Allen's study of the Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah constitute a volume in The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Like its companion series on the New Testament, this commentary devotes considerable care to achieving a balance between technical information and homiletic-devotional interpretation.

No other reference gets to the heart of the Old Testament as efficiently as The Holman Old Testament Commentary. When you've got the time, this series offers a detailed interpretation based on the popular NIV text. When time is short, this series delivers an essential understanding of the Old Testament with unsurpassed clarity and convenience. Pastors, lay Bible teachers and others who find their subject material rich and challenging - but their preparation time running out - will be informed and inspired by this approach to Old Testament scholarship which includes: The main idea - a brief yet accurate statement about the purpose, meaning, and importance of the Bible book under discussion, Quick quotes - comments from noted writers and theologians suitable for citing in your own presentation, Succinct summaries - each main theme or lesson summarized clearly and accurately, Details - illustrations, historical facts, grammatical notations, discussion points, teaching plans, and more. Make every minute of prep time more meaningful with The Holman Old Testament Commentary. Book jacket.

Although scholars have long studied how Muslims authenticated and transmitted Muhammad’s sayings and practices (hadith), the story of how they interpreted and reinterpreted the meanings of hadith over the past millennium has yet to be told. Joel Blecher takes up this charge, illuminating the rich social and intellectual history of hadith commentary at three critical moments: classical Andalusia, medieval Egypt, and modern India. Weaving together tales of public debates, high court rivalries, and colonial politics with analyses of contemporary field notes and fine-grained arguments adorning the margins of manuscripts, Said the Prophet of God offers new avenues for the study of religion, history, anthropology, and law.

Often called "minor prophets," these first great classical prophets spoke to issues that dominated their times--love, redemption, fidelity, renewal, authority, justice, righteousness, and inclusivity--and that continue to have great relevance today. Books in the Westminster Bible Companion series assist laity in their study of the Bible as a guide to Christian faith and practice. Each volume explains the biblical book in its original historical context and explores its significance for faithful living today. These books are ideal for individual study and for Bible study classes and groups.

An analysis that challenges the conventional Christian hierarchy of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth While the Christian tradition has subordinated John the Baptist to Jesus of Nazareth, John himself would likely have disagreed with that ranking. In this eye-opening new book, John the Baptist in History and Theology, Joel Marcus makes a powerful case that John saw himself, not Jesus, as the proclaimer and initiator of the kingdom of God and his own ministry as the center of God's saving action in history. Although the Fourth Gospel has the Baptist saying, "He must increase, but I must decrease," Marcus contends that this and other biblical and extrabiblical evidence reveal a continuing competition between the two men that early Christians sought to muffle. Like Jesus, John was an apocalyptic prophet who looked forward to the imminent end of the world and the establishment of God's rule on earth. Originally a member of the Dead Sea Sect, an apocalyptic community within Judaism, John broke with the group over his growing conviction that he himself was Elijah, the end-time prophet who would inaugurate God's kingdom on earth. Through his ministry of baptism, he ushered all who came to him—Jews and non-Jews alike—into this dawning new age. Jesus began his career as a follower of the Baptist, but, like other successor figures in religious history, he parted ways from his predecessor as he became convinced of his own centrality in God's purposes. Meanwhile John's mass following and apocalyptic message became political threats to Herod Antipas, who had John executed to abort any revolutionary movement. Based on close critical-historical readings of early texts—including the accounts of John in the Gospels and in Josephus's Antiquities—as well as parallels from later religious movements, John the Baptist in History and Theology situates the Baptist within Second Temple Judaism and compares him to other apocalyptic thinkers from ancient and modern times. It concludes with thoughtful reflections on how its revisionist interpretations might be incorporated into the Christian faith.

"This Handbook is primarily an exegetical summary on the books of Hosea and Joel, with suggestions on how translators of these books may overcome linguistic and semantic problems of equivalence"--

There is much to be said for men and women who courageously evangelize on college campuses, in prisons, and near shopping centers. After all, the Bible indicates that disciples are primarily made by going out to meet lost people where they are. But make no mistake about it: if you're a parent, The Great Commission has come to you-in a bassinet, a booster seat, or a bunk-bed. While other parenting philosophies rely on "what seems to work" (i.e. pragmatism), "what we've always done" (i.e. traditionalism), or "what's right for us" (i.e. relativism), a better perspective is founded upon a biblical approach: teaching the full counsel of God and allowing Scripture to do its work in a child's heart. How do we accomplish this? We must examine the Bible's instructions for pastors, and then apply those principles in the home. In other words, just as the preacher must be committed to expository preaching, so too must the parent be committed to expository parenting.