformed and non-Lutheran take on this letter that is still very balanced and seems to take into account Paul's major points with ease. While not the only book one could or should read on Romans (I'm sure there is no such thing), this book is a worthy addition to a library and makes for very good reading.
1567250
I have greatly enjoyed this study of the opening book of the Bible.  The approach these authors have taken makes for very enriching study.  My only caution is that I have tried to proceed through the study using my iPad but the extensive opportunities to answer self-study questions are a bit cumbersome in the tablet format - at least in my experience.  Also, I suggest reading through this study in conjunction with listening to the sermon series on Genesis which can be found on the web site of the United Christian Church in Dubai; John Folmar's sermons have greatly enhanced my study (www.uccdubai.com).
218950
Gary Burge has done something quite interesting, and quite difficult.  He has helped make what are often well-known, well-studied, and over-analyzed parables into something new for readers.  He isn't doing this by complicated word study or text analysis or any kind of alienating exegesis.  Instead, he writes in the way the parables were given to the original audience.  He invites the reader to join him in the stories.

We read the parables of Jesus and we bring to them our own experiences or culture or Sunday School training.  Our apparent over-familiarity leads us to move quickly over these very important teaching tools, or ignore them all together because we think we've gotten the point. And maybe we have, for the most part.  But, we don't hear them like the original listeners did, and Jesus taught how he did because of the particular culture and issues of his time and place.

Burge illuminates a selection of parables by helping us see each aspect as the people of Jesus' day would have seen them.  This isn't by complicated academic language, rather Burge is an extremely understandable and approachable writer. He draws on an immense amount of knowledge concerning the Biblical texts and the Middle Eastern cultures of the past and present. He has long been a favorite teacher of the Bible at Wheaton College, and his teaching skills which have made him popular there are in great evidence here.  He helps us to see better, hear better, listen better.

The book has seven chapters. The first is an overall introduction to the culture of Jesus. The next six each focus on a particular parable.

While this book is certainly written with a popular audience in mind, I think it would very interesting to people of all background and training. I'm a seminary graduate now seeking more advanced study and I found it wonderfully interesting.  The text is widely spaced and there are a lot of color pictures throughout that help illustrate the particular topics being discussed.

This is a great book to read as a devotional, a great book for small groups to read together and discuss, or a great book for anyone hoping for a sharper understanding of what Jesus was getting at, and what he meant in his stories.

At the beginning we are told this is the first of a new series on Ancient Context, Ancient Faith.  It would be absolutely amazing if the following books were as good as this one.