Douglas Petrovich has a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, with a major in Syro-Palestinian archaeology, and minors in both ancient Egyptian language and ancient Near Eastern religions. Petrovich is the former academic dean and professor at Novosibirsk Biblical-Theological Seminary and currently teaches Ancient Egypt at Wilfrid Laurier University. He is the author of numerous academic, peer-reviewed articles and the groundbreaking new book The World’s Oldest Alphabet: Hebrew as the Language of the Proto-consonantal Script (Carta Jerusalem, 2016).

The World’s Oldest Alphabet is divided into four sections: (1) background matters to the proto-consonantal inscriptions, (2) the inscriptions of the period of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, (3) the inscriptions of the period of Egypt’s New Kingdom, and (4) concluding thoughts. Most readers will do well to spend time in the initial section of the book. Petrovich does a phenomenal job introducing the issues and methodology of the book, including the placement of…

Reinhold Niebuhr (Makers of the Modern Theological Mind), Bob E. Patterson. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2017 (originally published in 1977).

Summary: An introduction to the life and theological contribution of this mid-twentieth century theologian, known for re-introducing a conversation about sin into liberal theological circles.

Reinhold Niebuhr was one of a group of “neo-orthodox” and more liberal theologians who dominated the theological landscape of the mid-twentieth century, along with Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Paul Tillich, and Rudolf Bultmann. Niebuhr’s distinction was that he was the one American in the group (Tillich emigrated to the U.S. during World War II). He may have been the most influential American-born theologian since Jonathan Edwards. His “Christian realism” informed the thinking of architect of Cold War era policy George Kennan and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and he was a favorite theologian of both Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.

This book…

The Twice-Told Tale: Parallels in the Bibleis an English rendition of Abba Bendavid’s infamous work Parallels in the Bible—a collation of parallel accounts from the Hebrew Bible. Bendavid is an accomplished Hebraist and respected linguist, and author of Biblical Hebrew and Mishnaic Hebrew (Tel Aviv, 1967).

The Twice-Told Tale begins with an introduction by Mordechai Cogan. Cogan is professor emeritus of Biblical History at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and author of numerous books, including The Raging Torrent: Historical Inscriptions from Assyria and Babylonia Relating to Ancient Israel (2nd edition; Carta, 2016). Cogan is also the editor to the present volume, and the introduction, though brief, provides a rationale for the choices therein.

There is much to be celebrated about this volume. For starters, it is both comprehensible and exhaustive. The reader is able to easily find the desired text and analyze the various parallels which mark the…

This is the book that I will be taking with me if I am ever privileged to tour Turkey and all the Bible sites there involving Paul or the Seven Churches of the Revelation. Since I have done some solo touring in Israel, I know what I’m looking for in a book that I would want to carry with me every day of the trip, and this is that kind of book. This second edition is an attractive hardback that would still easily fit in a backpack for travels. In the meanwhile, this book will also serve as an outstanding Bible study resource.

The book begins with some vivid maps of First Century Asia Minor, followed by maps of Paul’s First and Second Missionary Journeys. In fact, the maps were created by Tutku Tours. After a brief introduction, chapter 1 introduces us to Ephesus. After background information and Bible history…

Elaine A. Phillips is Distinguished Professor of Biblical Studies at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. Phillips has a Ph.D. in rabbinic literature from The Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her areas of expertise include biblical hermeneutics, historical geography, and Old Testament wisdom literature. Phillips is the author of a book-length commentary on Esther in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary series edited by Tremper Longman III and Davide Garland (Zondervan, 2010), and the devotional With God, Nothing is Impossible: In Step with Women of the Bible (Deep River Books, 2014). In her latest book, An Introduction to Reading the Biblical Wisdom Texts, Phillps offers an accessible tour de force of the wisdom literature of the Hebrew Bible.

An Introduction to Reading Biblical Wisdom Texts is designed for undergraduate students and interested laypersons looking to broaden their understanding of this important literary genre. Phillips has divided the…