The 12 Days Before Christmas Book Giveaway: Day 11

Well, Christmas is almost here! I hope you’ve enjoyed Cross Focused Media’s 12 Days Before Christmas Book Giveaway this year. Giving away 203 books/media has certainly helped us get in the Christmas Sporit! The 21 publishers who have made this possible have certainly been generous. We hope that this giveaway will also help introduce you all to these great companies and their fine products. Good Christian books change lives, and we hope to in some small way help further the impact of Christian materials in the lives of those who come across our blogs.

We still have big giveaways today and tomorrow. Be sure to check back in with us in the new year, too, as we may be bringing you new giveaways from time to time. Or better yet, sign up for our free newsletter (at the bottom of our giveaway form).

Now, today’s giveaway is sponsored by Reformation Heritage Books, Zondervan, Christian Focus Publications, InterVarsity Press, Theocentric Publishing Group, and Sovereign Grace Ministries. From the books and CDs provided by these fine publishers, we have assembled the following four prize packs. You’ll want to use the links provided to answer the questions in the entry form below.

Prize #1

The Gathering CD (Sovereign Grace Music) For Calvinism by Michael S. Horton (Zondervan) Against Calvinism by Roger E. Olson (Zondervan) Joy in Worship by James Vickery (Theocentric)
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Prize #2

The Gathering CD (Sovereign Grace Music) Reading Scripture with the Reformers by Timothy George (IVP) Reformation Heroes by Joel R. Beeke & Diana Kleyn (Reformation Heritage)
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Making Godly Choices by Martin Murphy & James Vickery (Theocentric) Magnify the Lord by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Christian Focus)
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Prize #3

The Gathering CD (Sovereign Grace Music) Taking Hold of God edited by Joel Beeke & Brian Najapfour (Reformation Heritage) Taking a Serious God Seriously by James Perry (Theocentric)
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Experiencing Spiritual Encouragement by Ann Varnum (Theocentric) Children and the Lord’s Supper edited by Guy Waters & Ligon Duncan (Christian Focus)
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Prize #4

Amos (Focus on the Bible series) by T.J. Betts (Christian Focus) Meet the Puritans by Joel Beeke & Randall Pederson (Reformation Heritage) The Essence of Christian Doctrine by Martin Murphy (Theocentric)
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Developing a Healthy Prayer Life by James Beeke and Joel Beeke (Reformation Heritage) My Christian Apology by Martin Murphy (Theocentric)
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Contest is now closed. Winners will be announced soon.

The 12 Days Before Christmas Book Giveaway: Day 8

Anyone ready for another giveaway? This 12 Days Before Christmas Book Giveaway sure has been a lot of fun!

Today is day 8 of the giveaway and it is sponsored by several publishers: JourneyForth (BJU Press), Chiara Press, Grace Acres Press, Master Books (New Leaf Publishing) and Zondervan.

We will have three winners today, who will win a combined total of 19 books! The prizes will be spelled out below. First, I want to highlight the various books available in today’s giveaway.

From JourneyForth (BJU Press)

Through Jewish Eyes by Craig Hartman

Preview the book here.

Learn more at BJUPress.com.

God Is More than Enough by Jim Berg

Preview the book here.

Learn more at BJUPress.com and QuietingaNoisySoul.com.

From Chiara Press

The Sword of the Lord: The Roots of Fundamentalism in an American Family by Andrew Himes

Preview the book here.

Learn more at SwordoftheLordBook.com.

For this book, you can read my review and see my blurb for the book as found inside the front cover [just scroll down a bit on this page].

From Grace Acres Press

Walking in Broken Shoes: A Nurse’s Story of Haiti and the Earthquake by Susan Magnuson Walsh

Preview the book here.

Learn more at GraceAcresPress.com.

Growing Up Yanomamö: Missionary Adventures in the Amazon Rainforest by Michael Dawson

Preview the book here.

Learn more at GraceAcresPress.com.

Solid Stepping Stones for the Christian Journey by Robert P. Lightner

Preview the book here.

Learn more at GraceAcresPress.com.

Mr. Awana: Over 60 Years of Impacting the World for Christ by Art Rorheim

Preview the book here.

Learn more at GraceAcresPress.com.

Beyond the Expectations: Learning to Obey by Dave Wager

Preview the book here.

Learn more at GraceAcresPress.com.

Life Before Death: A Restored, Regenerated, and Renewed Life by Ian Leitch

Preview the book here.

Learn more at GraceAcresPress.com.

From Master Books (New Leaf Publishing)

The Answers Book Series by Ken Ham

Preview book 1, book 2 & book 3.

Learn more at NewLeafPublishingGroup.com.

From Zondervan

4 Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism edited by Collin Hansen and Andrew D. Naselli

Preview the book here.

Learn more at Zondervan.com.

Read an excerpt from this book, that I posted here.

Today’s Prizes

Each winner will receive a free copy of the books listed below.

1st Prize 2nd Prize 3rd Prize
  • Through Jewish Eyes (BJU Press)
  • God is More Than Enough (BJU Press)
  • The Sword of the Lord (Chiara Press)
  • The Answers Book Series [3 books] (Master Books)
  • 4 Views on the Spectrum of Evangelicalism (Zondervan)
  • Through Jewish Eyes (BJU Press)
  • God is More Than Enough (BJU Press)
  • The Sword of the Lord (Chiara Press)
  • Life Before Death (Grace Acres Press)
  • Solid Stepping Stones (Grace Acres Press)
  • Growing Up Yanomamo (Grace Acres Press)
  • Through Jewish Eyes (BJU Press)
  • God is More Than Enough (BJU Press)
  • The Sword of the Lord (Chiara Press)
  • Beyond the Expectations (Grace Acres Press)
  • Walking in Broken Shoes (Grace Acres Press)
  • Mr. Awana (Grace Acres Press)

Enter Today’s Contest

The contest is now closed. Winners will be announced shortly.

The 12 Days Before Christmas Book Giveaway: Day 5

Today is day 5 of the 4th Annual 12 Days Before Christmas Book Giveaway! We’ve already had four incredible book giveaways and today’s is just as spectacular. The sponsors for today’s giveaway are Accordance Bible Software, Broadman and Holman Publishing, and Zondervan. There are three prize packs in today’s contest. To change things up a bit, I’ll list them in reverse order.

At the bottom of this post, will be a short entry form. For today’s entry, all you need to do is fill out your name and email and hit submit. You can answer the bonus question for an extra entry, and check off how you’ll spread the word about the giveaway for additional entries. But please take the time to enter the giveaway. You might just win! It’s free, it’s fun, and its coming up on Christmas! Thanks again to the publishers for making this giveaway possible.

Prize #3

Christian Leadership Essentials: A Handbook for Managing Christian Organizations edited by David S. Dockery [B & H]

Publisher’s Description: Christian Leadership Essentials finds university president David S. Dockery assembling a great wealth of tried and true insights on the distinctive methods of leading Christian organizations and institutions. No matter how much experience a faith-based leader may already have, there are plenty of fresh thoughts and indispensable guiding principles here on topics including finance and budget planning, mission and vision, employee relations, theological foundations, mentoring, crisis management, and more.

A majority of the nineteen contributors are active academic presidents, including Robert B. Sloan (Houston Baptist University; “A Biblical Model of Leadership”), Judson Carlberg (Gordon College; “Managing the Organization”), Jon Wallace (Azusa Pacific University; “Financial Oversight and Budget Planning”), Evans Whitaker (Anderson University [South Carolina]; “Development, Campaigns, and Building Projects”), Carl Zylstra (Dordt College; “Accreditation and Government Relations”), Jim Edwards (Anderson University [Indiana]; “Relationships with Multiple and Various Constituencies”), Phil Eaton (Seattle Pacific University; “Employee Relations in a Grace-filled Community”), Barry Corey (Biola University; “Engaging the Culture”), and Randall O’Brien (Carson-Newman College; “The Leader as Mentor and Pastor”).

Learn more atBHPublishingGroup.com.

Christian America? Perspectives on Our Religious Heritage edited by Daryl C. Cornett [B & H]

Publisher’s Description: Throughout her history America has possessed a rich religious component largely comprised of different traditions of the Christian faith. This tide of personal religious devotion connected to government observances and policies has ebbed and flowed through time, but it has always been a part of American identity””one that is full of social and political debate. As such, Christian America? presents a hearty point-counterpoint discussion about the nature of the relationship Christianity has had to American politics and culture throughout the country’s existence, aiming to determine which of these four differing opinions is most appropriate. David Barton (WallBuilders) supports the idea that America is distinctly Christian based on centuries of authoritative government declarations. Jonathan D. Sassi (College of Staten Island) believes America is distinctly secular based on the nation’s religiously eclectic and secular beginning (particularly the emphasis on “the complete separation of church and state”). William D. Henard (The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) sees America as essentially Christian, making his case for the nation’s crucial faith component while exploring varied interpretations of comments like one made in 2009 by President Barack Obama: “Although… we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation…” Daryl C. Cornett, the book’s editor, argues that America is partly Christian, a nation that was shaped by a blend of religious and non-religious tendencies. He writes, “After the Civil War steady decline in religious adherence was the impetus for evangelicals to mythologize American history and pine for a return to a golden age of Christian faith and virtue at its founding that never existed.”

Learn more at BHPublishingGroup.com.

Keep Your Greek: Strategies for Busy People by Constantine R. Campbell [Zondervan]

Publisher’s Description: Seminarians spend countless hours mastering biblical languages and learning how the knowledge of them illuminates the reading, understanding, and application of Scripture. But while excellent language acquisition resources abound, few really teach students how to maintain their use of Greek for the long term. Consequently, pastors and other former Greek students find that under the pressures of work, ministry, preaching, and life, their hard-earned Greek skills begins to disappear. Con Campbell has been counseling one-time Greek students for years, teaching them how to keep their language facility for the benefit of those to whom they minister and teach. He shows how following the right principles makes it possible for many to retain””and in some cases regain””their Greek language skills. Pastors will find Keep Your Greek an encouraging and practical guide to strengthening their Greek abilities so that they can make linguistic insights a regular part of their study and teaching. Current students will learn how to build skills that will serve them well once they complete their formal language instruction.

Learn more at Zondervan.com.

Prize #2

The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament by Eugene H. Merrill, Mark Rooker and Michael A. Grisanti [B & H]

Publisher’s Description: The World and the Word is a fresh introduction to the Old Testament driven largely by the fact that so much Christian preaching and teaching today increasingly ignores what is eighty percent of the Bible. Authors Eugene Merrill, Mark Rooker, and Michael Grisanti work through the world and text of the Old Testament always making three major points:

  • The Old Testament is a rich source of theology and doctrine that is presupposed by the New Testament. Without it, Christian theology would be seriously deficient.
  • Mastery of the Old Testament is crucial to an understanding of the New Testament.
  • The Old Testament offers, by teaching and example, practical principles of belief and behavior for contemporary times. Who God was and what He did then can be replicated in the lives of men and women today.

Separating the verifiable biblical and extra-biblical data from the various interpretations of that same information, the book further shows how the Old Testament forms the platform and matrix from which sprang the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus and the church. The World and the Word will help students see an entry point into the very heart and design of God who loves them and wishes to make them the special object of His grace.

Learn more at BHPublishingGroup.com.

The Lord’s Supper: Remembering and Proclaiming Christ Until He Comes edited by Thomas R. Schreiner and Matthew R. Crawford [B & H]

Publisher’s Description: “As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “˜Take and eat it; this is My body.'” -Matthew 26:26 (HCSB)

A follow-up to Believer’s Baptism in the New American Commentary Studies in Bible & Theology series, The Lord’s Supper explores the current Baptist view of the communion sacrament. Contributors include Andreas Köstenberger (“The Lord’s Supper as a Passover Meal”), Jonathan Pennington (“The Last Supper in the Gospels”), Jim Hamilton (“The Lord’s Supper in Paul”), and Michael Haykin (“Communion in the Early Church”). Adding a helpful perspective, chapters are also provided on the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, and Zwinglian views of communion.

Learn more at BHPublishingGroup.com.

Keep Your Greek: Strategies for Busy People by Constantine R. Campbell [Zondervan]

Publisher’s Description: Seminarians spend countless hours mastering biblical languages and learning how the knowledge of them illuminates the reading, understanding, and application of Scripture. But while excellent language acquisition resources abound, few really teach students how to maintain their use of Greek for the long term. Consequently, pastors and other former Greek students find that under the pressures of work, ministry, preaching, and life, their hard-earned Greek skills begins to disappear. Con Campbell has been counseling one-time Greek students for years, teaching them how to keep their language facility for the benefit of those to whom they minister and teach. He shows how following the right principles makes it possible for many to retain””and in some cases regain””their Greek language skills. Pastors will find Keep Your Greek an encouraging and practical guide to strengthening their Greek abilities so that they can make linguistic insights a regular part of their study and teaching. Current students will learn how to build skills that will serve them well once they complete their formal language instruction.

Learn more at Zondervan.com.

For a more personal look at this book, read my own book review or Shaun’s review from BibleGeekGoneWild.com.

Prize #1

Essential IVP Reference Collection [Accordance Bible Software / InterVarsity Press]

Publisher’s Description: The best scholarship. The most up-to-date information. Useful. Fascinating. Easy. Now for the Macintosh using the Accordance system from OakTree Software. Other CD-ROM reference libraries today make you pay for dozens of out-of-date, public domain books that do not give you the best and most recent scholarship–the timely and reliable information you want and need. By contrast, The Essential IVP Reference Collection includes only work from the best of today’s biblical and theological scholars.

You’ll have instant access to IVP’s award-winning New Testament dictionary series (Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments, Dictionary of New Testament Background), the immensely popular Bible background commentaries (IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament), and the New Bible Dictionary and New Bible Commentary, which have set the standard for Bible reference books for over a generation. And that’s just the beginning! Does a particular verse trouble you? Hard Sayings of the Bible gives in-depth explanations of over 500 of the most difficult passages in the Old and New Testaments. Are you interested in the meaning of recurring images in Scripture? The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery will aid your exploration of the themes, metaphors, imagery and patterns of Scripture. New Bible Atlas, New Dictionary of Biblical Theology and New Dictionary of Theology will help round out your study of the places, peoples, interpretations and implications of biblical teaching. Finally, four convenient “pocket” dictionaries offer a quick-reference resource covering biblical studies, the study of New Testament Greek, theological terms, and apologetics and the philosophy of religion.

On this single CD for the Macintosh you’ll find:

  • over a dozen of IVP’s award-winning reference books
  • the equivalent of over 12,000 pages of printed material
  • over 10 million words of the most up-to-date information on the Bible, Bible history, cultural background and theology
  • the authoritative work of hundreds of today’s leading biblical and theological scholars from all over the world
  • a money-saving package that includes the equivalent of over $450 worth of printed books
    easy-to-use software that will have you up and going in minutes
  • a free KJV Bible
  • complete user’s manual included right on the CD-ROM for easy access
  • every book interconnected to work as a single reference source

This exclusive collection includes works you’ll find nowhere else on CD-ROM, including many published during 2000-2002. The Essential IVP Reference Collection is ideal for pastors, scholars, students, Sunday school teachers and anyone who is serious about studying the Bible!

System requirements: Macintosh System 7.1 to OS X (Not compatible with OSX Lion). (or PC with Macintosh Emulator). Runs on Accordance software from OakTree.

Learn more at AccordanceBible.com.

Day 5’s giveaway is now closed. Head over to CrossFocusedReviews.com, to see Day 6’s prizes and enter the contest there.

“The Baker Illustrated Bible Handbook” edited by J. Scott Duvall & J. Daniel Hays: A Video Review

The Baker Illustrated Bible Handbook is such an attractive and beautiful book, I just had to try my hand at providing a video review. The book is as useful and informative as it is visually stunning. Unfortunately, my video review will not be of a high enough quality to do justice to the book. But please watch and let me know what you think. If the video player doesn’t work on this post, click to watch my review on Youtube or Vimeo.

You can purchase this book at the following online retailers:

Disclaimer: This book was provided by Baker Books. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

How Tall Was Goliath?

Recently, Baker Books came out with a beautiful full color illustrated Bible handbook. I’ve enjoyed paging through this gem of a resource and am planning to post my review of it next week. When I came across the article it contained on Goliath’s height, I knew I’d have to share it with my blog audience. You’ll probably be as fascinated and intrigued by this article as I was.

The Baker Illustrated Bible Handbook is chuck full of other nuggets of interesting information, as well as countless Bible study aids. You can find this article on pg. 177, but be sure to pick up your own copy of this book (at Amazon, Christianbook.com, Barnes & Noble, or direct from Baker).

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How Tall Was Goliath?

In the Hebrew text that most of our English Bibles are based on, the height of Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:4 is “six cubits and a span.” In the ancient world, a cubit was about eighteen inches, and a span was about nine inches. Thus Goliath would have been about nine feet, nine inches tall. This is the way he has usually been portrayed in Christian tradition.

Surprisingly, in a scroll of Samuel found with the Dead Sea Scrolls, the height of Goliath is given as “four cubits and a span,” or only about six feet, nine inches. Likewise, the Septuagint, the early translation of the Old Testament into Greek and the Bible of the early church, also lists the height of Goliath as “four cubits and a span.”

The oldest Hebrew manuscript that has “six cubits and a span” dates to AD 935. No Hebrew manuscripts earlier than this list Goliath’s height at “six cubits and a span.” The Samuel scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls, however (reading “four cubits and a span”), dates to about 50 BC, nearly one thousand years earlier. Likewise, we have Greek manuscripts of the Septuagint reading “four cubits and a span” that date to the fourth and fifth centuries AD.

Scholars are not quite sure what to make of this. In recent years, more and more scholars are acknowledging that the earlier manuscripts might contain a reading that is more likely to be original; thus perhaps Goliath was only six feet, nine inches.

Nothing else in the text requires Goliath to be nine feet, nine inches. He is never actually called a giant in the Bible. His armor (described in 17:5-7) is not something that a big, strong, six-foot-nine man could not carry, and besides being taller does not imply being stronger.

This discussion is not a challenge to the accuracy or inerrancy of the Bible. It is just an attempt to get at what the original reading was.

How would the shorter height of Goliath affect our understanding of the story? It is important to note that in the ancient world, people in general were quite a bit shorter than they are now. At this time in Palestine (about 1000 BC) the average height of men was only about five feet, two inches. So Goliath at six feet, nine inches was still an unusually large man. But remember that King Saul was a head taller than anyone in Israel (9:2). So Saul is probably six-foot-five or so, not much shorter than Goliath. Saul also has armor. So Saul is the likely candidate who should go forward and fight against Goliath. Note when Saul counsels David in 17:33, Saul does not seem concerned with Goliath’s size, but rather with Goliath’s years of training and experience.

Of course this is just a possibility. Scholars remain divided over what to do with the two heights of Goliath in the ancient manuscripts. Most English Bible translations still follow the traditional reading and list Goliath as nine feet, nine inches or as “six cubits and a span,” but this might change in the future.

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Disclaimer: This book was provided by Baker Books for review. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.