"This is a collection of the church's most important contemporary documents on the scriptures. This book gathers together church teachings to guide our reflection on the nature of the scriptures, their interpretation and their application to our times. [from back cover]

Codex Sinaiticus is one of the world's most remarkable books. Written in Greek in the fourth century, it is the oldest surviving complete New Testament, and one of the two oldest manuscripts of the whole Bible. No other early manuscript of the Christian Bible has been so extensively corrected, and the significance of Codex Sinaiticus for the reconstruction of the Christian Bible's original text, the history of the Bible and the history of western book making is immense. Since 2002, a major international project has been creating an electronic version of the manuscript. This magnificent printed facsimile reunites the text, now divided between the British Library, the National Library of Russia, St Catherine's Monastery, Mt Sinai and Leipzig University Library.

In this groundbreaking work that sets apart fact and legend, authors Finkelstein and Silberman use significant archeological discoveries to provide historical information about biblical Israel and its neighbors. In this iconoclastic and provocative work, leading scholars Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman draw on recent archaeological research to present a dramatically revised portrait of ancient Israel and its neighbors. They argue that crucial evidence (or a telling lack of evidence) at digs in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon suggests that many of the most famous stories in the Bible—the wanderings of the patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, and David and Solomon’s vast empire—reflect the world of the later authors rather than actual historical facts. Challenging the fundamentalist readings of the scriptures and marshaling the latest archaeological evidence to support its new vision of ancient Israel, The Bible Unearthed offers a fascinating and controversial perspective on when and why the Bible was written and why it possesses such great spiritual and emotional power today.

Surprisingly, all 5 billion Bibles translated in whole or in part into nearly 3,000 languages sprang from Black African manuscripts. The oldest Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts, the oldest Greek New Testament manuscripts, and the oldest Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament (called the Septuagint), are all African documents. After 25 years of preparation, Firpo Carr is releasing the latest in his string of books. He is the only one who could have written it with such ferocity. A number of fragments among the world famous Dead Sea Scrolls are African documents. In fact, the oldest document among the Dead Sea Scrolls is an African manuscript. Carr brings a unique perspective since he personally worked extensively with Prof. Dr. John C. Trever, the late Bible scholar who was the first Westerner to discover the Dead Sea Scrolls and announce their existence to the world. Only a handful of scholars around the world were exposed to what was at the time the 2,000-year-old unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls. Carr was not only one of these, but was the only Black man to have done so. As a Man of Color, he was able to see through a set of lenses different from those of his colleagues. He was accorded the privilege of being in the "inner circle" since he was the first person ever to take color photographs of the oldest most complete version of the Hebrew Old Testament in the form of the 1,000-year-old Codex Leningrad B19a, located at the time in the Soviet Union, now Russian Federation. His daring adventures there made international news. Showing the influence of Black African rulers in the Hebrew Old Testament in the present book, the title "Pharaoh" is mentioned approximately 271 times in the first half of the Bible. Five pharaohs are mentioned by name, while eight remain anonymous. This book discusses an African Greek New Testament manuscript that was initially deemed the oldest of its kind until it was "re-dated" so as to lose that distinction. It was also first recognized as the best and most important manuscript in its genre. Scholars with questionable motives have even argued that the impressive Greek New Testament African manuscript is from anywhere but Africa, even though it is fabulously known as the Codex Alexandrinus, named after the Egyptian city of Alexandria from which it came. Amazingly, the Greek New Testament was "officially" cataloged in Africa in the fourth century CE. However, in the early centuries after Christ's death, distinguished African-born Christian historians, writers, and theologians like Origen, Athanasius (who was derisively called a "black dwarf"), and St. Augustine confirmed that the 27 books of the Greek New Testament had already been assembled and collectively recognized by the first-century Christian community at large. Not knowing the above details as presented in this publication by a Black man who was in the "inner circle," some see the Bible as "the White man's book." While the oppressive White European Catholic Church, which sponsored the horrors of the Inquisition and engaged in other unconscionable acts, endeavored to prevent the Bible from being translated into the language of the common people, a handful of brave White European "revolutionary" translators like John Wycliffe, William Tyndale, and Martin Luther confronted the Church head-on and dared to translate the Bible in such a way that even a 'plow boy' could read it. Rome responded with a vengeance by hunting some of these down and burning them alive at the stake. These godly, honorable men are descriptively called "Snowballs in Hell" in the third section of this book. And what of the Black Christians who were contemporaries of the Bible translating martyrs? These and other long-overlooked and forgotten persons of African descent--peppering all strata of European society--are discussed in detail in this unparalleled piece of literature, "Black Bible Manuscripts: Why the Bible Isn't the White Man's Book.

Everything you need to effectively defend the truths of the Bible and the beliefs of the Christian faith. Winner of the 2018 ECPA Christian Book award for Bible Reference Works. The truth of the Bible doesn't change, but its critics do. Now with his son, Sean McDowell, speaker and author Josh McDowell has updated and expanded the modern apologetics classic for a new generation. Evidence That Demands a Verdict provides an expansive defense of Christianity's core truths, rebuttals to some recent and popular forms of skepticism, and insightful responses to the Bible's most difficult and misused passages. It invites readers to bring their doubts and doesn't shy away from the tough questions. Topics and questions are covered in four main parts: Evidence for the Bible Evidence for Jesus Evidence for the Old Testament Evidence for Truth Also included, you'll find: An introduction about the biblical mandate to defend one's faith and why our faith is built on facts. A prologue describing why we live in a theistic universe. A closing response to the specific challenges of atheist New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman. Two reflections: "How to Know God Personally" and "He Changed My Life." Serving as a go-to reference for even the toughest questions, Evidence that Demands a Verdict continues to encourage and strengthen millions by providing Christians the answers they need to defend their faith against the harshest critics and skeptics. "Here's a treasure trove of apologetic gems! This is an indispensable book that all Christians should keep within reach." —Lee Strobel, bestselling author of The Case for Christ

Superb documentation. Painstaking accuracy. That's what makes this work an invaluable reference for serious Bible students. Contains the text of all the earliest New Testament Greek manuscripts that have been found to date. Readers will also appreciate the sample photographs accompanying most of these 68 transcriptions. Intended for scholars and students who are interested in the original text of the Greek New Testament. This is an accessible and accurate collection, invaluable in determining the original text of the New Testament.