The History Book Club discussion

This is a thread which can be used to discuss the Bible, the history related to within the Bible, the events and the locations mentioned in the Bible as well as the people mentioned in the Bible itself.

This is an interesting article hypothesizing how the winds could have parted the Red Sea at the time of the Biblical Moses:

Computers show how wind could have parted Red Sea

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-env...

Source: BBC

Of course, we should add the Bible to this thread:

Anonymous

Brief Synopsis:

The Bible is the most important book in the history of Western civilization, and also the most difficult to interpret. It has been the vehicle of continual conflict, with every interpretation reflecting passionately-held views that have affected not merely religion, but politics, art, and even science. This unique edition offers an exciting new approach to the most influential of all English biblical texts - the Authorized King James Version, complete with the Apocrypha. Its wide-ranging Introduction and the substantial notes to each book of the Bible guide the reader through the labyrinth of literary, textual, and theological issues, using the most up-to-date scholarship to demonstrate how and why the Bible has affected the literature, art and general culture of the English-speaking world.

Robert Alter

Brief Synopsis:

The Five Books is an enduring source of literary and spiritual renewal. In its narrative we find the primal stories of the Creation and expulsion from the Garden of Eden. The intimacies of Genesis portray the tortuous relations between fathers and sons, husbands and wives. The grand historical narrative of Exodus and Numbers conveys a still-resonant drama of enslavement and liberation. Leviticus and Deuteronomy codify a culture and ensure its transmission over generations

Would it be appropriate to mention a book about the translation of the Bible? Several years ago I read Wide as the Waters: The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution It Inspired by Benson Bobrick. It was a truly amazing story, and well told.

Synopsis from the goodreads book page:
"Benson Bobrick's Wide as the Waters: The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution It Inspired is a brisk and gripping work of history, religion, and literary criticism. Translation of the King James Bible took centuries to complete, and Bobrick provides colorful descriptions of the distinctive contributions of various translators who took part in the project, particularly John Wyclif in the 15th century and William Tyndale in the 16th century. (Tyndale, he points out, is the second most widely quoted writer, after Shakespeare, in the English language ["eat, drink, and be merry," is Tyndale's phrase; so is "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak"].) Wide as the Waters interprets each translator's work according to its contemporary political context in England. The book's most dramatic passages are found in its account of Henry VIII's showdown with Rome, which resulted in (among other things) Tyndale's execution. Although Bobrick may overstate the singularity of the Bible's influence on the English Revolution (he asserts that the concepts of liberty and free will that guided revolutionaries who overthrew Charles I were primarily derived from the King James Bible), his argument is, at the very least, an effective and engaging reminder of Scripture's liberating power. --Michael Joseph Gross"

Yes, of course and thank you for the post and add. This looks like a fascinating book.

by S. Kent Brown & Richard Neitzel Holzapfel

This is an interesting look at the history spanning the time between the Old & New Testaments. It was required reading for a course I took on the New Testament in college.

Thank you Liz for the add.

I found this new release that may interest some people who have a passion for this subject:

by David Crystal
Publishers blurb:
What do the following have in common? Let there be light - A fly in the ointment - A rod of iron - New wine in old bottles Lick the dust - How are the mighty fallen - Kick against the pricks - Wheels within wheels They are all in the King James Bible. This astonishing book "has contributed far more to English in the way of idiomatic or quasi-proverbial expressions than any other literary source." So wrote David Crystal in 2004. In A Book of Many Colours he returns to the subject not only to consider how a work published in 1611 could have had such influence on the language, but how it can still do so when few regularly hear the Bible and fewer still hear it in the language of Stuart England. No other version of the Bible however popular (such as the Good News Bible) or imposed upon the church (like the New English Bible) has had anything like the same influence. David Crystal shows how its words and phrases have over the centuries found independent life in the work of poets, playwrights, novelists, politicians, and journalists, and how more recently they have been taken up with enthusiasm by advertisers, Hollywood, and hip-hop. Yet the King James Bible owes much to earlier English versions, notably those by John Wycliffe in in the fourteenth century and William Tyndale in the sixteenth. David Crystal reveals how much that is memorable in the King James Bible stems from its forebears. At the same time he shows how crucial were the revisions made by King James's team of translators and editors. "A person who professes to be a critic in the delicacies of the English language ought to have the Bible at his finger's ends," Lord Macaulay advised Lady Holland in 1831. A Book of Many Colours shows how true that remains. It will be a revelation to all who read it.

I recently finished two "Biblical" books. The first was an excellent serious study of the history of the Bible as a book (not the history portrayed in the Bible) called by Karen Armstrong . This is a great introduction to any study of the Bible in it's multitude of forms.
The other was also a very good read by A. J. Jacobs called . This one was a funny account of one man's attempt to follow all the rules in the Bible from stoning adulters to loving you neighbors. His poor wife was the real hero of the book.

The second one sounds hysterical. I never heard of it. Thanks John.

Here is a new book due out in a few months from the UK written by a well known and respected author that may interest some readers; "The Book of Books: The Radical Impact of the King James Bible 1611-2011" by Lord Melvyn Bragg.

by Melvyn Bragg
Description:
The King James Bible has often been called the Book of Books both in itself and in what it stands for. Since its publication in 1611 it has been the best selling book in the world, and many believe, had the greatest impact.

The King James Bible has spread the Protestant faith. It has also been the greatest influence on the enrichment of the English language and its literature. It has been the Bible of wars from the British Civil War in the seventeenth century to the American Civil War two centuries later and it has been carried into battle in innumerable conflicts since then. Its influence on social movements – particularly involving women in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - and politics was profound. It was crucial to the growth of democracy. It was integral to the abolition of slavery and it defined attitudes to modern science, education and sex.

The C.S. Lewis Bible

by C.S. Lewis

Synopsis

For generations, readers have found wisdom in Lewis's articulate and distinctive reflections on fundamental issues of faith through his celebrated classics such as Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters. Now this widsom has been placed side by side with Scripture so readers can benefit from Lewis's insights.

&
by C.S. Lewis

The Book of Revelation and its meaning has fascinated Christians and affected Western thinking for centuries.

A History of the End of the World

by Jonathan Kirsch

Synopsis

The mysterious author of the Book of Revelation never considered that his sermon on the impending end of days would last beyond his own life. Yet this vivid and violent writing has gone on to play a significant role in Western civilization. The Mark of the Beast, the Antichrist, 666, the Whore of Babylon, Armageddon, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are just a few of the images, phrases, and codes that have burned their way into the fabric of our culture. This book chronicles the use and abuse of the Book of Revelation from the fall of the Roman empire to the rise of the Religious Right.

This book is similar to another mentioned in message #10.....trying to master living by biblical rules and not quite mastering it.

Flunking Sainthood

by Jana Riess

Synopsis

This wry memoir tackles twelve different spiritual practices in a quest to become more saintly, including fasting, fixed-hour prayer, the Jesus Prayer, gratitude, Sabbath-keeping, and generosity. Although Riess begins with great plans for success (“Really, how hard could that be?” she asks blithely at the start of her saint-making year), she finds to her growing humiliation that she is failing—not just at some of the practices, but at every single one. What emerges is a funny yet vulnerable story of the quest for spiritual perfection and the reality of spiritual failure, which turns out to be a valuable practice in and of itself.

by A.J. Jacobs

Great adds Jill once again.

Thanks, Bentley.

The Book of Revelation, the surreal apocalyptic vision of the end of the world.......or is it?

Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation

by Elaine Pagels

Synopsis

In this startling and timely book, Pagels returns The Book of Revelation to its historical origin, written as its author John of Patmos took aim at the Roman Empire after what is now known as "the Jewish War," in 66 CE. Militant Jews in Jerusalem, fired with religious fervor, waged an all-out war against Rome's occupation of Judea and their defeat resulted in the desecration of Jerusalem and its Great Temple. Pagels persuasively interprets Revelation as a scathing attack on the decadence of Rome. Soon after, however, a new sect known as "Christians" seized on John's text as a weapon against heresy and infidels of all kinds-Jews, even Christians who dissented from their increasingly rigid doctrines and hierarchies.
In a time when global religious violence surges, Revelations explores how often those in power throughout history have sought to force "God's enemies" to submit or be killed. It is sure to appeal to Pagels's committed readers and bring her a whole new audience who want to understand the roots of dissent, violence, and division in the world's religions, and to appreciate the lasting appeal of this extraordinary text.

I don't know exactly where this belongs in the topic of religion, so I will put it here as the Bible speaks of angels and demons/devils/

A Brief History of Angels and Demons

by Sarah Bartlett (no photo)

Synopsis:

Throughout history, the human quest for knowledge of the divine has ruffled feathers. This book not only traces the history of angels and demons from their earliest roots to their modern day renaissance, but also reveals their most intimate secrets. Whether through personal stories, literature, myth, religion, or art, this book is the story of how belief in angels and demons has cast a powerful spell over the popular imagination.

by Elaine Pagels

Poor Satan. He gets such a bad rap in Christianity. It wasn't always so, you know:

Synopsis:

From the religious historian whose The Gnostic Gospels won both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award comes a dramatic interpretation of Satan and his role on the Christian tradition. With magisterial learning and the elan of a born storyteller, Pagels turns Satan's story into an audacious exploration of Christianity's shadow side, in which the gospel of love gives way to irrational hatreds that continue to haunt Christians and non-Christians alike.

My take: This son of a preacher's daughter, who briefly lived in Israel, greatly appreciates credible biblical scholarship, and Pagels' voice is one of reason in what can be an area of study fraught with patented nonsense, paranoia, ignorance, and hatred.

I am no christian, but find the Bible and reasonable scholarship around it to be of immense interest.

Martin and Libby - thank you.

Thank you Teri

The Bible's Cutting Room Floor: The Holy Scriptures Missing From Your Bible

by Joel M. Hoffman

Synopsis:

The Bible you usually read is not the complete story. Some holy writings were left out for political or theological reasons, others simply because of the physical restrictions of ancient bookmaking technology. At times, the compilers of the Bible skipped information that they assumed everyone knew. Some passages were even omitted by accident.

In The Bible’s Cutting Room Floor, acclaimed author and translator Dr. Joel M. Hoffman gives us the stories and other texts that didn’t make it into the Bible even though they offer penetrating insight into the Bible and its teachings.

The Book of Genesis tells us about Adam and Eve’s time in the Garden of Eden, but not their saga after they get kicked out or the lessons they have for us about good and evil. The Bible introduces us to Abraham, but it doesn’t include the troubling story of his early life, which explains how he came to reject idolatry to become the father of monotheism. And while there are only 150 Psalms in today’s Bible, there used to be many more.

Dr. Hoffman deftly brings these and other ancient scriptural texts to life, exploring how they offer new answers to some of the most fundamental and universal questions people ask about their lives. An impressive blend of history, linguistics, and religious scholarship, The Bible’s Cutting Room Floor reveals what’s missing from your Bible, who left it out, and why it is so important.

God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible

by Adam Nicolson

Synopsis:

A network of complex currents flowed across Jacobean England. This was the England of Shakespeare, Jonson, and Bacon; the era of the Gunpowder Plot and the worst outbreak of the plague. Jacobean England was both more godly and less godly than the country had ever been, and the entire culture was drawn taut between these polarities. This was the world that created the King James Bible. It is the greatest work of English prose ever written, and it is no coincidence that the translation was made at the moment "Englishness," specifically the English language itself, had come into its first passionate maturity. The English of Jacobean England has a more encompassing idea of its own scope than any form of the language before or since. It drips with potency and sensitivity. The age, with all its conflicts, explains the book.

In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How it Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture

by Alister E. McGrath

Synopsis:

In the sixteenth century, to attempt to translate the Bible into a common tongue wasn't just difficult, it was dangerous. A Bible in English threatened the power of the monarch and the Church. Early translators like Tyndale, whose work greatly influenced the King James, were hunted down and executed, but the demand for English Bibles continued to grow. Indeed it was the popularity of the Geneva Bible, with its anti-royalist content, that eventually forced James I to sanction his own, pro-monarchy, translation. Errors in early editions--one declared that "thou shalt commit adultery"--and Puritan preferences for the Geneva Bible initially hampered acceptance of the King James, but it went on to become the definitive English-language Bible.

This fascinating history of a literary and religious masterpiece explores the forces that led to the decision to create an authorized translation, the method of translation and printing, and the central role this version of the Bible played in the development of modern English. McGrath's history of the King James Bible’s creation and influence is a worthy tribute to a great work and a joy to read.

Bible: The Story of the King James Version, 1611-2011

by Gordon Campbell (no photo)

Synopsis:

Produced during the lifetime of Shakespeare and Donne, the King James Version of the Bible has long been viewed as the most elegantly written and poetic of the many English translations. Now reaching its four hundredth anniversary, it remains one of the most frequently used Bibles in the English-speaking world, especially in America.

Lavishly illustrated with reproductions from early editions of the KJB, Bible: The Story of the King James Version offers a vivid and authoritative history of this renowned translation, ranging from the Bible's inception to the present day. Gordon Campbell, a leading authority on Renaissance literatures, tells the engaging and complex story of how this translation came to be commissioned, who the translators were, and how the translation was accomplished.

Campbell does not end with the printing of that first edition, but also traces the textual history from 1611 to the establishment of the modern text by Oxford University Press in 1769, shedding light on the subsequent generations who edited and interacted with the text and bringing to life the controversies surrounding later revisions. In addition, the author examines the reception of the King James Version, showing how its popularity has shifted through time and territory, ranging from adulation to deprecation and attracting the attention of a wide variety of adherents. Since the KJB is more widely read in America today than in any other country, Campbell pays particular attention to the history of the KJB in the United States. Finally, the volume includes appendices that contain short biographies of the translators and a guide to the 74-page preliminaries of the 1611 edition.

A fitting tribute to the enduring popularity of the King James Version, Bible offers an illuminating history of this most esteemed of biblical translations.

Holy Resilience: The Bible's Traumatic Origins

by David M. Carr

Synopsis:

Human trauma gave birth to the Bible, suggests eminent religious scholar David Carr. The Bible’s ability to speak to suffering is a major reason why the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity have retained their relevance for thousands of years. In his fascinating and provocative reinterpretation of the Bible’s origins, the author tells the story of how the Jewish people and Christian community had to adapt to survive multiple catastrophes and how their holy scriptures both reflected and reinforced each religion’s resilient nature.

Carr’s thought-provoking analysis demonstrates how many of the central tenets of biblical religion, including monotheism and the idea of suffering as God’s retribution, are factors that provided Judaism and Christianity with the strength and flexibility to endure in the face of disaster. In addition, the author explains how the Jewish Bible was deeply shaped by the Jewish exile in Babylon, an event that it rarely describes, and how the Christian Bible was likewise shaped by the unspeakable shame of having a crucified savior.

Thanks Jerome

Teri thank you for posting new books and for the adds. There is no need for you to be criticized for simply adding various books that folks may or may not be interested in. We are not evaluating these books or agreeing with their hypotheses.

In the Beginning Was the Word: The Bible in American Public Life, 1492-1783

by Mark A. Noll

Synopsis:

In the beginning of American history, the Word was in Spanish, Latin, and native languages like Nahuatal. But while Spanish and Catholic Christianity reached the New World in 1492, it was only with settlements in the seventeenth century that English-language Bibles and Protestant Christendom arrived. The Puritans brought with them intense devotion to Scripture, as well as their ideal of Christendom -- a civilization characterized by a thorough intermingling of the Bible with everything else. That ideal began this country's journey from the Puritan's City on a Hill to the Bible-quoting country the U.S. is today. In the Beginning Was the Word. shows how important the Bible remained, even as that Puritan ideal changed considerably through the early stages of American history.

Author Mark Noll shows how seventeenth-century Americans received conflicting models of scriptural authority from Europe: the Bible under Christendom (high Anglicanism), the Bible over Christendom (moderate Puritanism), and the Bible against Christendom (Anabaptists, enthusiasts, Quakers). In the eighteenth century, the colonists turned increasingly to the Bible against Christendom, a stance that fueled the Revolution against Anglican Britain and prepared the way for a new country founded on the separation of church and state.

One of the foremost scholars of American Christianity, Mark Noll brings a wealth of research and wisdom to In the Beginning Was the Word, providing a sweeping, engaging, and insightful survey of the relationship between the Bible and public issues from the beginning of European settlement. A seminal new work from a world-class scholar, this book offers a fresh account of the contested, sometimes ambiguous, but definite biblical roots of American history.

The Lost Book of Moses: The Hunt for the World's Oldest Bible

by Chanan Tigay (no photo)

Synopsis:

One man’s quest to find the oldest Bible scrolls in the world and uncover the story of the brilliant, doomed antiquarian accused of forging them.

In the summer of 1883, Moses Wilhelm Shapira—archaeological treasure hunter and inveterate social climber—showed up unannounced in London claiming to have discovered the oldest copy of the Bible in the world.

But before the museum could pony up his £1 million asking price for the scrolls—which discovery called into question the divine authorship of the scriptures—Shapira’s nemesis, the French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau, denounced the manuscripts, turning the public against him. Distraught over this humiliating public rebuke, Shapira fled to the Netherlands and committed suicide.

Then, in 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Noting the similarities between these and Shapira’s scrolls, scholars made efforts to re-examine Shapira’s case, but it was too late: the primary piece of evidence, the parchment scrolls themselves had mysteriously vanished.

Tigay, journalist and son of a renowned Biblical scholar, was galvanized by this peculiar story and this indecipherable man, and became determined to find the scrolls. He sets out on a quest that takes him to Australia, England, Holland, Germany where he meets Shapira’s still aggrieved descendants and Jerusalem where Shapira is still referred to in the present tense as a “Naughty boy”. He wades into museum storerooms, musty English attics, and even the Jordanian gorge where the scrolls were said to have been found all in a tireless effort to uncover the truth about the scrolls and about Shapira, himself.

At once historical drama and modern-day mystery, The Lost Book of Moses explores the nineteenth-century disappearance of Shapira’s scrolls and Tigay's globetrotting hunt for the ancient manuscript. As it follows Tigay’s trail to the truth, the book brings to light a flamboyant, romantic, devious, and ultimately tragic personality in a story that vibrates with the suspense of a classic detective tale.

Thank you Teri for all of your adds to the Religion folder

Sounds like a really interesting take on the Bible, Teri. Added to my TBR.

Bentley wrote: "Of course, we should add the Bible to this thread:

Anonymous

Brief Synopsis:

The Bible is the most import..."
The King James bible should be read, if anyone wants to read the inspired, correct bible.

Libby wrote: "


The Story of Scripture: How We Got Our Bible and Why We Can Trust It

by [authorimage:Robert Plummer|33..."
Please tell me which bible version the author recommends?

The Rise and Fall of the Bible: The Unexpected History of an Accidental Book

by Timothy Beal

Synopsis:

In this revelatory exploration of one of our most revered icons, a critically acclaimed author and professor takes us back to early Christianity to ask how a box of handwritten scrolls became the Bible, and forward to see how the multibillion-dollar business that has brought us Biblezines and Manga Bibles is selling down the Bible’s sacred capital. Showing us how a single official text was created from the proliferation of different scripts, Beal traces its path as it became embraced as the word of God and Book of books. Among his surprising insights:

• Christianity thrived for centuries without any Bible—there was no official canon of scriptures, much less a book big enough to hold them all. Congregations used various collections of scrolls and codices.

• There is no “original” Bible, no single source text behind the thousands of different Bibles on the market today. The farther we go back in the Bible’s history, the more versions we find.

• The idea of the Bible as the literal Word of God is relatively new—only about a century old.

Beal’s is an inspiring new take on the Bible. In calling for a fresh understanding of the ways scriptures were used in the past, he offers the chance to rediscover a Bible, and a faith, that is truer to its own history—not a book of answers but a library of questions.

Thank you for the add

The Bible with Sources Revealed

by Richard Elliott Friedman

Synopsis:

One of the World's Foremost Bible Experts Offers a Groundbreaking Presentation of the Five Books of Moses

In The Bible with Sources Revealed, Richard Elliott Friedman offers a new, visual presentation of the Five Books of Moses -- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy -- unlocking the complex and fascinating tapestry of their origins. Different colors and type styles allow readers to easily identify each of the distinct sources, showcasing Friedman's highly acclaimed and dynamic translation

My Review:

Friedman's opening two chapters are amazingly succinct. In a very few pages, Friedman lays out a compelling case for what is known as the Documentary Hypothesis. This is the widely accepted theory that the first five books of the Bible are a compilation of four main documents, known by the letters J, E, P, and D, which were woven together by later editors known as Redactors.

What does it matter whether you buy into the idea that sources by J, P, E, and D form the Pentateuch? Because, if you are somewhat familiar with this concept, certain "problems" with the text suddenly become clear as you read the new English translation that follows Friedman's opening chapters. By using two different ink colors (blue and green) and a variety of fonts, average Bible readers like you and me can easily understand various contradictions and redundancies in the text.

David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition

by Israel Finkelstein

Synopsis:

The exploding number of discoveries of biblical archaeology -- artifacts and texts found at hundreds of sites populated in the ancient Near East -- have shed powerful beams of light on the characters and peoples in the Bible. Most of the resulting public controversies have focused on whether or not the history in the Bible is true. Yet ultimately, there are two larger questions that matter more: exactly how did the Bible evolve into its final form, over the centuries-long process of its compilation, and what does that history tell us about the traditions we have inherited and that still stamp our memories?

In David and Solomon, Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman, leading archaeologists and authors who have done a great deal to uncover and understand the breathtaking findings of their field, focus on the first two great kings of the Bible as a lens through which we can see the evolution of the entire biblical era. The Bible's chapters and verses on David and his son were written in stages, over many hundreds of years, by authors living in very different circumstances. Thanks to a combination of textual analysis and archaeology, we now know a great deal about which parts of the story were written in which era, and why those particular societies might have added to the legend precisely as they did. In short, David and Solomon offers a guide to a thousand years of ancient civilization and the evolution of a tradition of kingly leadership that held sway throughout the West for much of our history.

Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew

by Bart D. Ehrman

Synopsis:

The early Christian Church was a chaos of contending beliefs. Some groups of Christians claimed that there was not one God but two or twelve or thirty. Some believed that the world had not been created by God but by a lesser, ignorant deity. Certain sects maintained that Jesus was human but not divine, while others said he was divine but not human.

In Lost Christianities, Bart D. Ehrman offers a fascinating look at these early forms of Christianity and shows how they came to be suppressed, reformed, or forgotten. All of these groups insisted that they upheld the teachings of Jesus and his apostles, and they all possessed writings that bore out their claims, books reputedly produced by Jesus's own followers. Modern archaeological work has recovered a number of key texts, and as Ehrman shows, these spectacular discoveries reveal religious diversity that says much about the ways in which history gets written by the winners. Ehrman's discussion ranges from considerations of various "lost scriptures"--including forged gospels supposedly written by Simon Peter, Jesus's closest disciple, and Judas Thomas, Jesus's alleged twin brother--to the disparate beliefs of such groups as the Jewish-Christian Ebionites, the anti-Jewish Marcionites, and various "Gnostic" sects. Ehrman examines in depth the battles that raged between "proto-orthodox Christians"--those who eventually compiled the canonical books of the New Testament and standardized Christian belief--and the groups they denounced as heretics and ultimately overcame.

Scrupulously researched and lucidly written, Lost Christianities is an eye-opening account of politics, power, and the clash of ideas among Christians in the decades before one group came to see its views prevail.

The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation

by Michael Owen Wise (no photo)

Synopsis:

The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation is a landmark work that brings to life the long-inaccessible ancient scrolls of Qumran. Three distinguished translators at the forefront of modern scrolls scholarship reveal the rich tapestry of writings known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is the most comprehensive translation ever compiled for the general reader in any language.

Translated into modern-day English by Michael Wise, Martin Abegg Jr. and Edward Cook, this book contains virtually every legible portion of the fragmented scrolls, including revelatory information on early Christianity and its roots far deeper than previously realized in ancient Judaism. Included as well are scroll fragments that promise to alter dramatically our view of biblical history, including never-before released texts and newly discovered writings by and about key biblical prophets and ancestors. The translators provide illuminating commentary throughout that place the scrolls in their true historical context. They also present a compelling, insightful introduction that gives the reader an overview of the often surprising contents of the scrolls and discusses what are perhaps the greatest mysteries of the scrolls -- who authored them and why.

From a new generation of Dead Sea Scrolls scholars, here is a fresh look at the scrolls, including the most recently released texts. Michael Wise, Martin Abegg Jr. and Edward Cook unlock the secrets and rich mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the most comprehensive translation ever published for the general reader in any language. Their brilliant scholarship and illuminating commentary add dramatic new knowledge to our understanding of the scrolls. This historic translation includes:

Intriguing revelations about biblical history and the roots of Christianity.

Never-before-seen stories about the biblical figures Abraham, Jacob and Enoch -- including a text explaining why God demanded the sacrifice of Isaac.

Twelve texts not included in the Bible that claim Moses as their author.

New psalms attributed to King David and to Joshua.

Texts illuminating ancient doctrines about angels and writings claiming to be revelations of angels themselves including the Archangel Michael.

The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation will set the standard for scrolls scholarship for years to come. This is an important, rigorously researched work that renders the scrolls vibrant and accessible.

In their great variety and stunning richness, the Dead Sea Scrolls as captured in this groundbreaking translation offer modern readers an unprecedented glimpse of the complex roots of modern Christianity. Its dozens of never-before-published texts encompass poetry and prose, teaching parables and magical tales, astrology, apocalyptic visions, lists of buried treasure, stories of messiahs and antichrists, demons and angels and together comprise a new classic of religious history.

Long withheld from public view, the ancient scrolls found in the caves of Qumran near the Dead Sea are revered by many but known in full by very few. Now three translators at the forefront of modern scrolls scholarship have revealed the entire rich complex of writings, stories, poems and texts known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

(found this on Amazon as Goodreads doesn't have a synopsis)

The Passion Translation New Testament (2nd Edition) Floral: With Psalms, Proverbs and Song of Songs

by Brian Simmons (no photo)

Synopsis:

Encounter the Heart of God - Publisher's Description

The Passion Translation® is a new, heart-level Bible translation that expresses God’s fiery heart of love, merging the emotion and life-changing truth of God’s Word. The goal of this translation is to trigger inside every reader an overwhelming response to the truth of the Bible, unfolding the deep mysteries of the Scriptures in the love language of God, the language of the heart.

BIBLE FEATURES INCLUDE:
In-depth footnotes that include insightful study notes, commentary, word studies, cross references, alternate translations, and more
Traditional two-column format
Premium Bible paper
Extensive introductions and outlines for each book
Rich, contemporary font
Ribbon marker
“All you thirsty ones, come to me! Come to me and drink! Believe in me so that rivers of living water will burst out from within you, flowing from your innermost being just like the Scripture says!” John 7:37-38

“Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on the altar and wait for your fire to fall upon my heart.” Psalm 5:3

“I continue to pray for your love to grow and increase more and more until it overflows, bringing you into the rich revelation of spiritual insight in all things. And with this revelation you will come to know God fully as he imparts to you the deepest understanding of his ways.” Philippians 1:9

This is my favorite book ever

Very good Miles

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version

by Marc Brettler (no photo)

Synopsis:

For over 50 years students, professors, clergy, and general readers have relied on The New Oxford Annotated Bible as an unparalleled authority in Study Bibles.

This fifth edition of the Annotated, thumb-indexed and in a protective two-piece box, remains the best way to study and understand the Bible at home or in the classroom.

This thoroughly revised and substantially updated edition contains the best scholarship informed by recent discoveries and anchored in the solid Study Bible tradition.

The Red Sea Rules

by Robert J. Morgan

Synopsis:

Just as Moses and the Israelites found themselves caught between "the devil and the deep Red Sea," so are we sometimes overwhelmed by life's problems. But God delivered the Israelites, and He will deliver us too.

The Red Sea Rules reveals, even in the midst of seemingly impossible situations, God's promise to make a way for us. His loving guidance will protect us through danger, illness, marital strife, financial problems--whatever challenges Satan places in our path.

Using the Israelites' story as an example, Robert Morgan offers ten sound strategies for moving from fear to faith. Among them: Realize that God means for you to be where you are. Acknowledge your enemy, but keep your eyes on the Lord. Pray.

Life is hard, especially for Christians. It is certain that we will face difficulties, and that God will allow them, as He allowed the Israelites to become trapped between Pharaoh's rushing armies and the uncrossable Red Sea. But just as certain is the fact that the same God who led us in will lead us out. As The Red Sea Rules makes comfortingly clear, He is in control.

Re the parting of the “Red Sea”: it wasn’t the Red Sea. Every major English translation before the 20th century mistranslated the name. In Hebrew, the name is “Yam Suf.” “Yam” means “sea,” and “suf” is actually an Egyptian word borrowed into Hebrew in this context. “Suf” means “reeds.” The correct translation is the “Sea of Reeds,” and is believed to refer to one of the innumerable marshy inlets along the Nile.

Thank you Mark - we do have a Red Sea thread that we just started and you may find the correct information on that thread. Here is a link - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... - if you would like to add any books, comments, podcasts, media ,etc.

We now have a thread which deals with the Red Sea as an entity and body of water.

This thread is focused on Biblical references that occur in books that were published or in other media. We always cite sources for the material and of course since this is a thread related to the Bible - there are references to the Red Sea. You might prefer the thread which we just opened up. I believe biblical references are just that - biblical references - and the self help book posted is making that reference.

Thank you for your post. We look forward to reading any other contributions that you can make to our threads. We add all sorts of books that deal with the topic - some historical - some strictly non fiction but not historical, historical fiction and even in some cases - fictional work which has at its locale the topical header.

Also here is one reference where it was not called the Sea of Reeds although we note that nomenclature in the other thread as noted with the source:

The association of the Red Sea with the biblical account of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea is ancient, and was made explicit in the Septuagint translation of the Book of Exodus from Hebrew to Koine Greek in approximately the third century B.C. In that version, the Yam Suph (Hebrew: ים סוף‎, lit. 'Sea of Reeds') is translated as Erythra Thalassa (Red Sea). Although reeds do not grow in the Red Sea today (reeds do not grow in salt water), Professor Colin Humphreys explains the discrepancy on the basis that a freshwater marsh of reeds could have existed around Aqaba.

The entire source will all of the references including the ones that you so aptly mentioned are in post one of the new thread (link provided)

An upcoming book:
Release date: March 26, 2024

God's Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible

by Candida Moss

Synopsis:

For the past two thousand years, Christian tradition, scholarship, and pop culture has credited the authorship of the New Testament to a select group of men: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Paul. But the truth is that these individuals, who have been rewarded with sainthood for their work, did not write alone. In some meaningful ways they did not write all.

Hidden behind these named and sainted individuals are a cluster of enslaved coauthors and collaborators, almost all of whom go unnamed and uncredited. They were responsible for producing the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament. In fact, there was no aspect of textual production and circulation in which they did not play a part: they made the parchment and papyri on which Christian texts were written. They took dictation, removed grammatical infelicities, and polished and refined the final manuscripts. Those manuscripts were then duplicated and bound by bookmakers and booksellers who, recent research has shown, were also enslaved or formerly enslaved. When the Christian message began to move independently from the first apostles it was enslaved missionaries who undertook the dangerous and arduous journeys across the Mediterranean and along dusty Roman roads to move Christianity from Jerusalem and the Levant to Rome, Spain, North Africa, and Egypt. Finally, when these texts were read aloud to new audiences of curious potential converts, it was educated and trained enslaved workers who performed them—deciding whether a statement was sincere or sarcastic; a throwaway remark or something central to be emphasized. Their influence in the spread of Christianity and making of the Bible was enormous, yet their role has been almost entirely overlooked until now.

Filled with profound ramifications revelations both for what it means to be a Christian and for how we read individual texts themselves, God’s Ghostwriters is a groundbreaking and rigorously researched book about how enslaved people shaped the Bible, and with it all of Christianity.

Another:
Release date: September 17, 2024

The Bible: A Global History

by Bruce Gordon (no photo)

Synopsis:

For Christians, the Bible is a book authored by God for humanity. Its eternal words are transmitted across the world by fallible human hands. Following Jesus’s departing instruction to go out into the world, the Bible has been a book in motion from its very beginnings, and every community it has encountered has read, heard, and seen the Bible through its own language and culture.

In The Bible, Bruce Gordon tells the astounding story of the Bible’s journey around the globe and across more than two thousand years, showing how it has shaped and been shaped by changing beliefs and believers’ radically different needs. The Bible has been a tool for violence and oppression, and it has expressed hopes for liberation. God speaks with one voice, but the people who receive it are scattered and divided—found in desert monasteries and Chinese house churches, in Byzantine cathedrals and Guatemalan villages.