Browse Results

Select your format based upon: 1) how you want to read your book, and 2) compatibility with your reading tool. To learn more about using Bookshare with your device, visit the Help Center.

Here is an overview of the specialized formats that Bookshare offers its members with links that go to the Help Center for more information.

• Bookshare Web Reader - A customized reading tool for Bookshare members offering all the features of DAISY with a single click of the "Read Now" link.
• DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) - A digital book file format. DAISY books from Bookshare are DAISY 3.0 text files that work with just about every type of access technology that reads text. Books that contain images will have the download option of ‘DAISY Text with Images’.
• BRF (Braille Refreshable Format) - Digital Braille for use with refreshable Braille devices and Braille embossers.
• MP3 (MPEG audio layer 3) - Provides audio only with no text. These books are created with a text-to-speech engine and spoken by Kendra, a high quality synthetic voice from Ivona. Any device that supports MP3 playback is compatible.
• DAISY Audio - Similar to the DAISY option above; however, this option uses MP3 files created with our text-to-speech engine that utilizes Ivonas Kendra voice. This format will work with Daisy Audio compatible players such as Victor Reader Stream and Read2Go.
• EPUB - A standard e-book format that can be read on many tools, such as iBooks, Readium or others.
• Word - Accessible Word output, which can be unzipped and opened in any tool that allows .docx files

First and Second Peter, James, and Jude

First and Second Peter, James, and Jude have existed on the edges of the canon throughout the centuries. In this much-anticipated volume in the Interpretation series, Pheme Perkins casts light on these often neglected writings. She ably demonstrates that these "catholic epistles" have, in fact, much to offer to today's readers. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

First and Second Samuel

With critical scholarship and theological sensitivity, Walter Brueggemann traces the people of God through the books of Samuel as they shift from marginalized tribalism to oppressive monarchy. He carefully opens the literature of the books, sketching a narrative filled with historical realism but also bursting with an awareness that more than human action is being presented. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

First and Second Samuel

During the reigns of Saul and David as recorded in First and Second Samuel, the people of Israel experience fear, disappointment, heartache, and betrayal. The compelling theme that weaves its way through these two books and into our lives is the need to balance both the gift of life from God and the promise of God's steadfast love with the ever-present human temptation to take control and usurp God's authority . Interpretation Bible Studies (IBS) offers solid biblical content in a creative study format. Forged in the tradition of the celebrated Interpretation> commentary series, IBS makes the same depth of biblical insight available in a dynamic, flexible, and user-friendly resource. Designed for adults and older youth, Interpretation Bible Studies can be used in small groups, in church school classes, in large group presentations, or in personal study.

First and Second Thessalonians

In this brilliant commentary, Beverly Roberts Gaventa discusses the issues central to the books of Thessalonians, identifying what makes each book important for the life of the church today, as well as for preachers and teachers. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

First and Second Timothy and Titus

Thomas Oden provides a modern commentary on the pastoral letters grounded in the classical, consensual tradition of interpretation. Oden uses the best and most accurate research concerning the historical, literary, and philological aspects of the pastoral letters. He addresses tough issues: the role of women in worship, problems of the rich and poor, the relation between servants and masters, policies concerning support of elderly widows, and how to handle church disruptions.

First and Second Timothy, Titus

Dr. Fee's commentary on 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, originally part of the Good News Commentary series, is revised and reset in an accessible but in-depth format for pastors, students, and laypeople. An introductory chapter deals with basic questions of authorship, background, and themes, then each section of Scripture is expounded, accompanied by notes on items in the text that need further clarification. Fee's commentary on 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus] . . . is ideal for students, pastors, and teachers. It is a model of clarity and organization and consistently reflects a judicious examination of exegetical issues. Indeed . . . I think it is one of the best available commentaries] on the pastoral epistles. Fee's skill in writing commentaries is as evident in this volume as it was in his magisterial volume on 1 Corinthians. Thomas R. Schreiner, Bethel Theological Seminary

The First Apostle

HIC VANIDICI LATITANT. "Here lie the liars." A mysterious inscription found on a slab of stone points to the darkest of secrets hidden for centuries by the Vatican--a secret for which countless innocent lives will be sacrificed. Police detective Chris Bronson is devastated when he learns that his best friend's wife--the woman he secretly loves--has died in a fall at her home. But when Bronson heads to Italy to console his friend, he finds evidence of a break-in and a strange Latin inscription on a stone above the fireplace. All his police instincts tell him that the death was no accident. To decipher the stone, Bronson enlists the help of his ex-wife, an antiques specialist. Her expertise leads them on a hunt across Europe that brings them to a truth so dangerous it could destroy the very foundations of the Christian faith.

First Ask Why: Raising Kids to Love God Through Intentional Discipleship

It's no secret that parenting is tricky business. With advice flooding in from all sides, strong-willed children pushing against boundaries, and our own human flaws, it's easy to get bogged down in every how-to that we're not doing well. But maybe that isn't the right approach. Maybe the first step is not to ask "how" but to ask "why."Like most parents, when Shelly Wildman had children, she consulted books, sermons, and lectures on how to raise the best children possible. Yet every resource focused on how to get external results: children who behave the way others expected them to. For Shelly and her husband, the turning point happened when they started asking why instead--shifting their focus to internal change. That's when their purpose as parents became clear: parents are called to do their best to show kids how to know and love Jesus, to love others, and to make a difference in the world.There are no rules here, no inflexible series of steps that lead to perfect parenting. Instead, Shelly encourages parents to think about their unique family and why each child's needs for spiritual growth might look different. She walks you through intentional questioning, focusing on building a firm foundation for lasting discipleship. And in the end, you'll discover that God wants the same outcome you do: a child who knows Christ intimately, loves him deeply, and has a heart to serve him fully.

First Bible Stories

Children and their parents will enjoy meeting Adam and Eve and the sneaky snake; brave Daniel in the lions' den; Jonah and the enormous whale, and Joseph and his rough-tough brothers. These nine tales, full of lively characters, make the perfect introduction to Bible stories."Positively jaunty in tone, and Nicola Smee's friendly illustrations make this collection very accessible"- Parenting MagazineContents:How the World Was MadeThe Story of Adam and EveThe Story of the FloodJoseph and His Jealous BrothersClever Miriam, Moses and the PrincessThe Story of David and GoliathThe Story of Jonah and the Incredibly Enormous FishBrave Daniel's Story

First Bible Stories

Children and their parents will enjoy meeting Adam and Eve and the sneaky snake; brave Daniel in the lions' den; Jonah and the enormous whale, and Joseph and his rough-tough brothers. These nine tales, full of lively characters, make the perfect introduction to Bible stories."Positively jaunty in tone, and Nicola Smee's friendly illustrations make this collection very accessible"- Parenting MagazineContents:How the World Was MadeThe Story of Adam and EveThe Story of the FloodJoseph and His Jealous BrothersClever Miriam, Moses and the PrincessThe Story of David and GoliathThe Story of Jonah and the Incredibly Enormous FishBrave Daniel's Story

The First Biography of Jesus: Genre and Meaning in Mark's Gospel

What difference does it make to identify Mark's gospel as an ancient biography?Reading the gospels as ancient biographies makes a profound difference to the way that we interpret them. Biography immortalizes the memory of the subject, creating a literary monument to the person&’s life and teaching. Yet it is also a bid to legitimize a specific view of that figure and to position an author and his audience as appropriate &“gatekeepers&” of that memory. Biography was well suited to the articulation of shared values and commitments, the formation of group identity, and the binding together of a past story, present concerns, and future hopes. Helen Bond argues that Mark&’s author used the genre of biography to extend the gospel from an earlier narrow focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus so that it included the way of life of its founding figure. Situating Jesus at the heart of a biography was a bold step in outlining a radical form of Christian discipleship patterned on the life – and death – of Jesus.

The First Biography of Jesus: Genre and Meaning in Mark's Gospel

What difference does it make to identify Mark's gospel as an ancient biography?Reading the gospels as ancient biographies makes a profound difference to the way that we interpret them. Biography immortalizes the memory of the subject, creating a literary monument to the person&’s life and teaching. Yet it is also a bid to legitimize a specific view of that figure and to position an author and his audience as appropriate &“gatekeepers&” of that memory. Biography was well suited to the articulation of shared values and commitments, the formation of group identity, and the binding together of a past story, present concerns, and future hopes. Helen Bond argues that Mark&’s author used the genre of biography to extend the gospel from an earlier narrow focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus so that it included the way of life of its founding figure. Situating Jesus at the heart of a biography was a bold step in outlining a radical form of Christian discipleship patterned on the life – and death – of Jesus.

The First Book of Adam and Eve

The First Book of Adam and Eve

This book is a written history of what happened in the days of Adam and Eve after they were cast out of the garden. Although considered to be pseudepigraphic by some, it carries significant meaning and insight into events of that time.

The First Book of Jewish Jokes: The Collection of L. M. Büschenthal

Works on Jewish humor and Jewish jokes abound today, but what formed the basis for our contemporary notions of Jewish jokes? How and when did these perceptions develop? In this groundbreaking study and translation, noted humor and folklore scholar Elliott Oring introduces us to the joke collections of Lippmann Moses Büschenthal, an enlightened rabbi, and an unknown author writing as "Judas Ascher." Originally published in German in 1812 and 1810, these books include jokes and anecdotes that play on stereotypes. The jokes depict Jews dealing with Gentiles who are bent on their conversion, Jews encountering government officials and institutions, newly propertied Jews attempting to demonstrate their acquisition of artistic and philosophical knowledge, and Jews engaged in trade and moneylending—often with the aim to defraud. In these jokes we see the antecedents of modern Jewish humor, and in Büschenthal’s brief introduction we find perhaps the earliest theory of the Jewish joke. Oring provides helpful annotations for the jokes and contextualizing essays that examine the current state of Jewish joke scholarship and the situation of the Jews in France and Germany leading up to the periods when the two collections were published. Intended to stimulate the search for even earlier examples, Oring challenges us to confront the Jewish joke from a genuine historical perspective.

The First Book of Smauel (The\new International Commentary On The Old Testament Ser.)

David and Goliath, the call of Samuel, the witch of Endor, David and Bathsheba — such biblical stories are well known. But the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, where they are recorded, are among the most difficult books in the Bible. The Hebrew text is widely considered corrupt and sometimes even unintelligible. The social and religious customs are strange and seem to diverge from the tradition of Moses. In this first part of an ambitious two-volume commentary on the books of Samuel, David Toshio Tsumura sheds considerable light on the background of 1 Samuel, looking carefully at the Philistine and Canaanite cultures, as he untangles the difficult Hebrew text.

First Buddhist Women: Poems and Stories of Awakening

First Buddhist Women is a readable, contemporary translation of and commentary on the enlightenment verses of the first female disciples of the Buddha. The book explores Buddhism's relatively liberal attitude towards women since its founding nearly 2,600 years ago, through the study of the Therigatham, the earliest know collection of women's religious poetry. Through commentary and storytelling, author Susan Murcott traces the journey of the wives, mothers, teachers, courtesan, prostitutes, and wanderers who became leaders in the Buddhist community, roles that even today are rarely filled by women in other patriarchal religions. Their poetry beautifully expresses their search for spiritual attainment and their struggles in society.

First Buddhist Women

First Buddhist Women is a readable, contemporary translation of and commentary on the enlightenment verses of the first female disciples of the Buddha. Through the study of the Therigatha, the earliest-known collection of women's religious poetry, the book explores Buddhism's 2,600-year-long liberal attitude toward women. Utilizing commentary and storytelling, author Susan Murcott traces the journey of wives, mothers, teachers, courtesans, prostitutes, and wanderers who became leaders in the Buddhist community, acquiring roles that even today are rarely filled by women in other, patriarchal religions.

First Chaplain of the Confederacy: Father Darius Hubert, S.J.

Darius Hubert (1823‒1893), a French-born Jesuit, made his home in Louisiana in the 1840s and served churches and schools in Grand Coteau, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. In 1861, he pronounced a blessing at the Louisiana Secession Convention and became the first chaplain of any denomination appointed to Confederate service. Hubert served with the First Louisiana Infantry in Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia for the entirety of the war, afterward returning to New Orleans, where he continued his ministry among veterans as a trusted pastor and comrade. One of just three full-time Catholic chaplains in Lee’s army, only Hubert returned permanently to the South after surrender. In postwar New Orleans, he was unanimously elected chaplain of the veterans of the eastern campaign and became well-known for his eloquent public prayers at memorial events, funerals of prominent figures such as Jefferson Davis, and dedications of Confederate monuments. In this first-ever biography of Hubert, Katherine Bentley Jeffrey offers a far-reaching account of his extraordinary life. Born in revolutionary France, Hubert entered the Society of Jesus as a young man and left his homeland with fellow Jesuits to join the New Orleans mission. In antebellum Louisiana, he interacted with slaves and free people of color, felt the effects of anti-Catholic and anti-Jesuit propaganda, experienced disputes and dysfunction with the trustees of his Baton Rouge church, and survived a near-fatal encounter with Know-Nothing vigilantism. As a chaplain with the Army of Northern Virginia, Hubert witnessed harrowing battles and their equally traumatic aftermath in surgeons’ tents and hospitals. After the war, he was a spiritual director, friend, mentor, and intermediary in the fractious and politically divided Crescent City, where he both honored Confederate memory and promoted reconciliation and social harmony. Hubert’s complicated and tumultuous life is notable both for its connection to the most compelling events of the era and its illumination of the complex and unexpected ways religion intersected with politics, war, and war’s repercussions.

The First Christian: The Encounters With Jesus Series:5

The Gospels are full of encounters that made a profound impact on those who spoke with Jesus Christ. In the fifth part of his Encounters with Jesusseries, Timothy Keller, pastor of New York's Redeemer Presbyterian Church and New York Times-bestselling author of The Reason for God, shows how those encounters can still have a deep effect on us today. By examining an encounter between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, one of his most beloved disciples, Keller clarifies the Christian understanding of faith, and explains its role in answering the big questions of life.This and the other nine in the series make up the complete Encounters With Jesus: Unexpected Answers to Life's Biggest Questions.

The First Christian

The Gospels are full of encounters that made a profound impact on those who spoke with Jesus Christ. In the fifth part of his Encounters with Jesusseries, Timothy Keller, pastor of New York's Redeemer Presbyterian Church and New York Times-bestselling author of The Reason for God, shows how those encounters can still have a deep effect on us today. By examining an encounter between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, one of his most beloved disciples, Keller clarifies the Christian understanding of faith, and explains its role in answering the big questions of life. This and the other nine in the series make up the complete Encounters With Jesus: Unexpected Answers to Life's Biggest Questions.

The First Christian Communities, 32 - 380 CE: Quiet Christians, Visible Martyrs, and Compelling Texts

This concise history of how the Christian Church grew between 32 and 380 focuses on the anonymous Christians who formed diverse congregations as they guided their communities through the age of the Apostles, violent martyrdoms, and to the establishment of the Roman Church. Readers will understand why people converted to Christianity in the first three centuries and learn about the rich diversity of the early church as people interpreted the new religion in different ways. This book explores how Christian interactions with the Roman empire led to violent persecutions and martyrdoms, and eventually the fourth-century establishment of the top-down Roman Church. Readers also become familiar with Christian texts during this period – some became Scripture and some were rejected, but all were written to make sense of the Jewish and Christian experience in the Roman Empire. These written memories shaped the future of the church. It also explores how early Christian lives were shaped by the religious rituals and preaching of their new and changing faith. In addition, maps, illustrations, and charts of Christian texts help tell this fascinating story. The First Christian Communities, 32 - 380 CE is an accessible and valuable resource suitable for students working on Christian history, and Roman and Late Antique social, political and religious history, as well as general readers who are interested in the origins of Christianity.

The First Christians: The Acts Of The Apostles For Children

Gathered from many lands and times, here are delightful tales for children: some true, others improbable, and many simply fantastic. You'll meet the saint who spent seven Easters on a whale's back and the amiable lion who was St. Jerome's friend. You'll see St. George fight the dragon, and you'll read about the fierce wolf St. Francis of Assisi converted. But many of these stories have in them scarcely a wave of the fairy wand. So you'll also find here true tales of great saints such as St. Louis of France, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Francis Xavier, and St. Elizabeth of Hungary -- souls marked by courage, kindness, and piety. These marvelous legends and exciting true stories of Christian saints and heroes will provide many hours of delightful reading to believers and non-believers alike!

The First Christmas (Early Reader)

Early Readers are stepping stones from picture books to reading books. A blue Early Reader is perfect for sharing and reading together. A red Early Reader is the next step on your reading journey.The story of the birth of Jesus and the first Christmas re-told with delightful simplicity, and illustrated with charming soft watercolours. Both text and pictures are designed to make this the perfect introduction to the Nativity story for very young children.

The First Christmas (Early Reader Ser.)

Early Readers are stepping stones from picture books to reading books. A blue Early Reader is perfect for sharing and reading together. A red Early Reader is the next step on your reading journey. The story of the birth of Jesus and the first Christmas retold with delightful simplicity, and illustrated with charming soft watercolours. Both text and pictures are designed to make this the perfect introduction to the Christmas story for very young children.