Showing results by author "Dr. Bill Creasy"

The Imitation of Christ is one of the great spiritual classics of Christianity. Dr. Creasy's new reading of Thomas A Kempis' 1441 Latin Autograph Manuscript has become "the standard translation of this spiritual classic." The printed trade edition has been a best seller and was chosen as a Book of the Month Club selection. It remains an essential spiritual work for contemporary readers. This audio version read by Don Ranson captures the intimacy and depth of this superb translation.

Seventy-three of the 150 psalms are traditionally ascribed to David. As we read the "Davidic Psalms," we see deeply into David's heart as he struggles with God, with others and with himself. These psalms are deeply moving and often, brutally honest.

Join Logos Bible Study as we continue the story of redemption. As told by Dr. Bill Creasy, Israel falls into the cruel bondage of slavery in Egypt. And it is no accident: God had said to Abraham 500 years earlier that his descendants would be “enslaved and mistreated four hundred years”.

Study through the entire Bible, Genesis through Revelation, in one year! This "flagship" Logos course grew out of Dr. Creasy's year-long UCLA program, "The English Bible as Literature." One of the most highly rated courses on campus, "The English Bible as Literature" placed Dr. Creasy among the top 2% of UCLA teaching faculty for over 20 years!

Dr. Creasy has noted on many occasions that the Bible—in its final, finished form—is a unified literary work that is linear in structure; its main character is God; its conflict is sin; and its theme is redemption. Viewing the Bible from this perspective, the curtain rises on our story in Genesis 1, and it falls in Revelation 22. From a literary perspective, Revelation is the final chapter in a sprawling 2,000 page, 66-chapter story.

Logos Bible Study presents another masterful presentation by Dr. Bill Creasy of how a divided kingdom will surely fall. From Solomon's reign to the prophetic call of Elijah, 1 Kings tells the story of the collapse of David's united monarchy into a nearly 100-year civil war and the fracture of a nation into two kingdoms: Israel and Judah. 2 Kings continues the story, chronicling Assyria's conquest of Israel in 721 BC and Babylon's conquest of Judah in 586 BC, ending with all Israel taken captive to Babylon.

St. Paul is to the New Testament what Moses is to the Old Testament: as God gave the message of the Law through Moses, so he gave the message of Grace through Paul. In Acts 9: 15 Jesus said that St. Paul is "my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and to their kings and to the people of Israel." And that is precisely what Paul did. On three missionary journeys - in AD 46-48, 50-52, and 54-57 - Paul worked tirelessly to spread the gospel message throughout Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), Macedonia and Greece, and to Rome itself.

With the book of Esther, we end the linear narrative of the Hebrew Scriptures. And if we can draw one lesson from Genesis through Esther, it is this: "If we do what God says, all will go well; if we don't, it won't." And then we turn the page to Job. Job does everything God wants, and his life is a disaster! As we know from our own experience: bad things often happen to good people, even when they are fully aligned with God. So what gives? Job explores this paradox, calling into question the fundamental lessons we learn in the first 700 pages of Scripture.

Written considerably later that the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), John takes a very different approach to the Gospel story. Traditionally attributed to the "Beloved Apostle" John, this Gospel doesn’t give us yet another version of the events in Jesus’ public ministry; John illustrates what those events mean in light of 60 years of reflection upon them. The Gospel according to John is a brilliant book, and it offers us a profoundly intimate glimpse into the person and work of Jesus Christ.

In King David, the Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel, Jonathan Kirsch observes: At the heart of the Book of Samuel, where the story of David is first told, we find a work of genius that anticipates the romantic lyricism and tragic grandeur of Shakespeare, the political wile of Machiavelli, and the modern psychological insight of Freud. And, just as much as Shakespeare or Machiavelli or Freud, the frank depiction of David in the pages of the Bible has defined what it means to be a human being: King David is "a symbol of the complexity and ambiguity of human experience itself."

Some think Leviticus is a “boring” book, yet it springs to life with the masterful storytelling skills of Dr. Bill Creasy. Listen as he weaves the texture, tone, and color of daily Israelite life during this amazing period of biblical history. With its emphasis on personal holiness, atonement, and sacrifice for sins, Leviticus separates the Israelites from their surrounding culture, calling them to be holy, as God is holy.

In Genesis the curtain rises on our story. Genesis introduces most of the major themes in the Bible. Listen closely as Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy takes you through the story of creation, the fall of man, grace, atonement, faith, justification, redemption and much more in this extraordinary story of beginnings.

Saul of Tarsus was one of the most brilliant young men of his generation. Growing up in a wealthy family, receiving a world-class education, and being groomed for leadership at the highest level of Judaism, Saul became the great persecutor of the emerging Church shortly after Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. On the road to Damascus to round up Christians and have them brought back to Jerusalem for punishment, Saul encounters the risen and glorified Christ - and his life turns upside down.

Acts follows the Church from its birth in Jerusalem through its exponential growth and inevitable persecution, led by Saul of Tarsus. Incredibly, Saul later confronts the risen and glorified Christ on the road to Damascus, where he becomes a believer. And not just any old believer! Saul becomes Paul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles. From Chapter 9 onward, Acts follows Paul on his three missionary journeys as he takes the Gospel into Asia Minor and Europe.

Although Matthew may not be the first written Gospel, like Isaiah it is positioned first in its sequence of four Gospels. Opening with a 42-generation genealogy, Matthew reminds us of the linear nature of God’s plan, and Matthew forms a link—a swinging door—between the Old and New Testaments. Matthew is a Jew writing for a Jewish audience, and his Gospel provides our first perspective on the birth and public ministry of Jesus Christ. Join Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy as he leads us through this dazzling work.

The Hebrew Scriptures contain three major figures: the priest, the prophet, and the king. The priest stands between the people and God, and he speaks to God on behalf of the people; the prophet stands between God and the people, and he speaks to the people on behalf of God; and the king represents God in the affairs of the nation.

Often incorrectly referred to as one of Paul’s “prison epistles” (he was not in prison in Rome in A.D. 60-62; he was living in his own rented house, free to come and go as he pleased), Ephesians is a brilliant exposition of Paul’s thesis that we are “saved by grace through faith”. It is also a glittering display of Paul’s rhetorical fireworks. Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy examines this extraordinary epistle in detail.

Although Romans is not the earliest of Paul’s writings, like Isaiah and Matthew, Romans sits at the head of the epistles and letters. Written as a formal argument and structured as a scholastic diatribe, Romans presents Paul’s great thesis that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works of Law. This is revolutionary! Romans, perhaps more than any other book ever written, has fundamentally changed Western civilization, and it is foundational to understanding all of Paul’s other epistles and letters.

After 40 years in the wilderness the Israelites begin their conquest of Canaan, the land God promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In the book of Joshua the Israelites cross the Jordan River, attacking Jericho—and we watch the walls come tumblin' down! By the end of Joshua the Israelites have subdued most of the "Promised Land" and it is allocated to the 12 tribes—yet, there are still significant pockets of resistance, especially among the Philistines on the coastal plain.

The "general epistles" include those New Testament canonical epistles and letters not attributed to St. Paul, but all written during the 1st generation of the Church by those closely associated with Jesus. They include Hebrews; James; 1 & 2 Peter; 1, 2 & 3 John and Jude.