Bible Genres

How a better understanding of genre leads to a better understanding of the biblical text. The Bible, with its gloriously rich diversity of ancient genres, demands a flexible and historically aware approach to genre. Different conceptions of narrative, poetry, gospel, epistle, wisdom, and...

The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it - from garden seeds to Scripture - is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family’s tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

Kinsey Thorne, the first female US Navy SEAL candidate has hit rock bottom. Having washed out of the Navy, she turned to every drink and drug she could get her hands on. Until her father and cousins, all ex-Navy SEALS themselves, offer her a way back into the life: as part of a private, elite combat team being put together to find and hunt down an impossible monster in the Indian Ocean. Kinsey has a second chance, but can she live through it?

In the grand storytelling style that is his signature, James Michener sweeps us back through time to the very beginnings of the Jewish faith, thousands of years ago. Through the predecessors of four modern men and women, we experience the entire colorful history of the Jews, including the life...

Contemptuous of their parents, who pass their days in a stupor of liquor, drugs, and sex, the children feel neglected and suffocated at the same time. When a destructive storm descends on the summer estate, the group's ringleaders - including Eve, who narrates the story - decide to run away, leading the younger ones on a dangerous foray into the apocalyptic chaos outside.

John Kennedy Toole - who won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for his best-selling comic masterpiece A Confederacy of Dunces - wrote The Neon Bible for a literary contest at the age of 16. The manuscript languished in a drawer and became the subject of a legal battle among Toole's heirs. It was only in 1989, 35 years after it was written and 20 years after Toole's suicide at 31, that this amazingly accomplished and evocative novel was freed for publication.

Best-selling author and inspirational speaker Tommy Tenney teams with Mark Andrew Olsen to deliver a mesmerizing tale of historical fiction. Favorably compared to Anita Diamant's The Red Tent for its unexpected plot twists, Hadassah is the fictional account of the Bible's Esther, the Jewish peasant girl who became queen of Persia.

Imagine if you discovered a treasure chest in which were hidden ancient mysteries, revelations from heaven, secrets of the ages, the answers to man’s most enduring, age-old questions, and the hidden keys that can transform your life to joy, success, and blessing.... This is The Book of Mysteries. Jonathan Cahn, who caused a national and international stir with the New York Times best seller The Harbinger and then The Mystery of the Shemitah, now brings us a treasure chest inside of which are contained some of the greatest mysteries of all time.

This is the tale of Demon Copperhead: our hero. A boy with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-coloured hair, bucket-loads of charm and a talent or two the world is yet to discover. Born to a teenaged single mother in a single wide trailer, life is not set fair for Demon as he escorts us on this, his journey through the modern perils of foster care, athletic success and addiction, the dizzying highs of true love, and the crushing losses that can accompany it.

In order to understand, appreciate, and faithfully preach the word of God, pastors must discern the literary nature of the Bible. Instead of just acknowledging the various genres of Scripture, pastors and teachers should allow these genres to influence how the text is approached and communicated. In The Beauty and Power of Biblical Exposition, they will learn how to both read and preach the Bible as a literary anthology.

Transported two thousand years into the past, readers are introduced to Antipas, a Roman civic leader who has encountered the writings of the biblical author Luke. Luke's writings spark Antipas's interest, and a correspondence transpires between them. As the two delve deeply into each other's lives, Antipas begins to see things in fresh ways, causing him to rethink the values upon which his life had been founded.

Having completed the two cycles of legend to which she has devoted her career so far, Anne Rice gives us now her most ambitious and courageous book, a novel about the early years of CHRIST THE LORD, based on the Gospels and on the most respected New Testament scholarship. The book’s power...

Rediscover The Pilgrim's Progress, one of the greatest works of Christian literature, now brought to life in a vibrant, modern translation. This beloved allegory has been faithfully retold with engaging, easy-to-understand storytelling while preserving all the original content and spiritual depth.

The king's sudden death leaves his son Manasseh as the new ruler. Overcome with sorrow, Manasseh is angry toward God and begins a reign of terror that shocks the kingdom. His own insecurity prompts the death of his closest advisors, dividing the faithful in two. Barely escaping the carnage, his best friend Joshua suffers the excruciating loss of his family and plans revenge.

The Dirty Parts of the Bible is a humorous adventure across America during the Great Depression - a rollicking tale of love and liquor, preachers and prostitutes, trains and treasure, sure to appeal to fans of O Brother Where Art Thou?, Water for Elephants, Mark Twain, Willie Nelson, and Johnny Cash. It's 1936, and Tobias Henry is stuck in the frozen hinterlands of Michigan. Tobias is obsessed with two things: God and girls. Mostly girls, of course. But being a Baptist preacher's son, he can't escape God.

Long-time Bible teacher Kristie Anyabwile discovered as she prepared her lessons that a single inductive approach doesn’t do justice to the variety of genres that make up the Word of God. Because Scripture is a collection of writings that spans 1,500 years, many literary styles are represented, and each must be taken into account for the fullest understanding of God’s Word. Kristie shows you the immense value of studying the Bible literarily—that is, according to the literary style presented in a particular book, chapter, or passage.

Jonah takes you on a miracle-filled journey from deep within the whale's belly over 500 war-torn miles and into the heart of ancient Nineveh. Here, the Bible’s most improbable hero discovers a path to redemption in a story of defiance, grace, and transformation. Feel Jonah's love for his beloved Naomi and his best friend, Amos. Tremble before the King and Queen of Nineveh. Jonah In the Time of the Kings, gloriously unveils God's tender heart, a love that reaches the most broken of men, delivered by a prophet as flawed as he is extraordinary.

The authors of the New Testament regularly quote and allude to Old Testament passages that point to the presence, person, and work of Jesus. Jesus himself claimed that Moses wrote about him (John 5:46). And on the road to Emmaus, Jesus instructed the disciples from "Moses and all the prophets"...

In St. Peter’s Basilica, a man sits in a confessional asking forgiveness for a murder he’s about to commit. And a young priest begins a desperate journey to stop him. . . . It’s only the beginning of a ruthless race among the world’s most powerful to find a rumored cache of sacred texts...

Powerfully tested!. Isaac Harkrider’s passion in life is helping troubled teenagers get back on the right path. Fortunately, God has blessed Isaac and his family with the resources so Isaac can help run the family lodge and ranch while also following his own interests. When beautiful Brie Donovan seeks Isaac out just before Christmas, desperate to help her younger sister, Riley, Isaac is ready to take on the challenge. Brie and Isaac feel an immediate attraction toward one another, but that threatens to derail when it turns out Riley is involved in far more dangerous things than ...