Reference Books - Page 17

Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity

Nancy Pearcey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 79 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

“This book continues the Schaeffer-inspired project that Nancy Pearcey and Chuck Colson began in How Now Shall We Live?—awakening evangelical Christians to the need for a Christian ‘worldview,’ which Pearcey defines as ‘a biblically informed perspective on all reality.’ This is the rare long book that leaves one wanting to read more.”
—Publishers Weekly

“On one level, this book is a lucid, easy-to-understand manual for worldview thinking. But it also breaks new ground in worldview analysis.”
—World Magazine

“Pearcey is an outstanding writer with the ability not only to express deep thoughts in a very readable way, but one who also understands a biblically reformed world and life view. If you buy only one book this year, this would be at the top of the list.”
—Equip for Ministry

“Pearcey helps readers see how many modern Christians unwittingly accept a sacred/secular split, which allows them to relegate faith to the private sphere of life. She then clearly puts forth a Scriptural picture of integrating all of life under the liberating Lordship of Christ and shows what that truth means for the areas of public policy, family life, science, business, law, education, and more.”
—Covenant Magazine

“Total Truth questions the modern American cultural attitude of keeping religion a private matter, claiming that Christianity’s truth is best served by being brought into the public sphere to maximize its influence.”
—Midwest Book Review

“Thoroughly researched, well-written and well-argued, Total Truth will prove to be a useful and easily accessible guidebook for many who seek to develop a comprehensive biblical worldview that affects not only beliefs but actions.”
—CaliforniaRepublic.org

How can you liberate Christianity from its cultural captivity? In this superbly crafted cultural analysis, a noted author passionately argues that Christianity is truth about all reality, not just religious truth, and that to keep it privatized is stripping it of the power to challenge and redeem the whole of culture.

The Greek New Testament With Greek-english Dictionary

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 59 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

While the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece is designed for scholarly research, the Greek New Testament, 4th Revised Edition is designed for translators and students.

Like NA27, this is the leading edition of the original text of the New Testament. It contains the same Greek text as NA27, differing only in some details of punctuation and paragraphing. The format of UBS4 is in several respects more user-friendly for students and translators than NA27. It has a more spacious appearance and a larger font. English sub-headings assist in navigating the text for those who may be less familiar with Greek. Old Testament quotations appear in easily recognizable bold font. Synoptic parallels are clearly listed under English headings.

The critical apparatus includes exegetically significant variants (fewer than NA27) but adds extensive manuscript evidence (more than NA27) for each variant, thereby offering in-depth instruction for students on how variants and the evidence for them work together.

An introduction in English is included and an optional Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament by Barclay Newman is available.

Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar

William D. Mounce

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 72 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Best Grammar I have seen 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is the best grammar I have used in my 18 years in the ministry. I have tutored Greek students on occasion and have found this grammar to be the best grammar available. The "inductive" approach is very easy to follow. I highly recommend this grammar as a primary to anyone reviewing their Greek (or secondary grammar to any student) who wants a clear overview of Koine Greek. I use it as part of my daily reading and study.
After learning Dr. Mounce's noun and verb rules for recognizing the "roots," I no longer need to memorize so many paradigms. Once I learned the morphology of the language, the large amount of memorization other grammars require is greatly reduced. This grammar is a must study (or review) for any preacher or teacher working in the New Testament Greek text.

Editorial Review:

The best-selling and most widely accepted New Testament Greek textbook has just gotten better. The author has made the book more user-friendly and offers options to professors, particularly enabling them to introduce Greek verbs earlier as well as offering some made-up sentences to challenge the students.

How Now Shall We Live?

Charles W. Colson, Nancy Pearcey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 90 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This important book explores a wide range of ethical and cultural issues. Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey show how the truth of Christianity can change the world. Internationally known author Charles Colson believes this to be the most significant book of his career. It carries a profound message needed by the church today and by individual Christians. The central theme is that faith in Jesus Christ is more than a private relationship with God; it’s a way of seeing, understanding, and changing the world. Christian faith brings with it basic ideas and beliefs that are the answers and counters to the world's philosophies. Christians often feel a loss of confidence in the face of secular philosophy as expressed in the culture of our age. The claims of scientists, New Age beliefs, shifting morality and so on can confuse. The authors provide the tools to interpret and confront the false, bankrupt ideas of the world and to use the truth of Christianity to make a difference for good. They help their readers to evaluate their own lives and values. Colson and Pearcey offer the challenge -- How Now Shall We Live? This is a message for the church in the new millennium. Change in the world and in culture will not be achieved chiefly through political or social means, but by individual Christians knowing their faith and daring to be agents of God's grace.

The Bedtime Bible Story Book

Jesse L. Hurlbut

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 31 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Good daily stories 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I bought this to have short Biblical stories to read to my grand daughter at bedtime. This book is great and fits my purpose exactly.

Bible Story Book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

My daughter is 6x years old and looks forward to us reading a story to her every night. She really enjoys it. Each story takes just a couple of minutes to read, but they are interesting and my wife and I are learning a lot as well. Highly recommended

Melanie Kelley-ST Lewis "the read master" 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I am learning the Bible stories once again through the bedtime oportunites that I enjoy with my daughter using this book. Thanks!!! I gave this book a rating of "5" however, only a "4". can't figure out how to change this back.

Great Bedtime Book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Bought this for my children as their bedtime book and they love it. They love listening to the stories of the bible before going to bed.

This book is ok but may be for 8 year olds or older 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

No pictures for the young reader. Lots of stories to read each day though. Definitely recommend for older children aged 8 and above.

Editorial Review:

Parents and children will enjoy this story book that has 365 read-aloud stories from the Bible. And with over 100 illustrations, The Bedtime Bible Story Book makes reading time a delightful learning experience.

Handbook of Christian Apologetics: Hundreds of Answers to Crucial Questions

Peter Kreeft, Ronald K. Tacelli

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 75 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Buy. This. Book. 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

If I could force every one of my students to read one book (absurd start to a sentence, I know) it would be this one. While many do not appreciate Kreeft's matter of fact (and at times sarcastic) tone, it is more conversational and so more accessible. It is interesting to me that none of the critiques of the book actually respond to the substance but resort to name-calling (one called it "garbage"...really?). Kreeft is the single best Christian apologist living in the United States today and this is the single best refutation of the atheist-uberskeptical-materialist culture in which we live...a refutation which I have never once heard anyone answer or challenge. Dawkins, Hitchens, et al need to read this before they embarrass themselves and expose their own ignorance by writing more books "refuting" Christianity.

Bottom line, if you want to know why Christians believe what they believe , this book is a great start.

Editorial Review:

Sensible and concise, witty and wise, the authors offer compelling arguments for and defenses of every aspect of Christian belief, including faith and reason, God's nature, creation and evolution, providence and free will, miracles, the problem of evil, the Bible's historical reality, Christianity and other religions, and objective truths.

Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community (Re:Lit)

Tim Chester, Steve Timmis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Two pastors outline and apply a pair of overarching biblical principles that call the current body of Christ to a deep restructuring of its life and mission.

“Church is not a meeting you attend or a place you enter,” write pastors Tim Chester and Steve Timmis. “It’s an identity that is ours in Christ. An identity that shapes the whole of life so that life and mission become ‘total church.’” With that as their premise, they emphasize two overarching principles to govern the practice of church and mission: being gospel-centered and being community-centered. When these principles take precedence, say the authors, the truth of the Word is upheld, the mission of the gospel is carried out, and the priority of relationships is practiced in radical ways. The church becomes not just another commitment to juggle but a 24/7 lifestyle where programs, big events, and teaching from one person take a backseat to sharing lives, reaching out, and learning about God together.

In Total Church, Chester and Timmis first outline the biblical case for making gospel and community central and then apply this dual focus to evangelism, social involvement, church planting, world missions, discipleship, pastoral care, spirituality, theology, apologetics, youth and children’s work. As this insightful book calls the body of Christ to rethink its perspective and practice of church, it charts a middle path between the emerging church movement and conservative evangelicalism that all believers will find helpful.

Catholic Study Bible: New American Bible, No 4200

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 51 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Excellent 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

A wonderful study bible. In depth witout being so technical as to be inacessible to a lay person.The Catholic Study Bible

Is this really an update? 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I am not going to get into the discussion about the positive and negative features of the NAB, but rather focus on a couple things about this 2nd Edition of the Catholic Study Bible.

Two things stand out to me:
1) I really don't see the need in revising the older edition. To be honest, much of the material remains the same as in older versions. The textual notes, which come with all NAB's, is exactly the same. In addition, the inclusion of expanded reading guides and the terribly bland looking in-text maps seems to be hastly arranged.

2) I dislike the visual format of this edition. Personally, the original 1990 version of the Catholic Study Bible is much better. Does anyone else find the print too light? Also, the cross-referencing apparatus I think is not helpful, as well as the divide between the Sacred Text and the notes, which seems to similar.

While there are other study Bibles for Catholics in the process of being developed, like the Ignatius Study Bible, I am not sure this version is going to stand the test of time. I would rather use an older edition of The Catholic Study Bible or the much better HaperCollins Study Bible.

Editorial Review:

The Catholic Study Bible was designed for advanced students of the Scriptures by today's top Catholic scholars. A nearly 600-page Reading Guide is linked to the biblical text by means of marginal references to specific pages in the Guide. Other features include: reference articles on key issues of Bible study, a glossary of specialized terms, the complete Sunday and weekday lectionaries, full color New Oxford Bible Maps, and a 70-page, select NAB Concordance.

Grace for the Moment Daily Bible: Spend 365 Days reading the Bible with Max Lucado

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

excellent copy of book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The bible was an excellent copy, everything the seller said and more. I am enjoying reading it everyday.

Well worth the cost... 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I'd heard about Max Lucado from others who thought he was good...so having found this devotional for less than $4 & less than $8 with shipping... decided to see what all the fuss is all about.

His insights & stories are good & the layout is good.

Fresh start to each day 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I like this book because it gives me something to think about and apply everyday. Just what I need!

Easy to Rea 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The Max Lucado "Grace" Daily Bible is easy to read on a day to day basis. It takes about 15 minutes to read each day's reading. I was hoping for an added comment from Max that might be insightful, however, it's very typical of a daily Bible. Anyway, if you're looking for an easy to reading Bible this is it.

Editorial Review:

Spend a year reading the Bible with Max Lucado! In this Bible, Max Lucado will guide you through the Scripture day-by-day, with daily readings from the Old and New Testaments, Psalms, and Proverbs, plus a devotional insight.

The Future of an Illusion (Anchor Books)

Sigmund Freud

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Roger Schmeeckle Misrepresents Freud 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 13 people found this review helpful.

In his 27 Feb 2006 review of Freud's The Future of an Illusion, Roger Schmeeckle misrepresents Freud's explanation (on pages 38-42 of this Norton publication) between Illusion and Delusion.

Roger correctly identified Freud's concept of Delusion as "something that is believed that is not true" -- but then oversimplifies by stating that Freud said an Illusion is "something that may be true or false, but is believed because we want to believe it."

This oversimplification ignores what Freud goes on to say, "Illusions need not be necessarily false - that is to say unrealizable or in contradiction to reality. For instance, a middle-class girl may have the illusion that a prince will come and marry her. This is possible; and a few such cases have occurred. That the Messiah will come is much less likely. Whether one classifies this belief as illusion or something analogous to delusion will depend on one's personal attitude."

The point being, that while the "absolute" truth or falsity of an illusion is debatable - common sense and reason enable us to infer or deduce where the truth actually lies. For instance, it IS possible that the Sun will rise in the west tomorrow (as I am unable to prove something false which has yet to occur), but I would be a fool and utterly devoid of reason and intellect to presume that it will occur.

Roger then asserts that Freud was "not so much atheistic as irreligious." That Freud was irreligious is certain (what atheist wouldn't be) -- but I do not understand how anyone can read The Future of an Illusion and not easily conclude that the author was a confirmed atheist. The entire work is a testament to atheism. Accordingly, it is absurd to suggest that because Freud does not simply state "I do not believe in God" there is reason to infer that he may have believed in one.

Roger continues by arguing that Freud had a "bias" or "prejudice" against religion, whereby Freud's "wish" for there to be no God led him into his own Illusions of atheism. This is quite a stretch and a distortion of Freud's dissertation -- which has at its core the fundamental assertion of reason and the power of the intellect to overcome humankind's infantile and primitive need for "wish fulfillment" in the form of a protective and benevolent God.

And in a final shot, Roger accusing Freud of being a prisoner of his times -- a subject of "materialistic determinism" -- and for not having investigated or being familiar with "the evidence and reasoning of those who defend their own religious belief."

Yet, that Freud was all too familiar with and understanding of the nature and roots of religious beliefs is the hallmark of The Future of an Illusion. That he might have been a "materialistic determinist" is unknown to me -- but that he was a genius as well as great "Humanist" with a profound regard for and understanding of the Human Race seems clear.

Editorial Review:

Of the various English translations of Freud's major works to appear in his lifetime, only one was authorized by Freud himself: The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud under the general editorship of James Strachey. Freud approved the overall editorial plan, specific renderings of key words and phrases, and the addition of valuable notes, from bibliographical and explanatory. Many of the translations were done by Strachey himself; the rest were prepared under his supervision. The result was to place the Standard Edition in a position of unquestioned supremacy over all other existing versions.

Newly designed in a uniform format, each new paperback in the Standard Edition opens with a biographical essay on Freud's life and work—along with a note on the individual volume—by Peter Gay, Sterling Professor of History at Yale.