Abingdon Introduction To The Bible

This comprehensive introduction launches beginners into the world of biblical studies.The Bible has profoundly influenced the western world. Many of its characters and stories are well known and yet, oddly enough, wide swaths of the Bible are unknown and misunderstood. The laws and teaching contained within it have shaped contemporary thinking in ways many do not realize. Equally important, two of the world’s largest religions-Judaism and Christianity-consider the Hebrew Bible to be sacred and to contain enduring truths about beginnings and creation, life and death, the world, and what it means to be human.

This comprehensive introduction launches beginners into the world of biblical studies with clarity and precision. The authors give an overview of each book of the Bible with a brief discussion of relevant controversies and debates. Jewish and Christian (Protestant and Roman Catholic) views are compared and contrasted, while simultaneously illustrating the importance of the Bible for religion, western jurisprudence, ethics, and contemporary conceptions of the family, morality, and even politics. With illustrations and charts, this a text that is both student and teacher friendly.