If you only read one Christmas book this season, make it "The Light of Christmas" by Richard Paul Evans. This is a beautiful, well told story for children of all ages. "The Light of Christmas" pulled at my heart strings and brought tears to my eyes. This is a gift that I will share with my family and friends for Christmas. Thank you, Richard Paul Evans, for helping bring the meaning of Christmas back into my life.

As Christmas books come and go with each passing season, few have caught my attention as "The Light of Christmas" has. It encompasses the main idea of Christmas, which is that by reaching out to those in need, one learns the true message of why we celebrate the "Light" of Christmastime. Mr. Evans does a fantastic job by including such things as the "Light" and Santa Claus or rather Father Christmas, without pounding in too hard the message of Christ only. He does a very commendable job at combining the two, which I think would be a hard task for any author, especially with a children's book. On top of it all, the illustrations are absolutely beautiful, and are timeless in nature, so this book will be enjoyed for people of all ages and for many generations. This book is a must for every home!

This book tells a simple story about a boy who makes a hard decision that is both kind and generous. This story was read to a staff of adults at our annual Christmas party and all of us sat enrapt and charmed as we listened and watched each page turn. The pictures are beautiful and the story is something that all ages will enjoy. A delightful find and one that I will give as a gift each year.

This book helped me get started creating metal art sculptures, and gave me some nifty tricks to help me along the way.

This book was a great read, not only did it explore the Intricacies of metal sculpture, it explored the intellectual aspects of "art" itself.

Prior to having read this book, I knew little if anything about metal sculpture. Having read this book, I now know that I knew even less about the creative process. Mr. Evans has done an outstanding job of illustrating the metal sculpture process in a manner that provides creative stimulation as well as step-by-step instruction. He laces the pages of direction with insightful anecdotes of his life and philosophies. He guides you through the mental processes with the same grace and finesse that he uses to guide you through the mechanical processes. The exposure of his personal downfalls and triumphs clearly indicate that he is a normal, everyday type of person. That left me with the feeling of "If an ordinary guy like him can create this type of art, so can I!" That is exactly the type of motivation I have needed to help me begin my journey into the world of artistic creativity. I will be forever in his debt.

I read this book in a day...well half of it. I finished it in two days and I found it to be very informative about prison since the stories come from prisoners.

This compassionate collection of prisoner autobiographies made me feel very sad in places, angry in others, hopeful and encouraged in still others. The accounts, like the prisoners who wrote them, are diverse: their tone varies from poetic and sublime to gruesome and shocking. Few, if any, are self-pitying. The editor seems to have taken great pains in selecting pieces that tell a different story about criminals' lives: how backgrounds (mostly horrific) aren't always to blame for their choices in life, how criminals *can* tell right from wrong, and how deeply sorry (but not always able to express that sorrow, and seldom encouraged to do so) many of these prisoners are for the damage they've done to others and to themselves. This is a fascinating, revealing read. Anyone who has any interest at all in prisoners' backgrounds, crime or criminals will relish this superb collection of autobiographical stories that editor Jeff Evans has compiled.

I met the author of this book recently at a reading/signing in Brooklyn, NY and asked him why he wrote it. He was careful to point out that it was a collaborative effort of nearly 40 people but that he was always interested in the personal histories of prisoners and just could never find a book on them. Indeed, this is the first time I've ever come across a book like this too. I'm always skeptical about anything prisoners have to say, but I was deeply affected by the stories of these prisoners' lives. They were honest-sounding and eye-opening, and the piece by William Skeans, in which he describes his own family as "white trash" was especially heartbreaking. One woman prisoner wrote about her father's suicide and, although her piece was short, it left me feeling as numb as the author after she saw her blood-spattered mother seated in the living room. Not all criminals are witnesses to violence, but as Jimmy Santiago Baca writes in his preface, "For most of these writers, their childhood environment consisted of dope fiends, alcoholics, or thieves who lied, cheated, stole and raped, plundering their innocence and any chance of a normal life. When this happens to you as a kid, it virtually guarantees you'll end up behind bars." These well-chosen autobiographical stories will live on in your mind and make you think seriously about the nature of crime and our unforgiving justice system.

I recommend all of the Dictionary of ... books by IVP. They have done a great job on the articles. The price is reasonable for what you get.

The 'Dictionary of New Testament Background' is actually the fourth volume in a series that includes:

'Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels'
'Dictionary of Paul and His Letters'
'Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments'

While part of a series, each volume (including this one) is largely adequate as a stand-alone reference. This volume has taken a much different approach to the subject matter than previous volumes. 'It attempts to situation the New Testament and early Christianity in its literary, historical, social and religious context. This volume is concerned with archaeology, geography, numismatics, related writings, various historical figures, political institutions, historical events, peoples and culture. It is not tied to specific writings of the New Testament, as is the case with the three previous dictionaries.'

Taking full advantage of major strides in research, particularly in the areas of archaeology, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and linguistic and cultural studies, this work incorporates essays every major topic, and most minor topics, that have to do with formulating a greater understanding of the cultural, societal, economic, religious, linguistic, and historical background of New Testament times. This is a pivotal time in the history of the world, regardless of one's religious interest or orientation, and this dictionary covers topics that will be of interest to the scholar without theological interest as well as those who are looking to increase their background knowledge for purposes of reading the New Testament.

The editors are Craig Evans, professor of religious studies and director of the graduate programme in biblical studies at Trinity Western University, Langley, British Columbia, and Stanley Porter, research professor in New Testament at the University of Surrey Roehampton, London. Together these editors bring a background of scholars from Jewish and early Christian studies , as well as classical history and scriptural/textual studies. These editors led the team of over 200 scholars from around the world to put together this 1300+ page collection of essays and articles.

The articles range in length -- some no longer than 500 words to others of 10,000 words or more. The length is determined based upon the complexity of the subject and/or the relevance for New Testament research. Each article includes bibliographic information for further research, and most are cross-referenced for further reading within this volume.

Perhaps the best use of this text is in addition to bible study or education planning -- this is not a narrative, sit-down-and-read-it kind of text, although I have found myself many times picking it up for a quick reference, only to find myself an hour later still reading through the links to other topics.

Because this is part of a multi-volume set, the reader may be disappointed occasionally if one looks for certain topics (for instance, 'Gospel') and finds there is no such listing. This would be because the topic is covered in other volumes.

I would have argued for a bit different organisation -- inclusion of non-canonical writings under their titles, for instance, just as Dead Sea Scolls are included (for instance, there is an article of general introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls, but also some 36 other articles on specific Dead Sea Scrolls included under their title names, whereas the article on 'Apocryphal Gospels' includes reference to many of these gospels, but none merits its own article later).

This is a very minor criticism, however, of a generally excellent book.

The importance of a work such as this one cannot be stressed enough. In order to truly understand the New Testament, one must understand the world into which it was born. The Dictionary of New Testament Background gives the reader a comprehensive survey of the historical, social, religious, and literary context of the New Testament documents in a single volume.

Like the three previous dictionaries in the IVP series (Jesus, Paul, Later NT), this one is arranged alphabetically by topic, with plenty of cross-references. Most articles are 1,000 to 7,500 words in length, although a few contain 10,000+ words. In addition, each article is supplemented with a bibliography to guide the reader into a fuller treatment of a given topic.

The scholars who worked on this project are first-rate, most of them having published extensively in their field. Students of the New Testament will undoubtedly recognize the names of many of the contributors. The editors, to their credit, also drew from scholars in other disciplines such as archaeology, history, and classics, therefore ensuring the high quality of scholarship that the reader finds in this work.

The amount of information contained in this one is tremendous, but not overwhelming, and always relevant. It is also clearly written and up-to-date. All students, from the beginner to the scholar, will find this dictionary to be a useful resource in New Testament study. There is nothing negative that I can say about it. Sell your shirt and buy it.

This book contains a number of well-written essays on the "Old Testament" "Pseudepigrapha" and how such works were first interpreted. The insights to I Enoch and Jubilees, along with 4 Ezra and various books of the Apocrypha were particularly enlightening.

It is interesting to note the possible (dis)connection between the Apostle Paul and his theory of sin entering the world through one man and the teaching in the book of Sirach that sin enters the world through the woman. Perhaps both are true? Or, perhaps, Paul was trying to address an issue that he felt was untrue?

This is one of the books that puts early Christianity in its context more than many of the others because works such as Sirach are, in this book, evaluated as being just as important and relevant as the "canon" of Scripture itself.

For those interested in early Christianity, early Judaism, the "canon" of the Bible, and the writings of the New Testament in the context they were written in, this is an essential piece of literature to have.

... Craig Evans has given us a commentary on Luke that is packed with information. This commentary is not nearly as detailed or in-depth as others on Luke (i.e. Bock, Fitzmeyer, etc), but it wasn't intended to be; as is acknowledged by Evans in the introduction. Evans begins with a concise, yet helpful introduction in which he argues that this gospel was written by Luke, a companion of Paul, sometime around 75-85 C.E.

After the intro, Evans picks up the commentary on Luke by breaking it into sections of roughly a half chapter in length. The commentary is based on the NIV translation. For a commentary as short as this one, I was amazed at the amount of historical background provided. Its obvious that Evans is very well-read on this gospel. He covers many differing opinions on passages which have received different interpretations.

If you're looking for your first commentary on Luke and you're on a tight budget, then you can't go wrong with this one.... Evans fills a much needed area by providing an affordable, yet scholarly commentary on Luke.

I read this book a few years back, and remember it fondly. The book starts off with a little history of advertising, and it was fun to read. After that, the book gets into the meat of what is possible with cable television. I don't think the whole scope of what Mr. Evan's envisioned has come to pass, but I think he got close.

This is the diary of a 13-year-old boy who accompanies his father to fight for the south in the civil war. I found it to be far to brief and shallow, considering the topic. It seems to be arguing the justice of fighting for the south, but doesn't explain why the father is willing to die, when the family is obviously against slavery. The book is,however, well written and will leave you wanting more. I would recommend this book to 5-7th graders who are looking for an easy read and new perspective on the civil war.

Mr. Evans has definitely done his research in this subject, and I definitely believe that these types of books can be helpful for the true Christian to get additional insight into the lives of those who were close to our Lord and Saviour. But, I do not think that Canonical books can or should be compared to Apocryphal writings. If anything, the texts in question should be held in a dubious light considering the fact that they are not placed anywhere in our Bible.