To celebrate the end of a great semester, I am giving away a new copy of John A. Beck’s Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. Zondervan posted a two-minute video featuring John Beck to YouTube discussing biblical imagery, and another on the importance of background studies for reading the Bible.
The contest ended this morning, and according to Random.org, the winner is…
Britt T.
I will be contacting Britt via email to arrange for mailing the book. Thanks to all who participated, I have several more “extra” copies to give away, so look for an announcement for the next contest by the end of the day.
To celebrate the end of a great semester, I am giving away a new copy of John A. Beck’s Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. To enter, leave a comment and I will pick a winner at random from the comments. I will close the contest on May 9 and announce the winner then.
This 282 page book is a handy guide to historical and cultural background used for poetic imagery in the Bible. Entries are diverse, ranging from nations and peoples, key geographical locations, animals, foods, or other elements of culture. Beck gives a short overview for each entry then attempts to show how the entry is used as a figure of speech. For example, For Mount Carmel, Beck provides some basic data on the location and then treats a number of texts such as Amos 9:3, which describes “the beauty of Carmel.” For the entry “Staff,” there is a brief note on the use of staffs in the ancient world and an explanation of the use of “staff” to describe political leadership. This imagery is then extended to God (Psalm 23) and the Messiah (Gen 49:10).
This book is a handy reference for busy students and pastors who want to explore biblical imagery. There are other similar books available which have far more detail, but this book has the advantage of including enough information to illustrate a metaphor but not so much that the reader is overwhelmed with details. I would have like a short bibliography for each entry so that readers who were interested in more could dig a bit deeper, but the target audience for this book will not find this to be a problem.
According to Random.org, the winner of the The Gospel According to the Simpsons by Mark Pinsky is….. Jared Kusz. I cannot think of a man more deserving. Let me know where you want to pick the book up.
Thanks to all who participated, I will be giving another book away next week.
I have been re-arranging my office bookshelves and discovered I had two copies of this entertaining book from Mark Pinsky. I enjoyed reading this book because it takes the satire found in the Simpsons seriously. Rather than dismiss the show as blasphemous, he demonstrates that the show takes on religious issue with an honesty rarely found in the media. Pinsky has covered religion for the Orlando Sentinel and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the Simpsons. I recommend the book, and have stolen ideas, er, “used it for research” frequently.
I will send this copy to a random person who responds in the comments with a Simpsons quote. I will announce the winner on 8/18 at 4PM.
To celebrate the end of a great semester, I am giving away a new copy of John A. Beck’s Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. Zondervan posted a two-minute video featuring John Beck to YouTube discussing biblical imagery, and another on the importance of background studies for reading the Bible.