Commentaries in The Books Store

A leading expert in New Testament ethics discovers in the biblical witness a unified ethical vision –– centered in the themes of community, cross and new creation –– that has profound relevance in today's world. Richard Hays shows how the New Testament provides moral guidance on the most troubling ethical issues of our time, including violence, divorce, homosexuality and abortion.

"Hays' passionately written book, with its bold agenda, has neither peer nor rival." ––Leander E. Keck, Winkley Professor of Biblical Theology, Yale Divinity School

"There are few people I would rather read for the actual exposition of the New Testament than Richard Hays. This book is filled with wonderful readings that not only inform us about how to think better about the so–called 'problem of the relation between the New Testament and ethics' but, even more, speak of how our lives should be lived in the light of Christ's cross. –Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Studies, Duke University Divinity School

"Richard Hays has succeeded brilliantly in bringing New Testament studies, contemporary theology, and ethics into a deeply reflective conversation... Hays' point is that the New Testament norms the Christian life, and, with the help of imagination and metaphor, can address the moral conflicts of our time." ––Ellen T. Charry, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University

"This book isn't just a breath of fresh air. It's a hurricane, blowing away the fog of half–understood pseudo–morality and fashionable compromise, and revealing instead the early Christian vision of true humanness and genuine holiness. If this isn't a book for our time, I don't know what is." ––N. T. Wright, author of The New Testament and the People of God

… the hospital trauma-unit staff offered little hope that Father Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., would survive.

Then the news spread. And the prayers began.

"Apparently, by a medical miracle, I am still alive — having really been considered dead. One can’t miss the conclusion that when this happens, God still wants you here. … I don’t know what God has in store for me, nor do you know what He has in store for you; yet a conviction that must guide us both is ‘Your will be done.’ "

Now Father Benedict reflects on the good that has come — and continues to come — from that horrific accident. And, responding to questions posed by noted British journalist John Bishop in an interview before the accident, he reflects on:

• Founding the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal

• Spending time in jail for civil disobedience outside an abortion clinic

• Recognizing where God is when suffering intensifies and evil prospers

• Understanding Christ’s feeling of abandonment on the cross

• Discovering and living one’s vocation

• Loving the poor wholeheartedly

• Being "gently scolded" by Mother Teresa of Calcutta

• And more.

"The process of gathering these images reminded me of the Bible's effortless ability to reinvent itself for each generation and each new way of searching."
—Bruce Feiler

Its stories may be the best known in the world, but its locations have long been a mystery. Where did Noah's ark land? Where did Moses receive the Ten Commandments? Where are the lost cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? Now, in Walking the Bible: A Photographic Journey, New York Times bestselling author Bruce Feiler offers an unprecedented heart-stirring adventure through the landscape of some of history's most storied events.

Featuring Bruce Feiler's own photography as well as his selections from professional collections, Walking the Bible: A Photographic Journey brings together breathtaking vistas, intimate portraits, and fascinating panoramas, providing firsthand access to the inscrutable land where three of the world's great religions were born—and finally puts a face on the stories that have long inspired the human spirit.

Over several years, Feiler traveled nearly ten thousand miles through the deserts of the Middle East, which led first to his runaway national bestseller Walking the Bible. This new illustrated book follows his route, offering a thrilling photographic voyage through the actual places of some of the Bible's most memorable events—from the heights of Mount Ararat, where Noah's ark landed, to the desert outpost in Turkey, where Abraham first heard the words of God, to the summit where Moses overlooked the Promised Land.

Walking the Bible: A Photographic Journey chronicles a landscape that nurtured the relationship between humans and the divine, breathing new meaning into stories that have been a timeless source of inspiration.