Search results for ""Author Craig L. Blomberg""

The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today's context.To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today's world, each passage is treated in three sections: Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context. Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible. Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved. This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today's preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God's Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.

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One of the most difficult questions facing us today is that of the proper attitude toward possessions. In wealthy nations such as Britain and the USA, individuals accumulate much and yet are daily exposed to the plight of the poor, whether the homeless on their own city streets or starving children on their TV screens. What action should they take on behalf of the poor? What should they do with their own possessions? In Neither Poverty nor Riches Craig Blomberg asks what the Bible has to say to these issues. He avoids easy answers, and instead seeks a comprehensive biblical theology of possessions. Beginning with the groundwork laid by the Old Testament and the ideas developed in the intertestamental period, he draws out what the whole New Testament has to say on the subject and finally offers conclusions and applications relevant to the modern world. This is a book that all concerned with issues of poverty and wealth should read.

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Christianity Today Book Award Winner Challenges to the reliability of Scripture are perennial and have frequently been addressed. However, some of these challenges are noticeably more common today, and the topic is currently of particular interest among evangelicals. In this volume, highly regarded biblical scholar Craig Blomberg offers an accessible and nuanced argument for the Bible's reliability in response to the extreme views about Scripture and its authority articulated by both sides of the debate. He believes that a careful analysis of the relevant evidence shows we have reason to be more confident in the Bible than ever before. As he traces his own academic and spiritual journey, Blomberg sketches out the case for confidence in the Bible in spite of various challenges to the trustworthiness of Scripture, offering a positive, informed, and defensible approach.

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People regularly give certain reasons for not believing in God, but they are much less aware of what the New Testament actually teaches. Although challenges to Christianity are perennial and have frequently been addressed, they are noticeably more common today and are currently of particular interest among evangelicals. Skeptics of Christianity often ask highly regarded biblical scholar and popular speaker Craig Blomberg how he can believe in a faith that seems so problematic. How can God allow evil and suffering? Isn't the Bible anti-women, anti-gay, and proslavery? Isn't the New Testament riddled with contradictions? What about the nature of hell, violence in Scripture, and prayer and predestination? Following the author's successful Can We Still Believe the Bible?, this succinct and readable book focuses on what the New Testament teaches about ten key reasons people give for not believing in God.

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Christianity Today 2024 Book Award (Biblical Studies) The third quest for the historical Jesus has reached an impasse. But a fourth quest is underway--one that draws from a heretofore largely neglected source: John's Gospel. In this book, renowned New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg advances the idea that John is a viable and valuable source for studying the historical Jesus. The data from John should be integrated with that of the Synoptics, which will yield additional insights into Jesus's emphases and ministry. Blomberg begins by reviewing the first three quests, reassessing both their contributions and their shortcomings. He then discusses the emerging consensus regarding demonstrably historical portions of John, which are more numerous than usually assumed. Peeling back the layers, we discover in Jesus's ministry an emphasis on purity and purification. The Synoptics corroborate this discovery, specifically in Jesus's meals with sinners. Blomberg then explores the practical and contemporary applications of Jesus the purifier, including the "contagious holiness" that Jesus's followers can spread to others.

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Written with the rigor and precision of a New Testament specialist, Preaching the Parables provides a responsible introduction to understanding and proclaiming the parables that pastors, church leaders, and seminary students will appreciate. Craig Blomberg demonstrates how the structure of a parable is key to its interpretation and thus to its exposition. He shows how a parable, when properly contemporized, can be a powerful rhetorical device, and that recognizing the elements of the parable that were atypical to everyday life leads to important surprises that will be of significance to contemporary parishioners. Each of the fifteen exemplary sermons is accompanied by an analysis that points out key interpretive decisions.

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One of humanity's most basic and common practices - eating meals - was transformed by Jesus into an occasion of divine encounter. In sharing food and drink with his companions, he invited them to share in the grace of God. His redemptive mission was revealed in his eating with sinners, repentant and unrepentant alike. Jesus' 'table fellowship' with sinners in the Gospels has been widely agreed to be historically reliable. However, this consensus has recently been challenged, for example, by the claim that the meals in which Jesus participated took the form of Greco-Roman symposia - or that the 'sinners' involved were the most flagrantly wicked within Israel's society, not merely the ritually impure or those who did not satisfy strict Pharisaic standards of holiness. In this excellent and thorough study, Craig Blomberg engages with the debate and opens up the significance of the topic. He surveys meals in the Old Testament and the intertestamental period, examines all the Gospel texts relevant to Jesus' eating with sinners, and concludes with some contemporary applications.

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Many evangelical readers who have learned the basics of eschatology from popular authors and more recently from novelists assume that dispensational premillennialism, with its distinctive teachings about the pretribulation rapture of the church, is the only reliable view of the end times and the return of Christ. This volume, however, offers a compelling case for an alternative perspective--one that was widely prevalent throughout church history. The contributors, all respected scholars in their respective fields, suggest that classic premillennialism offers believers a more coherent and viable approach to understanding eschatology. Their studies, which examine eschatology from biblical, theological, historical, and missiological approaches, provide a broadly accessible argument for returning to the perspectives of historic premillennial eschatology.

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This handbook provides a one-stop-shopping guide to the New Testament exegetical method. Brief and approachable, it offers both a broad overview of the exegetical process and a step-by-step approach to studying the New Testament in depth, helping students and pastors understand the text and appropriate it responsibly. The book is chock-full of illustrations of New Testament texts where the method under discussion truly makes a difference. "A wonderfully clear and accessible handbook for New Testament exegesis. Exegetically rigorous, theologically informed, and practically useful."--Thomas R. Schreiner, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

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What does the Bible say about money, material possessions, and stewardship? In Christians in an Age of Wealth, Craig Blomberg addresses tough questions about the place and purpose of wealth and material possessions in a Christian's life. He points to the goodness of wealth, as God originally designed it, but also surveys the Bible's many warnings against making an idol out of money.Taking a close exegetical look at this topic as it’s discussed in Scripture, Blomberg answers the toughest questions about Christianity and wealth: Is there any one key to keeping possessions in their proper, God-intended perspective? Are there limits on how rich we should become or on how poor we should allow others to get? What does a truly Christian economic system look like? How does the Bible's teaching on wealth fit into the gospel? Blomberg expounds upon how the sharing of goods and possessions is the key safeguard against both greed and covetousness. He expands on the concept of giving generously, even sacrificially, to those who are needier, demonstrating how Christians can participate in God's original good design for abundance and demonstrate the world-altering gospel of Christ.____________Part of the Biblical Theology for Life series, this practical and challenging book will help you and your church ground your worldly possessions on the solid foundation of biblical understanding and reflection.

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Understanding generational differences is a key to effective ministry in a multigenerational church. This book offers students and practitioners cutting-edge research and biblical analysis of three generations--Boomers, GenXers, and Millennials--so churches can minister more effectively within and across generational lines. The authors, one an expert on generational differences and the other a respected New Testament scholar, represent different generations and areas of expertise. The book explores key characteristics of each generation, provides biblical-theological analysis of generational attributes, and offers specific suggestions for ministry.

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Is there enough evidence to believe Jesus rose from the dead, or must such a judgment be based only on faith? Can the resurrection story be considered a fact of history, or should it be viewed as an ahistorical account? Two renowned professors, atheist Carl Stecher and Christian Craig Blomberg, engage in a groundbreaking new debate on these very questions. Other experts on the resurrection, atheist Richard Carrier and Christian Peter S. Williams, comment on the outcome. Presenting new approaches to these centuries-old questions and taking into account the latest scholarly research, Resurrection: Faith or Fact? is a must-have not only for all those following the resurrection question—but also for those skeptics and Christians alike who are interested in determining for themselves the truth behind this foundational doctrine of the Christian faith.

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Fully revised and updated edition. This companion volume to Craig Blomberg's widely-appreciated Jesus and the Gospels covers the rest of the New Testament, from the Acts of the Apostles to the book of Revelation. It surveys the most crucial matters of introduction in sufficient detail to provide the necessary background for correct interpretation of these New Testament texts. Mindful of the needs and interests of twenty-first-century students, the authors also deal with the structure and contents of each book, and the distinctive exegetical issues, and give pointers to contemporary application. The clear, accessible and up-to-date text includes numerous figures, maps and bibliographies. From Pentecost to Patmos enables readers to come to a better understanding of first-century Christianity and its literature that came to be treated as uniquely authoritative. This will lead to a greater appreciation of the Lord Jesus Christ, worshipped by the early church, often in hostile circumstances and in the face of difficulties remarkably similar to those the church experiences today throughout the world.

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Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, now in its third edition, is a bestselling hermeneutics textbook that sets forth concise, logical, and practical guidelines for discovering the truth in God’s Word.With updates and revisions throughout that keep pace with current scholarship, this book offers students the best and most up-to-date information needed to interpret Scripture.Introduction to Biblical Interpretation: Defines and describes hermeneutics, the science of biblical interpretation Suggests effective methods to understand the meaning of the biblical text Surveys the literary, cultural, social, and historical issues that impact any text Evaluates both traditional and modern approaches to Bible interpretation Examines the reader’s role as an interpreter of the text and helps identify what the reader brings to the text that could distort its message Tackles the problem of how to apply the Bible in valid and significant ways today Provides an extensive and revised annotated list of books that readers will find helpful in the practice of biblical interpretation Used in college and seminary classrooms around the world, this textbook is a trusted and valuable tool for students and other readers who desire to understand and apply the Bible.

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This workbook accompanies the third edition of Introduction to Biblical Interpretation by William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard Jr. Following the textbook’s structure, it offers readings, activities, and exercises designed to teach students how to understand and apply the Bible.This workbook gives students a chance to get hands-on experience in interpreting biblical texts as they are guided along by insightful questions and pointers from the authors. Ultimately the workbook is designed to get students interacting with the content of the textbook and with the biblical text in a way that helps reinforce classroom learning, while at the same time giving both student and instructor a way to gauge how well the student is learning the material from the textbook.The third edition of a classic hermeneutics textbook sets forth concise, logical, and practical guidelines for discovering the truth in God’s Word. A valuable tool for readers who desire to understand and apply the Bible, this text: Defines and describes hermeneutics, the science of biblical interpretation Suggests effective methods to understand the meaning of the biblical text Surveys the literary, cultural, social, and historical issues that impact any text Evaluates both traditional and modern approaches to Bible interpretation Examines the reader’s role as an interpreter of the text and helps identify what the reader brings to the text that could distort its message Tackles the problem of how to apply the Bible in valid and significant ways today Provides an extensive and revised annotated list of books that readers will find helpful in the practice of biblical interpretation

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