Living by the Book/Living by the Book Workbook Set (62 page)

What the Bible Is All About: Bible Handbook.
An updated version of the classic work by Henrietta Mears, this completely updated and revised handbook features excellent outreach articles, selected readings, and short book overviews to open each chapter, a helpful glossary, several Bible reading plans, and new maps and charts.

Accordance.
A premier, Mac-only Bible software tool, Accordance is preferred by many Bible scholars and teachers for its extensive language tools. In
addition, Accordance provides the only digital source for many reference books and ancient works (
www.accordancebible.com
).

Bibleworks.
Bibleworks 7.0 provides an extensive array of over 112 Bible translations in thirty languages, fourteen original language texts with eighteen morphology databases, twelve Greek lexicons and dictionaries, five Hebrew lexicons and dictionaries, plus thirty practical reference works. Tightly focused on language study, this software offers excellent diagramming and lexical tools with unending uses for serious Bible study (
www. bibleworks.com
).

e-Sword.
E-Sword is a free, downloadable Bible study software resource used by over four million people around the world. It includes searches, dictionaries, backgrounds, and maps in an extremely user-friendly format (
www.e-sword.net
).

Ilumina.
Unlike the other products listed here, Ilumina focuses on visually presenting the Bible, including professional animations of key Bible stories, amazing interactive timelines and maps, along with video clips from the Bible land with expert commentary (
www.ilumina.com
).

Logos.
The largest developer of Bible software and a worldwide leader in multilingual electronic publishing, Logos partners with more than 100 publishers to make more than 5,000 electronic Bible study resources available to customers around the world (
www.logos.com
).

Olivetree.com.
This Bible software company offers eighty electronic translations of the Bible as well as commentaries, dictionaries, devotionals, eBooks, and the Strong’s numbering system that can be utilized on your handheld computer (PDA) for portable learning and communication (
www.olivetree.com
).

Other Bible Software Resources.
Christianbook.com’s software category provides a large assortment of Bible software items, including software versions of many reference works listed in this section (such as the Expositor’s Bible Commentaries) for those preferring digital resources (
www. christianbook.com
).

An Introduction to Bible Geography
(
Revised
). This little paperback is a brief primer on Bible lands by Howard Vos, offering a dozen articles on regions in the Near East. If you’ve never studied the geography of the Bible, this would be a good place to start.

Baker’s Bible Atlas.
This atlas gives you the tools to reconstruct the scenes of history, containing excellent full-color maps and color photographs. Additional chapters trace the ongoing history of Bible lands, emphasizing the work of modern archaeologists.

Biblemaps.com.
This CD-rom resource provides over 150 Bible maps that can be used in Powerpoint-like presentations, class notes, and personal study to visually communicate digitally (
www.biblemaps.com
).

Holman Bible Atlas.
Thomas Brisco’s atlas features hundreds of color photos and maps that show you the land, sites, and archaeology of the entire biblical world. A special addition is the chronological focus, noting every time period from the Patriarchs to A.D. 300.

Kregel Bible Atlas.
A brief, amazing combination of photography and geography edited by Tim Dowley, noting several featurures of daily life in Bible times along with corresponding photographs and insightful notes.

The Macmillan Bible Atlas.
Two Jewish scholars put together this outstanding atlas, one of the most accurate in existence. It features 262 maps and commentary on the religious, military, and economic aspects of the biblical world.

The Moody Atlas of Bible Lands.
Barry Beitzel has created a beautiful presentation of the geography and terrain of biblical lands. He includes not only maps, but pictures and diagrams illustrating features of the Near Eastern world that affect our understanding of Scripture.

Sundaysoftware.com.
This online resource offers two distinct Bible mapping software products, including maps with clickable interactive maps with zoom in and zoom out features (
www.sundaysoftware.com
).

The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Atlas.
Edited by E. M. Blailock, this 491-page atlas is one of my favorites, because in the center are maps with overlays to do comparison studies of the changing geography.

Ancient Christian Commentary Series.
This creative series by InterVarsity Press collects the viewpoints of several Christian leaders throughout church history, providing a tremendous wealth of quotes and observations in one location.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary.
Produced by a number of faculty at Dallas Theological Seminary, this two-volume set gives a sound introduction to the books of the Bible. Based on the NIV translation, it discusses matters such as authorship, recipients, date, theme, and purpose for each book.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary.
This twelve-volume series by Frank Gaebelein offers a fine commentary on the biblical passages. If you have access to a theological library, consult this resource as a guide to your interpretive studies.

Galatians: The Charter of Christian Liberty.
This is the only commentary on a single book of the Bible that I want to mention. Written by Merrill Tenney, this work is particularly instructive because it approaches Galatians using ten different methods of Bible study. If you want to learn from one of the masters, study the book of Galatians using this commentary as a guide.

The Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary on the Bible.
This is a handy tool to have because editor Charles Laymon has packaged the articles into a single volume.

The MacArthur New Testament Commentary.
A growing series of 25-plus volumes provides a lifetime of Bible study on the New Testament. For pastors and communicators, these commentaries offer extensive crossreferences, historical, cultural, and language notes, and teaching outlines for a wide variety of uses.

Biblical Archaeology Review.
Published every other month by the nonprofit Biblical Archaeology Society, this periodical reports on archaeological findings and research that affect biblical studies. The articles are written at a level that anyone can understand. Back issues are especially helpful for researching subjects you are studying in Scripture (
www.biblicalarchaeology.org
).

The Great Age of Man Series.
Time-Life Books has put together a series on the great civilizations in history, including
Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece,
and
Imperial Rome.
Although the editors take a thoroughly secular approach to their subjects, the material is presented extremely well and offers a general background to some of the cultural and historical aspects of the biblical account. The pictures are especially helpful (
www.timelife.com
).

The National Geographic Magazine.
Don’t forget this popular publication of the National Geographic Society. From time to time it features articles on places and topics related to Near Eastern and biblical studies. The photography alone is worth the price of a subscription (
www.nationalgeographic.com
).

“The Topical Memory System.”
Produced by the Navigators, this set of flash cards will help you memorize portions of Scripture. It’s a handy tool to carry with you and gives instruction on how to memorize (
www.navpress.com
).

Walk Thru the Bible’s “Keyword Learning System.”
A set of flash cards to help you memorize the names of the books of the Bible. Each card has the name of the book, a memory device called a “keyword,” and a brief overview of the book’s content (
www.walkthru.org
).

The Ankerberg Theological Research Institute.
This media organization includes over 2,000 free articles on various aspects of Bible study, apologetics,
and comparative religions, including excellent audio and video content on contemporary biblical issues (
www.johnankerberg.org
).

Bible.org.
Includes over 40,000 pages of Bible study materials, including the NET Bible text and complete notes (
www.bible.org
).

Biblegateway.com.
Published by Gospel Communications International, this resource provides searchable texts of twenty-one English translations and several foreign language Bibles, including some in audio format (
www. biblegateway.com
).

Desiring God.org.
The media ministry of John Piper, offering twenty-six years of sermon transcripts and dozens of additional Bible study tools (
www.desiringgod.org
).

Grace to You.
John MacArthur’s media ministry, with hundreds of message transcripts, articles, and Bible study notes based on over thirty years of sermons (
www.gty.org
).

HeLives.com.
Started by Dallas Seminary graduate and webmaster Tim Kimmel, HeLives.com gives users several high-quality multimedia Bible resources, such as its popular “Flash Thru the Bible” files on Jonah, Hosea, and Ephesians (
www.helives.com
).

Probe Ministries.
An abundance of resources with 1200+ articles and biblical perspectives, including the ability to hear the Probe Radio program through real-time streaming or podcast (
www.probe.org
).

Living By the Book Workbook

Everyone, at one time or another, feels as though they are not getting the most out of their time in Scripture. What is even more frustrating is when the reasons aren’t entirely clear. The
Living By the Book Workbook
shows how to begin practicing effective Bible study methods. Our problem in personal Bible study is often not willingness or even desire—like anything else we just need some direction in how to go about doing it.

The
Living By the Book Workbook
pushes men and women toward useful, practical, and insightful steps to enhance and grow their personal Bible study time.