The Return

HCSB Study Bible: Personal Size Holman Bible Publishers 2014 The publisher states that this Bible contains comprehensive study notes, full-color maps and reconstructions, and word studies in Greek and Hebrew.   They have not overstated their presence.   The study notes are indeed plentiful, useful and insightful.   The word studies give pronunciation, uses, and focus passage with a short discussion relevant to the term examined.   There are also timelines which I find helpful to keep events and kings sorted out, as are the charts found throughout the entire text that summarize or categorize different areas.   Essays, book introductions and other available features make this an excellent study Bible.   The translation philosophy is given in the introductory sections.   The Biblical text reads easily and plainly.   I recommend this translation and the study aids found here as an excellent study Bible.  Wish I'd had one back when I ...

This NIV Bible version contains notes written by Stephen Arterburn and David Stoop. Arterburn hosts a Christian counseling program and Stoop is a licensed clinical psychologist and appears as a co-host on the Arterburn program from time to time.   Together the publisher has compiled several helpful features for the reader follow in seeking spiritual renewal.   My comments will address those items only and leave the Biblical text commentary to the experts.    The introductory section suggests starting with the Spiritual Keys Devotional Reading Plan (xv) which, to me, resembles a twelve step approach that use seven stages rather than the usual number.   Each Key provides two weeks of devotionals prompted by an accompanying Bible reading. The reading that follows is noted and leads to the next.   Both the Old and New Testaments are considered within each of the seven keys.   A serious reader can benefit from following this track.   That is n...

Review: Awakening Faith: Daily Devotions from the Early Church James Stuart Bell with Patrick J. Kelly Zondervan 2013 Who knew?   I certainly didn’t.   What a rich legacy those of the early church have left for us!   And it’s been all but lost to the majority of the believers in modern times.   Lots of reasons for that loss, but this isn’t the place for listing them. What it is the place for is to appreciate what Bell and Kelly, along with all those that make this sort of work happen, have done for us.   The introduction explains a little about the Church Fathers and what some of their concerns were, how they understood their life and times, and some of the encouragement they offered.   A short biographical sketch of each of them is included at the end of the book.   I found that very helpful in placing them in their respective time frame.   Polycarp was very early and Maximus the Confessor about 500 years later. One of them eve...