Scripture Windows

Bibliodrama is a progress of stepping inside the biblical text and creating midrash as a process of improvisation. Peter Pitzele is the creator of this medium. This is his how to do it, manual, the one used at the Institute for Contemprary Midrash training seminars.

A timely book to understand and put into perspective the vast corpus of the Hindu religious literature which a typical Western reader otherwise finds so daunting that he/she gets discouraged and simply gives up. Besides being of enormous value to spiritual seekers, the book is ideally suited for study in a classroom environment.

To get the full benefit of reading the Bible, you need to understand (1) spatial and geographical features that shape the text, (2) the history of the Jewish people, (3) the Israelite and Greco-Roman cultures, and (4) the religious beliefs of the ancient writers. As Marc Turnage takes you on a virtual tour of the Holy Lands, you'll see Bible events in a fresh new way.

A “beautifully written” Pulitzer Prize–winning novel about prejudice and a distinguished family’s secrets in the American South (The Atlantic Monthly). Seven generations of the Howland family have lived in the Alabama plantation home built by an ancestor who fought for Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812. Over the course of a century, the Howlands accumulated a fortune, fought for secession, and helped rebuild the South, establishing themselves as one of the most respected families in the state. But that history means little to Abigail Howland. The inheritor of the Howland manse, Abigail hides the long-buried secret of her grandfather’s thirty-year relationship with his African American mistress. Her fortunes reverse when her family’s mixed-race heritage comes to light and her community—locked in the prejudices of the 1960s—turns its back on her. Faced with such deep-seated racism, Abigail is pushed to defend her family at all costs. A “novel of real magnitude,” The Keepers of the House is an unforgettable story of family, tradition, and racial injustice set against the richly drawn backdrop of the American South (Kirkus Reviews). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Shirley Ann Grau, including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.

"Malina has written an exceptionally clear, accessible and student-friendly introduction to the cultural world of Jesus and his disciples. The windows or scenarios of typical cultural scenes cover the basic range of values and behaviors characteristic of the different cultural world of the Bible".--Jerome H. Neyrey, author of 2 Peter, Jude.

"Bibliolog" is an approach to experience the Bible as alive and important for one's own life. A group, congregation or school class discovers biblical stories from within and interprets them by identifying with biblical characters and answering questions left unanswered by the text. Invented by North-American Jewish scholar Peter Pitzele, this approach has its roots in the Jewish tradition of Midrash. It is fascinating how quickly people - whether they have been socialized by the church or not - can be moved by biblical texts when they immediately experience how relevant they still are. Bibliolog has quickly spread across the German-speaking area and is now practiced in many different countries. The growing experience with this approach has led to the decision to offer this concise presentation to an English-speaking audience. Pohl-Patalong focuses on the basic form of Bibliolog, which can be performed in a short period of time and with groups of any size.

This book describes the history of the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, its content, its importance, and how it has helped to direct the future of Roman Catholic biblical studies.

John C. Poirier examines the “theopneustic” nature of the Scripture, as a response to the view that “inspiration” lies at the heart of most contemporary Christian theology. In contrast to the traditional rendering of the Greek word theopneustos as “God-inspired” in 2 Tim 3:16, Poirier argues that a close look at first- and second-century uses of theopneustos reveals that the traditional inspirationist understanding of the term did not arise until the time of Origen in the early third century CE, and that in every pre-Origen use of theopneustos the word instead means “life-giving.” Poirier thus conducts a detailed investigation of theopneustos as it appears in the fifth Sibylline Oracle, the Testament of Abraham, Vettius Valens, Pseudo-Plutarch (Placita Philosophorum), and Pseudo-Phocylides, all of whom understand the word to mean “life-giving.” He also studies the use of the cognate term theopnous in Numenius, the Corpus Hermeticum, on an inscription at the Great Sphinx of Giza, and on an inscription at a nymphaeum at Laodicea on the Lycus. Poirier argues that a rendering of “life-giving” also fits better within the context of 2 Tim 3:16, and that this meaning survived late enough to figure in a fifth-century work by Nonnus of Panopolis. He further traces the pre-Origen use of theopneustos among the Church Fathers. Poirier concludes by addressing the implication of rethinking the traditional understanding of Scripture, stressing that the lack of “God-inspired” scripture ultimately does not affect the truth status of the gospel as preached by the apostles.

Born out of the experiences of hundreds of thousands of women who Raechel and Amanda have walked alongside as they walk with the Lord, She Reads Truth is the message that will help you understand the place of God's Word in your life.