Stories of rape, murder, adultery, and conquest raise crucial issues in the Hebrew Bible, and their interpretation helps societies form their religious and moral beliefs. From the sacrifice of Isaac to the adultery of David, narratives of sin engender vivid analysis and debate, powering the myths that form the basis of the religious covenant, or the relationship between a people and their God.Rereading these stories in their different forms and varying contexts, Alan F. Segal demon...

A magisterial work of social history, Life After Death illuminates the many different ways ancient civilizations grappled with the question of what exactly happens to us after we die.In a masterful exploration of how Western civilizations have defined the afterlife, Alan F. Segal weaves together biblical and literary scholarship, sociology, history, and philosophy. A renowned scholar, Segal examines the maps of the afterlife found in Western religious texts and reveals not...

Enlightment came through my death. I have proof of being out of my body (Chapter 6), and my life changed a lot after my death.Before my death, I was a star athlete with a very high I.Q. and was motivated by everything physical. I only dated girls who were very attractive only on the outside. I had a moment of clarity when I was dead; a moment that I will forever remember.I was living my life all wrong!This book is a self-help manua...

**The #1 New York Times bestselling account of a neurosurgeon's own near-death experience—**for readers of 7 Lessons from Heaven.Thousands of people have had near-death experiences, but scientists have argued that they are impossible. Dr. Eben Alexander was one of those scientists. A highly trained neurosurgeon, Alexander knew that NDEs feel real, but are simply fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress.Then, Dr. A...

The National Book Award–winning author of Hell of a Book shares "a breathtaking novel that navigates emotional minefields with realism and grace" ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review).Harold and Lucille Hargrave's eight-year-old son, Jacob, died tragically in 1966. In their old age they've settled comfortably into life without him. . . . Until one day Jacob mysteriously appears on their doorstep—flesh and blood, still eight years old.All over th...

Eminent biblical scholar Michael D. Coogan offers here a wide-ranging and stimulating exploration of the Old Testament, illuminating its importance as history, literature, and sacred text. Coogan explains the differences between the Bible of Jewish tradition (the "Hebrew Bible") and the Old Testament of Christianity, and also examines the different contents of the Bibles used by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, and Protestants. He looks at the rise of modern biblical scholarsh...

Are Christians Guilty of Blind Faith, or Is The Bible Really God's Inspired Word?Can You Ever Know For Sure?Join best-selling author Hank Hanegraaff for a stirring defense of the Bible as the Word of God and your only reliable foundation for life. In answering the riveting question, “Has God spoken?”, Hanegraaff uses manuscript evidence, archeology, predictive prophecy, and much more to memorably demonstrate that the Bible is divine rather ...

This collection makes Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ brilliant essays on the weekly Torah portion available in book form for the first time. Rabbi Sacks fuses Jewish tradition, Western philosophy and literature to present a highly developed understanding of the human condition under God’s sovereignty. This second volume in the five-volume series includes several concise essays for each parasha of Exodus.

In Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, top-selling author and Anglican bishop, N.T. Wright tackles the biblical foundations of Christian hope and shows how most Christians get it wrong. We do not “go to” heaven; we are resurrected and heaven comes down to earth—a difference that makes all of the difference to how we live on earth as part of the mission of the Church.Following N.T. Wright’s resonant explora...

For centuries, faithful followers of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism have looked to their holy texts for spiritual guidance, social and political mandates, and answers to man's burning questions about the workings of the universe. But what if these believers have been overlooking the most important message in their Scriptures?In THE EVOLUTION OF GOD, bestselling author Robert Wright finds a kind of 'hidden code' in the Bible and the Koran. Read closely, he says, these texts reveal ...

The Old Testament is more than a religious history of the nation of Israel. It is more than a portrait gallery of heroes of the faith. It is even more than a theological and prophetic backdrop to the New Testament. Beyond these, the Old Testament is inspired revelation of the very nature, character, and works of God. As renowned Old Testament scholar Bruce Waltke writes in the preface of this book, the Old Testament’s every sentence is “fraught with theology, worthy of reflection.” This bo...

Conflict about the Bible is one of the most divisive issues for Christians today.For millions, an unquestioning, literal interpretation has become a stumbling block to faith, not a foundation for it. How can we move beyond biblical literalism to find a more authentic way to engage with sacred scripture?Leading figure in biblical scholarship Marcus J. Borg offers a liberating new path. This insightful guide introduces a historical-metaphorical approach, prov...