NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Indexed (Red Letter Edition)

"How I wish someone had put a book like this into my hands 50 years ago."

N.T. Wright
Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity
University of St. Andrews, Scotland

"Every line and every word in the Bible comes from a context -- historical, social, cultural, theological -- and speaks into those contexts -- sometimes against that culture, sometimes with that culture, and sometimes to expand that culture. In so doing the Bible models how we can speak from our culture and into our culture in every fresh and missional ways. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible not only acknowledges this but engages ordinary readers in seeing what it looks like. I cannot recommend a study Bible any more than this one: Five stars!"

Scot McKnight
Julius R. Mantey Professor of New Testament
Northern Seminary

"The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible is a well-conceived and brilliantly executed annotated Bible that focuses on the historical, cultural, and literary context of the Scriptures. It covers an enormous range of material, starting with the political, religious, and literary world of the ancient Near East and extending to the world of Jesus and the early church, describing Jewish and Christian life in an environment characterized by cosmopolitan diversity and yet dominated by Greco-Roman culture. Through an array of lucid charts, sidebars, and footnotes, readers are introduced to the myths, teachings, customs, literary conventions, and ideals of ancient peoples, and they are guided through the process of relating all of this to the meaning of the biblical text. One cannot properly interpret the Bible while reading it as though it had no cultural context. This study Bible will make the task of discovering that context far more approachable."

Duane A. Garrett
John R. Sampey Professor of Old Testament Interpretation
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

"When I talk to laypeople about the most basic tools they need to own for engaging the Bible well, a great study Bible and backgrounds commentaries are near the top of the list. In the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible John Walton and Craig Keener have brought the two together in one impressive reference tool that will help people 'hear' the text of Scripture in accordance with how, when, and where God spoke biblical truth into the world. I am excited about this tool!"

George H. Guthrie
Benjamin W. Perry Professor of Bible
Union University

Publisher Description

:Context Changes Everything

The Bible was originally written to an ancient people removed from us by thousands of years and thousands of miles. The scriptures include subtle culturally based nuances, undertones, and references to ancient events, literature and customs that those who first heard the Scriptures read would have intuitively understood. For us to hear the Scriptures as they did, we need a window into their world.

That's what the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible provides. Every page is packed with expert insight into the customs, culture, and literature of Bible times. These fascinating explanations will serve to clarify your study of the Scriptures, reinforcing your confidence and bringing difficult passages of Scripture into sharp focus.

The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Bible, with notes from Dr. John Walton in the Old Testament and Dr. Craig Keener in the New Testament, builds the knowledge base of this millennia-spanning cultural information for modern readers. This Bible helps readers set aside their own cultural perceptions and begin reading the Scriptures the way the original hearers did.

Features:

• The full text of the NIV in study Bible format
• Full-color page presentation with hundreds of photographs and images from around the world illustrating the included contextual information
• In-depth book introductions that explain the context in which each book of the Bible was created, whether in the oral tradition or as it was written down by the Bible's 40+ authors
• Over 10,000 verse-by-verse notes that shed light on the important details surrounding the context of the original writers and hearers/readers, opening new understanding to readers as they engage the text of Scripture
• Dozens of charts, maps, diagrams, and other information in vivid color
• In-depth articles on key contextual topics
• Words of Jesus in red
• Full study Bible tools: cross references, a concordance, indexes and other helps