From Eden To Babel

Genesis 1- 11 preserves a unique view of Bible history, tracing the move from Eden, an idyllic world fully in accord with the will of God, to Babel, a fallen world desperately in need of salvation. In this commentary, Donald E. Gowan demonstrates acute sensitivity and insight in focusing on the theological import of these familiar but often puzzling accounts, showing them to be even more crucial for what they say to us about ourselves than for the information they record about individuals and events so very long ago. Addressing such themes as the existence of evil and the threat of chaos, human power and violence, tension between the sexes and the breakdown of the family, he remains ever conscious of the gospel as set forth in Genesis.

Richard Nelson has written an interpretive guide to the most fascinating stories from Genesis 2-11: Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Cain's descendants, the flood, Noah and his sons, and the Tower of Babel. Its purpose is to help ordinary people of faith recapture the power of the familiar stories from the first chapters of Genesis, reading the scriptures for themselves and applying the insights to their own lives. It introduces and demonstrates an easily accessible, step-by-step interpretive method that lets readers discover, uncover, and recover meaning in these stories. Nelson encourages biblical readers to look beyond conventional and expected meanings to explore the potential texts have to address contemporary issues and situations that people care about today. Through his interpretive method, Nelson nurtures lay Christians to become self-reliant readers who can discover effective and dynamic meaning in Genesis and other stories from the Bible.

“A high-octane thriller . . . Nyxia grabs you from the first line and never lets go.” —Marie Lu, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Warcross Every life has a price in this sci-fi thriller—the first in a trilogy—that has the nonstop action of The Maze Runner and the high-stakes space setting of Illuminae. What would you be willing to risk for a lifetime of fortune? Emmett Atwater isn’t just leaving Detroit; he’s leaving Earth. Why the Babel Corporation recruited him is a mystery, but the number of zeroes on their contract has him boarding their lightship and hoping to return to Earth with enough money to take care of his family. Forever. Before long, Emmett discovers that he is one of ten recruits, all of whom have troubled pasts and are a long way from home. Now each recruit must earn the right to travel down to the planet of Eden—a planet that Babel has kept hidden—where they will mine a substance called Nyxia that has quietly become the most valuable material in the universe. But Babel’s ship is full of secrets. And Emmett will face the ultimate choice: win the fortune at any cost, or find a way to fight that won’t forever compromise what it means to be human. “The 100 meets Illuminae in this high-octane sci-fi thriller.” —Bustle AND DON'T MISS NYXIA UNLEASHED!

Why does the earth exist? What is the purpose of human life? These are two of life's most fundamental questions - and they are addressed by the Bible's remarkably unified story, which centres on a unique deity. Desmond Alexander explores this story by beginning at the end, in the final chapters of the book of Revelation. Anticipating the creation of a new earth and a new heaven, these chapters bring to fulfilment a process that began with the creation of the earth, as described in the opening chapters of Genesis. These passages frame the entire biblical 'meta-story'. This stimulating study outlines some of the central themes that run through the Bible, with broad brush strokes designed to show the general shape of the meta-story. Seeing the big picture enables us to appreciate the details more clearly; and since the themes were an integral part of the thought-world of the biblical authors, an appreciation of them may alter significantly our reading of individual books. Good theology always has pastoral implications, and the study occasionally moves into areas of application - the truths revealed are extremely important for shaping our life-style choices.

A visionary retelling of the story of the Tower of Babel. . . More than a century after the worldwide flood, Noah, now the forefather of the living world, works peacefully in his vineyard until tragedy tears apart his relationship with his son, Ham. Years later, dark prophetic dreams inextricably link him with a young man carrying scars from a painful past, and a young woman who longs for acceptance yet harbors secrets darker than either of them imagine. Will Noah face the role he played in the slow unraveling of his family? Or will everything collapse when they meet the evil attempting to swallow the world at. . . the tower of Babel?

The stories of Genesis 1-11 constitute one of the better known parts of the Old Testament, but their precise meaning and background still provide many debated questions for the modern interpreter. In this stimulating, learned and readable collection of essays, which paves the way for his forthcoming ICC commentary on these chapters, John Day attempts to provide definitive solutions to some ofthese questions. Amongst the topics included are the background and interpretation of the seven-day Priestly Creation narrative, problems in the interpretation of the Garden of Eden story, the relation of Cain and the Kenites, the strange stories of the sons of God and daughters of men and of Noah's drunkenness and the curse of Canaan, the precise ancient Near Eastern background of the Flood story and the preceding genealogies, and the meaning and background of the story of the tower and city of Babel. Throughout this volume John Day constantly seeks to determine the original meaning of these stories in the light of their ancient Near Eastern background, and to determine how far this original meaning has been obscured by later interpretations.