Dr. Hendricks provides helpful insight into how to study the Bible effectively. Whether you study the Bible as a clergyman or as a layperson, you can surely benefit from this book. Speaking from more than 40 years experience in personal Bible study, The Prof is not speaking from ignorance at all. This book has helped me get into the Bible myself, and learn the basic truths and principles from God's own word. If you are serious about becoming a student of the Bible, get this book.

Living by the Book, by Howard Hendrix is a guide to using and understanding life's instruction manual, the Bible. This particular book is not just your average Bible study guide. It is a very in depth, detailed guide for digging deep into God's Word. Hendrix writes powerfully and uses layman's language to explain his brilliant methods for studying the Bible.

If you've ever had an excuse for not getting into the Word, this book is for you. Howard Hendricks who chairs the Center for Christian Leadership (affectionately know as "Prof." to his students at Dallas Theological Seminary) with the aid of his son Bill, has written this phenomenal book on the "why" and "how" of Bible study.

In the first few chapters, Hendricks challenges all the excuses we have for not studying our Bibles and posits clearly superior reasons in favor of doing so. He then uses Scripture itself to show us what we will gain from regular study of God's Word. In typical Hendricks fashion he begins by humoring "I wish we had a better term than 'Bible study,' because for most of us, 'study' is a bad news item. It has all the appeal of flossing our teeth" (13). He tells the story of a man he met at a Bible conference who drove twelve hundred miles to "get under the Word" and Hendricks muses "was he just as willing to walk across his living room floor, pick up a Bible, and get into it for himself?" (9).

There are three steps, which will transform that sometimes-dry text into the spiritual growth that we desire in our lives. They are Observation, Interpretation and Application. These three steps are the heart of the book.

The ability of Howard Hendricks to communicate clearly and effectively is unmatched in this introductory work on Bible study. The pages of this book come alive as he swiftly and painlessly removes the obstacles to personal study while at the same time equipping the reader with the proper tools to understand God's Word. Virtually every chapter contains exercises for the student of Scripture to get hands-on experience instead of just theoretical book knowledge. Much of this book is essentially the application of Mortimer Adler's book, How to Read a Book, (which Hendricks highly acclaims) to the Bible. The anecdotes, illustrations and "quotables" are alone worth the price of the book, not to mention the enlightening elaboration of the three-step approach to Bible study. This book should be the absolute first book a new Christian reads apart from the Bible itself.

This is absolutely the best book I have read on building a strong marriage. The "traditional" family structure had some problems, and the "roleless" backlash against that traditional family had even more problems. The answer is not in either of those imperfect systems, but in God's perfect design. Eight years after reading the book for the first time I am still working towards being the servant leader.

Of all the books my Finacee and I have read to prepare for marriage, this is by far our favorite! The authors challenge the myth of the roleless marriage and establish that God has given the husband and wife unique roles. The husband is a Servant-Leader, and the wife is a Helper-Lover. In doing so they fearlessly take on the "S-word", what submission really means. It's not her role (as if God created a woman to be a mere doormat!), but merely a response to her husbands Servant-Leadership as she embraces her own role as a Helper-Lover.

The authors provide a picture of the culture for which Paul was writing, and show that it is suprisingly cosmopolitan like our own.

Where others try to twist controversial portions of the scriptures to fit modern ideas, these authors uncover the ancient wisdom of God and bring it to life in the 21st century.

It is a well known statistic today that 1 of 2 marriages ends in divorce. One of reasons could well be a confusion on the roles the Bible prescribes for marriage. Although this book presents the idea of the husband as the head of the relationship, it does not present him as the "boss" or as a modern-day Archie Bunker. Instead, men are strongly encouraged in this book to take the lead in serving, in supporting, and in sustaining the other members of the family.

The authors begin by defining the confusion over marital roles today, and the resulting chaos. They then outline the husband's role as servant-leader, and describe his core concerns. The wife's role is then outlined as helper-lover, and her concerns are also presented.

Two chapters are devoted to the idea of submission, dispeling many myths regarding it. Common problems are addressed, and practical applications are provided. The book closes with two helpful appendices recounting the breakdown of gender roles in ancient Rome, and the impact that Paul's words had on that generation.

I recommend this book wholeheartedly for both husbands and wives desiring to gain a better understanding of a Biblical-oriented marriage.

Let me share a short story about why this book made such good sense to me.

I have two friends, who I'll call Candace and Mary. Candace is the kind of mom who jumps every time her daughter says boo, no matter how demanding or rude the request. Mary, on the other hand, was less 'conscientious.' Her husband was, at times, downright gruff with their kids when they got obnoxious. I always assumed that Candace, because she worked so much harder, was the better mother. Then one day it hit me like a bolt of lightning: Candace's daughter was a whiny, unhappy little girl, whereas Mary's were much happier.

For some reason, many parents of my generation feel we must give our children our constant, undivided attention, must protect them from all forms of disappointment, and never, ever be angry with them. Doherty shows why that's a recipe for disaster. He looks at these misconceptions and gives good, sensible guidance. Probably one of the best parenting books I've ever read.

Some of the topics discussed in this book

The Consumer Culture of Childhood
Being a Confident Parent in an Insecure World
Activvating Necessary Skills for Effective Parenting
Strategies for Expecting and Getting Respect
Family Time and a Child's Own Life
What's So Important About Gamily Rituals
The Importance of Family Work
Why Anger-Free Parenting Does Not Work
How to Express Anger Constructively
Responsibilities to a Religious Congregation
How to Work as a Team Raising Responsible Children
Father as Consultant on Morals and Social Behavior
How to be an Influential Father
Guidelines and Strategies for Single Parents
Achieving Confident Parenting in Stepfamilies
Unplugging Your Kids: Media & Child Rearing
Resisting the Peer Cultures of Children and Parents

This book should be required reading for anyone who thinks he or she wants children. As a parent who feels like she's struggling upstream against a tide of other, more permissive parents, it was a relief to read a book that validates my own approach. As parents struggle to provide a multitude of opportunities for their children, we often lose sight of what our children really need to develop into responsible, caring adults. Dr. Doherty's book quickly sets out what our priorities should be and how we should accomplish them.

Professor Nicholls' detailed work traces the theological and historical development of Christianity over the last 2000 yrs. The former Anglican minister begins with Jesus' life, living as an observant Jew. The book continues with the Early Believers (not yet termed 'Christians'), into the 2nd Century when the movement ceased being a Jewish movement at all, and traces every era to modern times.
I was captivated by the author's lucid presentation of historical evidence, and his ability to show how Paul and later Christian theologians missed the mark of Jesus' real life and teachings. Prof. Nicholls explains how Jesus was a Rabbi who taught Judaism [e.g. the Kingdom of Heaven is within reach of the common man] to other Jews. Nicholls presents Jesus as a Jewish Rabbi who only taught to other Jews, and was not some kind of 'new Christian' who taught to Gentiles. Paul on the other hand conflicts with classical Judaism, teaching Gentiles can be 'grafted into Israel' [Romans 11] without requiring the Torah's obligations for converts (i.e. circumcision for men, dietary restrictions & acceptance of all Torah law as binding). This was presumably to gain more recruits who never would have agreed to adult surgery or making major dietary and lifestyle changes. The consequences would be fixed upon Jesus' imminent return.
This book is a must for anybody who wants to truly understand the historical reasons why Christianity conflicts with its parent religion, and subsequently, vilifies Judaism in order to defend its agenda.
The author investigates every major era of the last 2000 years of Judeo-Christian history to prove his thesis that the Holocaust could not have happened had it not been for 2000 years of Christianity teaching that Jews are bad.

Despite a somewhat inflammatory title, this volume is an extremely well-researched and thorough examination of the history of Christian attitudes toward Judaism and Jews.

William Nicholls begins his examination with an overview of current New Testament research, arguing that it is now clearer than ever before that Jesus himself was a faithful Jew who could not have intended to found the religion which Christianity later became. He then passes to later New Testament history and tries to get clear just what was involved in Paul's mission to non-Jews. (In all of the foregoing, I could pick nits about any number of comparatively minor points. But his overall approach is, in essence, that the historical Christian practice of evaluating the "Old Testament" according to the "New" must be reversed: the gospels and apostolic writings must be evaluated by the standards of the Torah and the other Jewish scriptures. Here I heartily concur, and this is not the place to elaborate my agreements or otherwise on specific issues.)

From there, Nicholls works forward through Christian history up to the present day, including medieval Europe, the Enlightenment, and of course the Holocaust. Again, he covers his topics with remarkable thoroughness and clarity.

Two notable features of Nicholls's presentation should be especially praised. First, he quite properly singles out Calvinism as a glowing exception to certain anti-Jewish trends within Christendom, and correctly attributes this fact in large measure to Calvinism's theology -- in particular to John Calvin's "third use" of biblical law, which is not terribly far from Judaism's first and only use of it. Second, he correctly assigns a great deal of antisemitism to the political Left and occasionally implies that this antisemitism is an outgrowth of "Enlightenment" anti-religious secularism generally. (And along the same lines, he expressly states his suspicions that "liberal" religion is driven more by its political agenda than by religious concerns.)

I would have liked to see this theme explored a bit more thoroughly. The fact is that the (classical) liberal commonwealth as we know it was, historically and theologically, an outgrowth of the Protestant Reformation and specifically of Calvinism, owing precisely to the latter's return to biblical principles that had been present in Judaism all along. This is precisely the reason why more or less Calvinistic societies have refrained from the persecution of Jews in particular and established religious liberty in general. It is also why more "modern" liberalism is opposed to classical liberalism just as surely as it is to Judeo-Christian religion. (Nicholls could have scored a few more points here as well by discussing Roman Catholicism's official opposition -- at the Magisterium level, not the Lord Acton level -- to capitalism, classical liberalism, and both religious and economic liberty.)

Which brings me to another point on which I wish Nicholls had been clearer. He has a great deal to say about Christian silence during the Holocaust and about the way Christian "myth" prepared secular society for antisemitism. But he does not have anything to say about Nazism itself as a deadly enemy not only of Judaism but of Christianity as well.

And one final quibble: Nicholls has written nearly five hundred pages on the topic of rapprochement between Judaism and a properly repentant Christianity _without one single mention of the Noahide laws_. He concludes his ruminations on the future of Christianity by musing about whether "the synagogue" can accept "the church," as though he is imagining a massive influx of converts to Judaism itself as every Christian in the world becomes a Jew. But Judaism requires no such conversion; Nicholls could profitably have inquired what Judaism _does_ require.

Generally, I think Nicholls overstates the need for theological agreement between Judaism and Christianity. Had he focused a bit more on Calvinism and therefore on why Calvinist societies are as friendly to Jews as such societies have historically been, he might have been less concerned with theology and more concerned with broad-level practical politics. We might then also have seen a bit more discussion of why the Left is _politically_ unable to accommodate Judaism -- and Christianity too, for that matter.

But I do not mean these points to take anything away from my praise for Nicholls's presentation. What he _does_ discuss is handled thoroughly and with tremendous intellectual honesty. This volume is very highly recommended to anyone interested in Jewish-Christian relations in particular and the foundations of the free and prosperous commonwealth in general.

This is truly a seminal book. There is nothing else quite like it - and I've read many books on the subject. In it, William Nicholl traces anti-Jewish sentiment from its earliest political and theological genesis through to its almost inevitable result - the Holocaust. At least the first third of the book is devoted to a fascinating exploration of the life and times of Jesus seen from a clear-eyed and rational historical viewpoint. Then, in the final chapter the author goes back in time, period by period, to see what can be stripped away from Christianity in an attempt to see if it can be divorced from its inherent Anti-Jewishness. That chapter is, to put it mildly, hair-raising! This is an absolute must for any person interested in in the growth and development of Christian theology as well as anyone interested simply in truth. I have three copies: One for myself and two for loaners. All three are loaned out at the time of this writing. Five stars is not a high enough rating.

The third edition of this famous Greek-English Lexicon does not disappoint. It is a significant improvement in at least three respects. First, specific Greek words have been given general definitions even where the word covers a wide semantic domain. This was not the case in previous editions where the reader was left with the meaning of a word only in its particular occurrence. Now readers can draw some conclusion about the basic meaning of any given Greek word. The approach suggests a regression in the approach to biblical words spearheaded by James Barr in his "Semantics of Biblical Language" and a return to the approach of older lexicographers to the effect that words have meanings. Second, the range of Greek authors has been expanded and now includes more noncanonical (especially apocryphal) Greek writings of special interest for the study of early Christian origins. Third, the type set and publication of this edition is dramatically improved, making it as sheer pleasure to handle and read. The second edition suffered from typeset that was too small, and lacked bold catchy print for the words themselves. Readers who own the second edition will want to upgrade for this reason alone.

There are two drawbacks. The first is price. This is an expensive volume, but perhaps that is to be expected. The second is that I noticed several examples of errata. No doubt these will be removed with each new printing.

This book makes you work for each little bit of understanding. The method of giving many, many different examples of usage for each Greek word really broadens your understanding of each word, but is time-consuming.

This lexicon is excellent for word studies beyond the Strong's level and will drive you nuts if you don't know your case forms yet (I know from experience).

But all in all, this is a resource no Biblical scholar or wannabe scholar should be without. I'd recommend getting Strong's Concordance, Vine's Expository Dictionary, a Greek New Testament and this book to go along with a New American Standard Bible for the novice in Greek.

Your understanding of the New Testament and of Greek will grow by leaps and bounds with diligent study of these very basic resources - even if you don't intend to study Koine Greek professionally.

This is the standard Greek lexicon for New Testament studies. I find that it takes longer to use than Louw and Nida, but gives a more mature understanding. It gives many more examples, and also points out grammatical features of the words, which can be extremely helpful. This lexicon does not attempt to give you a full dictionary definition; instead, it tries to give you the data to allow you to develop your own. For a comparison of the standard lexicons for New Testament Greek, see "http://www.mindspring.com/~jwrobie/littleGreek.html"

Telling Yourself the Truth has been a book that has gone a long way toward helping me retrain my thinking. I'm starting to see that so much of our reactions to life arise out of the self-talk that goes on inside our own heads. Unfortunately, a lot of that self talk is based upon our past experiences and hurts and we tend to see every situation filtered through those past events. But a lot of the time, this filter that we use doesn't apply and thus it creates a lie or misbelief. Telling Yourself the Truth helps set us free from these misbeliefs and starts helping us see things without the chains from our past.

In my case, I have been struggling with recovering from a divorce. Having failed in marriage, I had conditioned my thinking about relationships and marriage with the feelings of failure and a fear that any relationship was doom to failure. I was afraid to try again and afraid to even be vulnerable. Teaching myself to tell myself the truth and not buy into the fear and doubt and lies of my self talk is a journey that I've begun with the help of this book.

After reading a countless number of christian self help books, I still struggled with much anxiety, fear, depression & anger. I finally broke down & went to see a christian counselor. He recomended that I read this book. Although I got the version with the workbook included. I don't know if this one has the workbook. Anyway, for me this book provided me with ground-breaking truths of God's word & helped me to identify the silly & absurd misbeliefs I had been telling myself for years! I would reccomend that everyone read this book. If your honest a bout wanting to change & willing to devote an hour or so each day for six weeks, this book WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!!

This book was given to me, by my Pastor, nineteen years ago after I suffered an immense personal tragedy. I have read and re-read it a dozen times and continue to be amazed by it's healing and straight-forward approach. No matter what situation you find yourself in, this book can help you evaluate your emotions honestly and bring clarity. THIS IS THE GREATEST TOOL FOR OVERCOMING DEPRESSION I HAVE EVER COME ACROSS.

If you like Lord of the Rings thwn you will enjoy this book as well as the others written by William Burt. he is also a friend of mine. These books will keep you reading, full of adventure at each turn of the page!

As a three time teacher of the year I can fully recommend The King of the Trees for fun, adventure reading. The old theme of good vs evil is replayed in a refreshing setting. The plot and characters are believable and enjoyable. While the end is predictable to older readers, children will love this story. Parallels can be drawn between other good vs evil plots including: Lord of the Rings, The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, and many Bible stories.

This is wonderful book that you and your children will absolutely love. We read this every night together before going to bed and every night I was begged if we could read just one more chapter. This imaginative book will draw you and your children in and you will love the characters you come to know and the places you will go. I highly recommend this book and we are anxiously awaiting another to follow.

"May your sythan-ar ever flourish!"

..... and may you never run into a "yeg" upon your travels in the forest.

The author, William Elliot is someone you might know, the boy living next door, who went away to the University, whose parents died when he was young, someone who was raised by loving parents, that is, until they died when he was a teen. He keeps alive the values and love his parents showed him but he is searching for something. He is looking for meaning - meaning to their death and his loss. He was a psychology major at the University of Wisconsin when he conceived of interviewing the "wise and spiritual" people who are alive today. His method was deceptively simple ... he sought answers to 25 - 30 questions that might unlock the secrets to his dilemma. Questions such as, "What is the meaning or purpose of life?" "Do you believe in G-d or Ulitmate Reality?" "Why is there suffering, evil in the world? and What is its cause?" "What is important to you?" "What are the three most important problems in life?" He was dissuaded from pursuing this endeavor, to write a book about his conversation with the "wise and spiritual" people whom he interviewed. He overcame challenges and obstacles to interview the people on his list, all the while holding firmly to his goal. He met and interviewed: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Ram Dass, Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller, Jean Houston, Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Rabbi Harold Kushner, psychologist Albert Ellis, psychologist B.F. Skinner, Pir Vilayat Khan, Frances Vaughn, Stephen Levine and even Mother Theresa. He interviewed a total of 21 high-profile persons deemed 'wise and spiritual' by modern standards. The author does not interpret the answers for us, instead he writes out the answers given to him by each person interviewed. In some cases, he writes an introduction prior to the interview, letting the reader know how he managed to get an appointment or interview with the "important" person or else he describes some interesting event or circumstance concerning the interview. He seldom makes a judgement about the person or what they said ... his writing style is matter-of-fact and straight forward. This style of writing makes the book a valuable and worthwile reading experience. It is as if, you, yourself, decided what questions to ask and took the time to write out the answers, sometimes, in utter amazement, that you snagged the interview with his or her eminence ... The author also made a trek to Nepal to meditate and visit one of the most spiritual climates and areas of the world. We learn of his experiences and interactions with people he met there. This book is recommended for anyone who has any interest in spirituality or has read any book by the persons whom the author interviewed. It can be said the author found the truth which he was seeking ... Erika B. (erikab93)

William Elliott's writing style is easily read. The story of years and years of travels focuses on those interviewed and telling their story in such a way as to bring many interviews into a perspective for the reader's appreciation of what Elliott's life has been about -- all a well-woven fabric. His objective stays well-centered. That gave me a real sense in reading this most interesting book about various religous leaders and her/his successful living out their dedication. Elliott has indicated his next one is on experiences of 40 days in the desert in looking at how Jesus did his forty days there two centuries ago. I am excitedly looking for it to show on the market.

William Elliot is a brave soul who had the naive courage to approach some of the greatest philosophers and spiritual leaders of our times to gain their perspective on the meaning of life. Remarkably, he gained access to a number of these prophets, who answered his questions in a thoughtful and decidedly heartfelt manner. There is much to provoke thought and inspire action in these pages. As drawn as I was to the book, eager to move from interview to interview, I found I needed to pace myself to better absorb what I was reading. Sometimes I felt my heart sing with the joy of hearing the expression of a kindred spirit. Other times, my desire to be compassionate and respect the beliefs of all felt challenged by the expressions of people with a greatly divergent perspective. Both experiences were of great benefit to me. The wonder of this book, outside the fact that it even came to be, is the engaging narrative Elliott weaves through the interviews. In his unabashedly honest, touching, and humorous, style, Elliott wryly observes that the path to "knowing" can be a twisted and never ending journey of delightful surprises. Travel along with him, you won't be disappointed.

I've just finished reading The Crown of Eden, the first book in the Seven Kingdoms Chronicles, by Thomas Williams, and am very interested to learn more about this author and his writing. I've found little to no information about him on the internet. The most I know is that Word Publishing (Thomas Nelson) is the Publisher of this book.

The parallels to the gospel, and Christianity, that are woven into this magical tale of a Medieval world are amazing. And the way in which they are woven is nothing short of genius. I love the book, already love the author, and am desperate to learn more of him, and when the next books in the Chronicles are coming. I highly recommend this book, and encourage the reader to look closely to find for themselves what the writer is really writing about. Keep your Bibles handy!

Aradon and Volanna are the perfect fantasy hero and heroine. They are called on again and again to make difficult decisions in the midst of the intrigue and hardships that surround them. This book really has something to offer everyone -- romance, suspense, danger, humor. The hardest thing about reading this book is that it ends -- far sooner than you are willing to stop reading. I hope that Mr. Williams will continue this story of Aradon and Volanna, along with the other wonderful characters of the Seven Kingdoms. Read this -- I am sure you will feel the same!

This compelling love story set in medieval times shows the sacred convictions of beauty, morality, honor and integrity of which God originally intended. This book is ideal for helping instill Godly values in the younger readers, as well as support the values that are held dear by families that long for more depth in meaningful relationships.

Thomas Williams is right up there with C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. It's a MUST to read and I look forward to reading the sequels!

Before I say anything else, I want to make it clear that I just finished this book and I haven't yet tried Mr. Fay's techniques, although I am certainly anxious to do so.

The author says that this approach is very successful, but it seems to me more than a little formulaic. But if it works, that's great!

I think the idea of having the seeker read the Scripture passages himself is a good one. Although I certainly wouldn't even think of putting a limit on what God can do through the reading of His Word, I wonder what a person would think about the Bible passages if they put no stock in the Bible as the Word of God. There are people who won't be convinced by what the Bible says about itself, and those people might possibly be persuaded by outside sources such as the writings of Josephus and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Mr. Fay does a good job of telling you what people's objections to the Christian faith might be and how to answer them. He clearly outlines the Scriptures that you should share with those you're sharing your faith with. The appendices are very helpful and William Fay's testimony is fascinating, to say the least....

I've always wanted to share Jesus, but found it difficult. I was afraid of becoming tongue tied, forgetting scriptures, and flat out being rejected. William Fay's book, Share Jesus Without Fear has made it easy to share Jesus with others and offer them the chance to receive the gift of Salvation. Many Christians do not share their faith because they simply do not know how to begin a conversation. Fay gives helpful conversational starters and simple advice for the beginner. The jist of his book consists of 7 Bible scriptures to help you share your faith, simple questions to ask, and a prayer of salvation. Fay's plan for sharing Jesus is easy to follow. If your silence has been bugging you, this book is a must read. Begin to share Jesus without fear and you will be blessed.

This book provides an amazingly simple, yet very effective method for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. If you find it hard to know where to start or how to keep a conversation focused on the message of Christ, this book will give you confidence and tools to do so. At the core of this book is a non-argumentative way to engage in conversation about Jesus that could lead up to the person you are talking with realizing the gospel through reading scripture for themselves. The book also contains the amazing testimony of the author, William Fay, and provides answers to many questions people will raise when facing the pivotal decision of whether to accept Jesus. Even though the book outlines a "formula", it emphasizes following the Holy Spirit with examples of some of the author's experiances with being lead by the Spirit with amazing results. I was given this book and have since used what I've read to share the gospel with friends and co-workers. I am now buying several copies to hand out to my Christian friends who desire to share the hope they have in their lives due to Jesus, but aren't sure how to go about doing so.