The Bible, a religious text, is also often said to be one of the foundation texts of Western culture. The present volume explores how religious, political and cultural identities, including ethnicity and gender, are embodied, often problematically, in biblical discourse. Following the authors, we read the Bible with new eyes: as a critic of gender, ideology, politics, and culture. We ask ourselves new questions: about God's body, about women's roles, about racial prejudices and about the politics of the written word.

The Bible is often said to be one of the foundation texts of Western culture. The present volume shows that it goes far beyond being a religious text. The essays explore how religious, political and cultural identities, including ethnicity and gender, are embodied in biblical discourse. Following the authors, we read the Bible with new eyes: as a critic of gender, ideology, politics and culture. We ask ourselves new questions: about God's body, about women's role, about racial prejudices and about the politics of the written word. Reading Bibles, Writing Bodies crosses boundaries. It questions our most fundamental assumptions about the Bible. It shows how biblical studies can benefit from the mainstream of Western intellectual discourse, throwing up entirely new questions and offering surprising answers. Accessible, engaging and moving easily between theory and the reading of specific texts, this volume is an exciting contribution to contemporary biblical and cultural studies.

No other time-honored spiritual practice is as immediate, raw, and engaged with Scripture as writing--responding to God--in the margins of the Bible. Composers like Bach to theologians like Barth, botanists and saints--all have written their thoughts directly in their Bibles. In doing so they engaged their fullest selves with our most significant text. Some people have lived with Scripture all their lives and yet feel estranged from it. This book inspires a new encounter with “the living Word”--and jump-starts a deep, creative, and hands-on approach to reading Scripture. As you sit, with pencil, pen, crayon, or marker in hand and Bible in lap, at whatever edges of life you are living within, now that invitation is yours. The creative practice of writing in the margins creates a divine conversation that transforms and guides. Meet God in the margins. Let God shape your character from the living interaction on the pages of your Bible. Writing in the Margins is a book about making connections on the pages of your Bible--and introduces a devotional and scriptural path of engagement that is life-changing.

The Book of Hiding offers a fluent and erudite analysis of the parallels between the Bible and contemporary discussions of gender, ethnicity and social ambiguity. Beal focuses particularly on the traditionally marginalised book of Esther, in order to examine closely the categories of self and other in relation to religion, sexism, nationalism, and the ever-looming legacies and future possibilities of annihilation. Beal applies the critical tools of contemporary theorists, such as Cixous, Irigaray and Levinas, challenging widely held assumptions about the moral and life-affirming message of Scripture and even about the presence of God in the book of Esther. The Book of Hiding draws together a variety of different perspectives and disciplines, creating a unique space for dialogue raising new questions and reconsidering old assumptions, which is profoundly interesting and well-articulated.

Explore the writings of the New Testament using the story of Jesus as the starting point. This survey of the testament looks at how the early church took ownership of and was shaped by the story of Jesus and how the church learned how to develop as disciples and create communities of faith. Participants find a deeper conversation with the writers of the New Testament and a renewal of our commitment to be shaped — personally and communally — by the story of Jesus. The study is accessible for adults with little prior Bible experience. In the weekly video segments, listen as scholars fascinate you with facts and information that opens new understanding and enlightenment for your group. In the second video, sit in on a table conversation between guest scholars and debate key issues in the text. Participants gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the New Testament as an integral part of the Christian Bible and a renewed discovery of our identity in God and God's vision for all things. This eight-week study includes a participant book outlining daily reading assignments for group preparations, a leader guide suggesting discussion activities for use in the 60–90-minute weekly meeting, and a video component providing interpretation and context for the biblical texts. Sessions: Jesus Calls Us Into God's Redemption Story Jesus Calls Us to a Transformed Life Jesus Calls Us to Minister to a Hostile World Jesus Calls Us to Complex Communities of Faith Jesus Calls Us to Serve One Another Jesus Calls Us to a New Relationship With Tradition Jesus Calls Us to Live in Light of His Coming Again Jesus Calls Us to Experience the Gifts of His Dying and Rising

bible reading log Bible Study Here is a "your plan, your pace" Bible reading log. keep up with your ingestion of God's Word! Size 6 inches by 9 inches 100 page

As in the widely popular First Edition, Gabel and Wheeler approach the Bible from a literary/historical perspective and study the work as a body of writing produced by real people who intended to convey messages to a real audience. Avoiding assessments of the Bible's truth or authority, the book maintains a rigorously objective tone as it discusses such major issues as the forms and strategies of biblical writing, the actual historical and physical settings of that writing, the process of canon formation, the sources of the Pentateuch, and the nature of such literary biblical genres as prophecy, apocalypse, and gospel. Each chapter is an independent yet related essay, and the Second Edition adds an entirely new section on writing in Biblical times. In addition, the reading lists that follow the chapters have been completely updated to reflect the most recent scholarship. The result is an easy-to-use, exciting presentation of the art of the Bible that is accessible to readers of all kinds.