Biography in The Books Store

In How to Read the Bible, Harvard professor James Kugel leads the reader chapter by chapter through the "quiet revolution" of recent biblical scholarship, showing time and again how radically the interpretations of today's researchers differ from what people have always thought. The story of Adam and Eve, it turns out, was not originally about the "Fall of Man," but about the move from a primitive, hunter-gatherer society to a settled, agricultural one. As for the stories of Cain and Abel, Abraham and Sarah, and Jacob and Esau, these narratives were not, at their origin, about individual people at all but, rather, explanations of some feature of Israelite society as it existed centuries after these figures were said to have lived. Dinah was never raped -- her story was created by an editor to solve a certain problem in Genesis. In the earliest version of the Exodus story, Moses probably did not divide the Red Sea in half; instead, the Egyptians perished in a storm at sea. Whatever the original Ten Commandments might have been, scholars are quite sure they were different from the ones we have today. What's more, the people long supposed to have written various books of the Bible were not, in the current consensus, their real authors: David did not write the Psalms, Solomon did not write Proverbs or Ecclesiastes; indeed, there is scarcely a book in the Bible that is not the product of different, anonymous authors and editors working in different periods.

Such findings pose a serious problem for adherents of traditional, Bible-based faiths. Hiding from the discoveries of modern scholars seems dishonest, but accepting them means undermining much of the Bible's reliability and authority as the word of God. What to do? In his search for a solution, Kugel leads the reader back to a group of ancient biblical interpreters who flourished at the end of the biblical period. Far from naïve, these interpreters consciously set out to depart from the original meaning of the Bible's various stories, laws, and prophecies -- and they, Kugel argues, hold the key to solving the dilemma of reading the Bible today.

David, unlike any Bible character before him, had the charisma to inspire a great nation. Yet in other ways he was a most ordinary man-often gripped by destructive passion, rocked by personal tragedy, and motivated by political gain. Yet, he is the one character the Bible describes as a "man after God's own heart." In this first volume of the "Great Lives" series Charles Swindoll shows how David proved his love for God many times over in an extraordinary life that left an enduring legacy of faith.

Charles Swindoll presents the Bible's real Moses-the Moses who tried to decline his assignment from God; the Moses who dazzled Pharoh; the Moses who received the Ten Commandments; the Moses who was disobedient and weak; the Moses who was the greatest leader of God's people in all of history. Through his faith and selfless dedication, Moses continually chose to follow God's will through difficult and seemingly impossible situations. This is the fourth volume of Swindoll's "Great Lives" series.

No family today is more dysfunctional than Joseph's. No one faces greated temptation than Potiphar's wife offered Joseph. No faith is challenged more severely than was Joseph's on death row. Yet Joseph stood firm, exemplifying what is possible when ordinary people maintain their connections with God. Like an epic novel filled with intrigue, tension, and torrential emotions, Joseph's triumphiant story touches us all. This third volume in Charles Swindoll's"Great Lives" series presents a fresh look at one of the most intriguing characters in the Old Testament and focuses on the virtue of forgiveness in the face of deceit and betrayal.

Through complementary texts and illustrations, Chittister and Swanson explore a series of twelve defining moments in every woman's life--moments of loss, change, transformation, aging, independence, respect, recognition, insight, empowerment, self-definition, invisibility, and fulfillment. Each chapter and each piece of artwork together illuminate the faithful life of Ruth in relation to these formative moments and lend insights into what it means to be a woman of God today.

Everyone loves a transforming story. Rags to riches. Plain to beautiful. Weak to strong. Esther's story is that, and much more. It is a thought-provoking study of God's invisible hand, writing silently across the pages of human history. Perhaps most of all, it is an account of a godly woman with the courage, wisdom, and strength to block an evil plot, overthrow an arrogant killer, and replace with joy in thousands of Jewish homes. Through Esther's courageous struggle to help her people, Swindoll explains the power of divine providence in volume 2 of the best-selling "Great Lives" series.