Carol Newsom

Pheme Perkins

Michael Coogan

Marc Brettler

For over 50 years students, professors, clergy, and general readers have relied on The New Oxford Annotated Bible as an unparalleled authority in Study Bibles. This fifth edition of the Annotated remains the best way to study and understand the Bible at home or in the classroom. This thoroughly revised and substantially updated edition contains the best scholarship informed by recent discoveries and anchored in the solid Study Bible tradition. � Introductions and extensive annotations for each book by acknowledged experts in the field provide context and guidance. � Introductory essays on major groups of biblical writings - Pentateuch, Prophets, Gospels, and other sections - give readers an overview that guides more intensive study. � General essays on history, translation matters, different canons in use today, and issues of daily life in biblical times inform the reader of important aspects of biblical study. � Maps and diagrams within the text contextualize where events took place and how to understand them. � Color maps give readers the geographical orientation they need for understanding historical accounts throughout the Bible. � Timelines, parallel texts, weights and measures, calendars, and other helpful tables help navigate the biblical world. � An extensive glossary of technical terms demystifies the language of biblical scholarship. � An index to the study materials eases the way to the quick location of information. The New Oxford Annotated Bible, with twenty new essays and introductions and others--as well as annotations--fully revised, offers the reader flexibility for any learning style. Beginning with a specific passage or a significant concept, finding information for meditation, sermon preparation, or academic study is straightforward and intuitive. A volume that users will want to keep for continued reference, The New Oxford Annotated Bible continues the Oxford University Press tradition of providing excellence in scholarship for the general reader. Generations of users attest to its status as the best one-volume Bible reference tool for any home, library, or classroom.

New Revised Standard Version

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha

A noted biblical scholar explores how the claim of divine choice has been used from ancient times to the present to justify territorial expansion and prejudice. The Bible describes many individuals and groups as specially chosen by God. But does God choose at all? Michael Coogan explains the temporally layered and allusive storytelling of biblical texts and describes the world of the ancient Near East from which it emerged, laying bare the power struggles, the acts of vengeance, and persecutions made sacred by claims of chosenness. Jumping forward to more modern contexts, Coogan reminds us how the self-designation of the Puritan colonizers of New England as God’s new Israel eventually morphed, in the United States, into the self-justifying doctrines of manifest destiny and American exceptionalism. In contemporary Israel, both fundamentalist Zionists and their evangelical American partners cite the Jews’ status as God’s chosen people as justification for taking land—for very different ends. Appropriated uncritically, the Bible has thus been used to reinforce exclusivity and superiority, with new myths based on old myths. Finally, in place of the pernicious idea of chosenness, Coogan suggests we might instead focus on another key biblical concept: taking care of the immigrant and the refugee, reminding the reader of the unusual focus on the vulnerable in both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament.

Judaism, Christianity, and the Myth of Divine Chosenness

God's Favorites

For several decades, Michael Coogan's introductory course on the Old Testament has been a perennial favorite among students at Harvard University. In God and Sex, Coogan examines one of the most controversial aspects of the Hebrew Scripture: What the Old Testament really says about sex, and how contemporary understanding of those writings is frequently misunderstood or misrepresented. In the engaging and witty voice generations of students have appreciated, Coogan explores the language and social world of the Bible, showing how much innuendo and euphemism is at play, and illuminating the sexuality of biblical figures as well as God. By doing so, Coogan reveals the immense gap between popular use of Scripture and its original context. God and Sex is certain to provoke, entertain, and enlighten readers.

What the Bible Really Says

God and Sex

Are the Commandments really written in stone? A biblical scholar offers an “engrossing and enlightening guide to one of the world’s great legal codes” (Booklist). In this lively, provocative book, Michael Coogan takes us into the ancient past to examine the Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue. How, among all the laws reportedly given on Mount Sinai, did the Ten Commandments become the Ten Commandments? When did that happen? There are several versions of the Decalogue in the Old Testament, so how have different groups determined which is the most authoritative? Why were different versions created? Coogan discusses the meanings the Ten Commandments had for audiences in biblical times and observes that the form of the ten proscriptions and prohibitions was not fixed—as one would expect since they were purported to have come directly from God—nor were the Commandments always strictly observed. In later times as well, Jews and especially Christians ignored and even rejected some of the prohibitions, although the New Testament clearly acknowledges the special status of the Ten Commandments. Today it is plain that some of the values enshrined in the Decalogue are no longer defensible, such as the ownership of slaves and the labeling of women as men’s property. Yet in line with biblical precedents, the author concludes that while a literal observance of the Ten Commandments is misguided, some of their underlying ideals remain valid in a modern context.

A Short History of an Ancient Text

The Ten Commandments

The premier study Bible used by scholars, pastors, undergraduate and graduate students, The New Oxford Annotated Bible offers a vast range of information, including extensive notes by experts in their fields; in-text maps, charts, and diagrams; supplementary essays on translation, biblical interpretation, cultural and historical background, and other general topics. Extensively revised--half of the material is brand new, this edition features a new design to enhance readability, brand-new color maps, revised maps, charts, and diagrams to further clarify information found in the Scripture text. -- Provided by publisher

The New Oxford Annotated Bible

For decades students, professors, clergy, and general readers have relied on The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha as an unparalleled authority on the Apocrypha. This fifth edition remains the best way to study and understand the material at home or in the classroom. This thoroughly revised andsubstantially updated edition contains the best scholarship informed by recent discoveries and anchored in the solid Study Bible tradition.* Introductions and extensive annotations for each book by acknowledged experts in the field provide context and guidance. * Introductory essay on the Apocrypha gives readers an overview that guides more intensive study.* Maps and diagrams within the text contextualize where events took place and how to understand them.* A timeline, calendar, and essay on the Persian and Hellenistic Periods help to contextualize the books.A volume that users will want to keep for continued reference, The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha continues the Oxford University Press tradition of providing excellence in scholarship for the general reader. Generations of users attest to its status as the best one-volume Bible reference tool forany home, library, or classroom.

Michael Coogan

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