"A masterpiece of contemporary Bible translation and commentary."—Los Angeles Times Book Review, Best Books of 1999 Acclaimed for its masterful new translation and insightful commentary, The David Story is a fresh, vivid rendition of one of the great works in Western literature. Robert Alter's brilliant translation gives us David, the beautiful, musical hero who slays Goliath and, through his struggles with Saul, advances to the kingship of Israel. But this David is also fully human: an ambitious, calculating man who navigates his life's course with a flawed moral vision. The consequences for him, his family, and his nation are tragic and bloody. Historical personage and full-blooded imagining, David is the creation of a literary artist comparable to the Shakespeare of the history plays.

Dancing For Him is a helpful handbook about dancing for the Lord during praise and worship, ministry, and gospel presentations. Written from a dance team leader's perspective, the topics include:Dance During Praise SongsDance During WorshipTeam UnityMinistering LoveMinistering DeliveranceMinistering PropheticallyPerformance Vs. MinistryChoreography TipsSuccessful RehearsalsOld and New Testament words relating to praise through movement (along with the associated scriptures)It contains great testimonies, and is wonderful for someone just starting a dance team, as well as for one more experienced.People have said, "I wish I had this book before starting in dance ministry. It certainly would have helped."Also, many dance leaders order one copy for each member of their team, so they may have weekly studies.

The Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible encourages readers to explore how the vital roots of the ancient Christian tradition should inform and shape faithfulness today. In this addition to the series, highly acclaimed author, speaker, and theologian Robert Barron offers a theological exegesis of 2 Samuel. He highlights three major themes: God's non-competitive transcendence, the play between divine and non-divine causality, and the role of Old Testament kingship. As with other volumes in the series, this book is ideal for those called to ministry, serving as a rich resource for preachers, teachers, students, and study groups.

From celebrated translator of the Hebrew Bible Robert Alter, the "groundbreaking" (Los Angeles Times) book that explores the Bible as literature, a winner of the National Jewish Book Award. Renowned critic and translator Robert Alter's The Art of Biblical Narrative has radically expanded our view of the Bible by recasting it as a work of literary art deserving studied criticism. In this seminal work, Alter describes how the Hebrew Bible's many authors used innovative literary styles and devices such as parallelism, contrastive dialogue, and narrative tempo to tell one of the most revolutionary stories of all time: the revelation of a single God. In so doing, Alter shows, these writers reshaped not only history, but also the art of storytelling itself.

David's remarkable life, insights, and achievements inspire us today. David's story is compelling, exciting -- with "chance" encounters, narrow escapes, beautiful women, and a warrior who carves out an empire. David is a singer-songwriter, whose body of work is revered by millions of fans three thousand years after his death. His character encourages us, his weaknesses speak to us, his faith moves us. He is the king of Israel's Golden Age and points us to his great descendant, the Son of David, Jesus Christ the Lord. This book is designed to aid your study of David's life, with a special emphasis on what we can learn as Jesus' disciples today. Twenty maps and charts help you understand his family, as well as the geography of his sojourns, escapes, battles, and conquests. The historical background and geopolitical context will help you to appreciate David in his own world and grasp his internal complexity. Classes and small groups will find this a helpful curriculum guide to their study of 1 and 2 Samuel, with links to free participant handouts as well as thorough preparation for the leader. Thought-provoking questions will stimulate many insightful discussions. Preachers and teachers will find a great deal of their research done for them. Lessons are heavily footnoted for those who want to dig deeper, but are optional for the general student. According to Paul, "David ... served God's purpose in his own generation." Your understanding of David's life and faith will help you to live out God's plan for you in your own generation.

The Life Of David is a message of meditation based on the Bible and written by Arthur Walkington Pink was born in Nottingham, England, to a corn merchant, a devout non-conformist of uncertain denomination, though probably a Congregationalist. Otherwise, almost nothing is known of Pink's childhood or education except that he had some ability and training in music. As a young man, Pink joined the Theosophical Society and apparently rose to enough prominence within its ranks that Annie Besant, its head, offered to admit him to its leadership circle. In 1908 he renounced Theosophy for evangelical Christianity. Desiring to become a minister but unwilling to attend a liberal theological college in England, Pink very briefly studied at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago in 1910 before taking the pastorate of the Congregational church in Silverton, Colorado. In 1912 Pink left Silverton, probably for California, and then took a joint pastorate of churches in rural Burkesville and Albany, Kentucky. In 1916, he married Vera E. Russell (1893–1962), who had been reared in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Pink's next pastorate seems to have been in Scottsville. Then the newlyweds moved in 1917 to Spartanburg, South Carolina, where Pink became pastor of Northside Baptist Church. By this time Pink had become acquainted with prominent dispensationalist Fundamentalists, such as Harry Ironside and Arno C. Gaebelein, and his first two books, published in 1917 and 1918, were in agreement with that theological position. Yet Pink's views were changing, and during these years he also wrote the first edition of The Sovereignty of God (1918), which argued that God did not love sinners and had deliberately created "unto damnation" those who would not accept Christ. Whether because of his Calvinistic views, his nearly incredible studiousness, his weakened health, or his lack of sociability, Pink left Spartanburg in 1919 believing that God would "have me give myself to writing." But Pink then seems next to have taught the Bible with some success in California for a tent evangelist named Thompson while continuing his intense study of Puritan writings.