Tag: Book Overviews

Name This book in the Latin Vulgate is titled “The Book of Wisdom.” In the Greek Septuagint, it is titled “The Wisdom of Solomon.” Genre This book is wisdom literature, which gives rules of proper conduct, usually in the form of maxims, pithy insights, and “words to live by.” Wisdom literature attempts to show the READ MORE

Ezekiel is a challenging book as it combines prophecy, legal reflections, prose, poetry, extremely detailed historical descriptions, highly imaginative mythological allusions, judgments, wild visions, sermonizing, and vivid drama. In case you got lost in that description, I am talking about a book of the Bible, not the nightly news! Ezekiel’s ministry was consumed with helping READ MORE

Author Paul is the undisputed author of this letter. Some scholars hold that 6:14-7:1 is a post-Pauline insertion into the letter. Historical Setting Corinth was a big city crossroads with lots of ethnicities and religions – a melting pot. There was a high population of freed slaves who came to make their fortune and they READ MORE

Author Most likely an anonymous Jew. Matthew the tax collector may have been the first missionary to the author’s community. It’s hard to say exactly why the book gained his name. Date Most scholars date this gospel between 85 and 95 AD. By then, the gospel of Mark was in wide circulation and this gospel READ MORE

Author During the first two centuries of Christianity, the “Johannine Epistles” (1, 2, and 3 John) were probably not a part of the canon of scripture. When they began to be accepted as authoritative, they were often attributed to the same author as the Gospel of John. Textual evidence indicates that, although there are similar READ MORE

Author Luke was a physician and an artist from Syria. He was highly educated, well-versed in Greco-Roman style. He has the finest Greek writing in the New Testament. He was not an eyewitness to the events but he interviewed eyewitnesses and drew from the oral collections. He was also not very familiar with Palestinian geography READ MORE

Author This is an undisputed letter, meaning that it’s universally accepted that Paul wrote it. It’s also certain that he wrote it from prison but what’s not certain is which prison. Most scholars think it was written at Ephesus. Date Because of the uncertainty over where Paul was when he wrote it, it’s difficult to READ MORE

Features Author Authorship of this book is highly contested and often debated. Eusebius in the second century attributed it to Paul. The earliest codex (a manuscript in book format) from around 200AD placed it right after Romans, implying Pauline authorship. In the early 200s, Origin taught that the Greek in this book was a different READ MORE

I like the prophet Jeremiah. All the prophets wrote about the despair they sometimes felt in living out their mission but Jeremiah takes it to a whole new level. His despair is liberally sprinkled throughout this book and he also wrote the book of Lamentations. Jeremiah doesn’t shrink away from confronting the bad in life READ MORE

Author Ephesians was most likely written by a later disciple in the spirit of Paul. This disciple might have taken the core of something Paul had written but never sent, and then he expanded on it. Date Generally dated between 80-100AD Purpose To bolster the faith of the community and correct errors. General Observations Ephesians READ MORE