The Big Book of Bible Difficulties: Clear and Concise Answers from Genesis to Revelation [Paperback]

Norman L. Geisler (Author), Thomas Howe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2008

Your most difficult Bible questions--answered.

The Bible is full of difficult passages that are hard for believers to understand, let alone those who doubt Scripture. This comprehensive volume offers clear and concise answers to every major Bible difficulty from Genesis to Revelation, staunchly defending the authority and inspiration of Scripture. Three extensive indexes--topical, Scripture, and unorthodox doctrines--offer quick and easy access to the answers you need.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Your most difficult Bible questions--answered.

The Bible is full of difficult passages that are hard for believers to understand, let alone those who doubt Scripture. Where can you turn for solid answers on the thorny and complex parts of God's Word?

This comprehensive volume offers clear and concise answers to every major Bible difficulty from Genesis to Revelation, staunchly defending the authority and inspiration of Scripture. Written in a problem/solution format, the book covers over eight hundred questions that critics and doubters raise about the Bible. Three extensive indexes--topical, Scripture, and unorthodox doctrines--offer quick and easy access to the answers you need.

Multipurpose in scope and user-friendly in format, The Big Book of Bible Difficulties offers the resources of five books in one:

•a critical commentary on the whole Bible
•an apologetics text
•a Bible difficulties reference
•a theology manual treating important doctrines
•a handbook on verses misused by cults

Norman L. Geisler is cofounder and former dean of Southern Evangelical Seminary. He is the author of more than seventy books, including the Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics.

Thomas Howe is professor of Bible and biblical languages and director of apologetics at the Southern Evangelical Seminary and Bible College.

About the Author

Norman L. Geisler (PhD, Loyola University of Chicago) has taught at top evangelical schools for over fifty years and is distinguished professor of apologetics and theology at Veritas Evangelical Seminary in Murrieta, California. He is the author of more than seventy books, including the Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics.

Thomas Howe (PhD, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is professor of Bible and biblical languages and director of apologetics at the Southern Evangelical Seminary and Bible College in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: Baker Books (June 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801071585
• ISBN-13: 978-0801071584
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful study aid, July 20, 2008

By 

Hobgoblin (Southeast, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Big Book of Bible Difficulties: Clear and Concise Answers from Genesis to Revelation (Paperback)

I've sometimes bought a commentary or other book just to get insight into a single passage. This book tackles many of the more difficult in a single book. What I like here is that you aren't just given the opinions of the authors, but will sometimes see other solutions they may not agree with. So you don't always feel like you're being force fed the authors position but instead given pertinent information to digest for yourself. With a page or less devoted to most passages you're not going to get in depth exegesis here, but you will find decisive insight that often clears things up. You can dig deeper elsewhere if necessary.

5 stars for being a handy study aid.

52 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Misled : (, June 12, 2008

By 

Angel (Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Big Book of Bible Difficulties: Clear and Concise Answers from Genesis to Revelation (Paperback)

I have not read enough of this book to give a fair opinion on it. I will say though, I bought this book thinking that it was a brand new Q/A book about bible difficulties and it ended up not being such. This book is a republication of an older book titled, When the critics ask, a popular hand book on bible difficulties by Norman L. Geisler and Thomas Howe - published in 1992. I checked and compared both books and it had the same information. (UPDATE: another reviewer wrote down that there are 12 new entries that weren't found in the older book that I'm referring to). The book does say on one of the beginning pages that it's a republication of the other book I mentioned but I felt misled because there was no way for me to check that on Amazon.com and the book was passed off as if it's brand new and not a republication. I was looking for a Q/A and commentary bible difficulties book that would present current issues that skeptics are using to discredit the bible, like about the stories of Jesus being a copy of other ancient myths, etc.

Maybe there's not that many newer criticisms of the bible or ones that are that different from the older criticisms but I still would rather look for more up-to-date book on objections to the Bible.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great from Genesis to Revelation, April 25, 2011

By 

TruthBehold - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Big Book of Bible Difficulties: Clear and Concise Answers from Genesis to Revelation (Paperback)

Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe do a great job helping us all figure out the difficulties. It was a great idea to mix up a philosopher with a bible professor. There aren't that many books on this subject, and I've heard good things about Geisler so I choose him over Ron Rhodes and a few others who had also written books on this subject. I'd have to say I made the right choice here.

Genesis starts off with the basics, such as the who married Cain and so forth. Geisler and Howe get to the very bottom of everything and I am amazing on how they use their references in other parts of the bible to back up their claims. This book will sharpen your skills in regards to coming up with an exegesis for those tough questions. At first look people will see a "supposed" contradiction, but when you actually do some studying on it, you find out why the specific scripture or passage is what it is, and in the end how the scripture makes more sense after you read it again and compare with another part of the bible.

This book can be read at the Beginner or Intermediate level of apologetics, or you can simply use this to learn more about the bible itself. Perhaps you will come up with a different interpretation this time.

I highly recommend this, as a must have for this subject.