Ponder: Contemplative Bible Study accompanies all hearers and preachers of the Word as they pray with and ponder the Sunday readings throughout the liturgical year. Everything needed for a rich experience of lectio divina and biblical exploration is provided: the full text of the Sunday readings, concise commentary, engaging reflections, and clear guidance on how to use this resource alone or with a group. This volume guides readers through the Year A lectionary.

The book of Proverbs is a cornucopia of practical wisdom on a variety of topics. The insights and truths covered in this book of ancient Hebrew Wisdom literature run the gamut including the nature of true wisdom and understanding, vices and virtues, relationships and roles, priorities, planning for the future, how to communicate, and how to manage one's resources.In recent decades, the book of Proverbs has increasingly become the focus of attention for Christians who wish to live lives more in tune with God's principles. In particular, Christian thinkers have begun to correlate biblical principles with the study of effective leadership. Yost examines the subject of godly leadership by using the book of Proverbs as his springboard. This is a scholarly, yet deeply devotional, study of the leader's priorities, the leader's plans, and the leader's speech. Once you have read this book, you will never look at the book of Proverbs or the subject of leadership the same way again.

This is a book of essays pondering the meanings of the Bible, Christianity, and various related subjects. These essays were written during the period from November 2003 through June 2009 and posted to forums and blogs on the Internet. The essays were written because of a felt need to answer questions about the Christian message for myself and others. Sometimes irreverent, the essays cover a variety of topics but always with the intent to inform and entertain the reader without getting too involved with specific denominational viewpoints.

Rebecca Parker was a young minister in Seattle when a woman walked into her church and asked if God really wanted her to accept her husband's beatings and bear them gladly, as Jesus bore the cross. Parker knew, at that moment, that if she were to answer the woman's question truthfully she would have to rethink her theology. And she would have to think hard about some of the choices she was making in her own life. When Rita Nakashima Brock was a young child growing up in Kansas, kids taunted her viciously, calling her names like "Chink" or "Jap." She learned to pretend that she did not feel the sting of scorn and the humiliation of contempt. The solitude and silence of her suffering-decreed by both her mother's Japanese culture and her father's Christian heritage-kept the wound alive. It was the gap between knowledge born of personal experience and traditional theology that led Rita Brock and Rebecca Parker to write this emotionally gripping and intellectually rich exploration of the doctrine of the atonement. Using an unusual combination of memoir and theology in the tradition of Augustine's Confessions, they lament the inadequacy of how Christian tradition has interpreted the violence that happened to Jesus. Ultimately, they argue, the idea that the death of Jesus on the cross saves us reveals a sanctioning of violence at the heart of Christianity. Brock and Parker draw on a wide array of intimate stories about family violence, the sexual abuse of children, racism, homophobia, and war to reveal how they came to understand the widespread damage being done by this theology. But the authors also undertake their own arduous and unexpected journeys to recover from violence and to assist others to do so. On these journeys they discover communities that begin to give them the strength to question the destructive ideas they have internalized, and the strength to seek out an alternative vision of Christianity, one based on healing and love. Proverbs of Ashes is both a condemnation of bad theology and a passionate search for what truly saves us.

"Where there is no vision, the people perish." In this perceptive commentary familiar sayings from the book of Proverbs, such as this one, are seen in a new light. Kenneth T. Aitken deepens our understanding of the collection of popular sayings and folk wisdom of ancient Israel. Carrying forward brilliantly the pattern established by Barclay's New Testament series, the Daily Study Bible has been extended to cover the entire Old Testament as well. Invaluable for individual devotional study, for group discussion, and for classroom use, the Daily Study Bible provides a useful, reliable, and eminently readable way to discover what the Scriptures were saying then and what God is saying today.

Proverbs: Wisdom for Living looks at portions of the book of Proverbs and helps readers apply that wisdom to their lives today. Proverbs' wisdom is made accessible to all in this highly practical Bible study book about making smart decisions in all areas of life. A Guided Discovery of the Bible The Bible invites us to explore God s word and reflect on how we might respond to it. To do this, we need guidance and the right tools for discovery. The Six Weeks with the Bible series of Bible discussion guides offers both in a concise six-week format. Whether focusing on a specific biblical book or exploring a theme that runs throughout the Bible, these practical guides in this series provide meaningful insights that explain Scripture while helping readers make connections to their own lives. Each guide is faithful to Church teaching and is guided by sound biblical scholarship presents the insights of Church fathers and saints includes questions for discussion and reflection delivers information in a reader-friendly format gives suggestions for prayer that help readers respond to God s word appeals to beginners as well as to advanced students of the Bible By reading Scripture, reflecting on its deeper meanings, and incorporating it into our daily life, we can grow not only in our understanding of God s word, but also in our relationship with God."