James McGrath has published an unusual and innovative book, The Bible and Music. It uses the power of the World Wide Web by embedding links and videos in the text. Admittedly, you don’t have to be a genius to have that idea, but it is not often done. To top it all off, the book is available for free.
The topic, obviously, is the Bible and music. However, reading the book, you will learn more about music than about the Bible, as it documents how the Bible has provided content and inspiration for a great many composers and musicians. As such, it is a great resource.
Not surprisingly, most of the music included is classical, but not all. See for instance this video by Metallica on the tenth plague in Egypt. The clip is entirely taken from the Hollywood classic, “The Ten Commandments”.
I intend to use it next time I teach the book of Exodus – if only to shock people!
The Toolbox Revised
I won’t offer a more detailed review of The Bible and Music; you can check it out for yourself. I point to it here as part of announcing the revised edition of the Toolbox: it is one of the new resources included. This now is the fifth edition. All links have been checked and those still included should work.
As a reminder: the Toolbox is an e-book full of Internet resources for studying and teaching books of the Bible. You have to be a subscriber to this blog to receive the link. If you are interested, sign up for monthly updates!
New Links: General Sites
Below is an overview of new link. I did not include issues of Create a Learning Site itself that are now included in the Toolbox.
The Bible Effect makes videos and other materials available in several languages to help people study the Bible in context.
Bible Land Maps published by New Testament Christians has an extensive set of “free” Bible maps online, but they are under copyright, so you are not allowed to freely share them. Also available at StudyLight.org.
The Center for New Testament Restoration offers transliterations of many important NT manuscripts.
The Hebrew English Interlinear ESV Old Testament is available for download in various formats.
Inductive Bible Study Book by Book offers study guides for the inductive study of many books of the Bible.
The Lexham English Bible English Greek Reverse Interlinear New Testament, downloadable in various formats, makes it possible to look behind the English text to see which Greek words stand behind it.
Net Bible is not new but changed its name (it used to be Lumina). It offers a unique feature: the text of the NET Bible with the notes added by the translators, giving their reasons for decisions made in translation – a virtual commentary on the text. It also enables you to open the Greek and Hebrew text and get information on the Greek words (unfortunately, the Hebrew comes without vowel signs).
The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha makes a quality digital version of many pseudepigrapha available.
The Sefaria Library is a Jewish site; among other texts, it makes the Mishnah and Talmud available online.
Virtual World Projects enables interactive virtual tours of archaeological sites in Israel, Palestine, and Jordan.
New Links: Specific Sites
A. H. Layard, The Monuments of Nineveh, from Drawings Made on the Spot: drawings of reliefs excavated at the historical site of Nineveh.
Genesis: The Bible Project Classroom: Heaven and Earth (Gen. 1)
Genesis: The Bible Project Classroom: Adam to Noah (Gen. 2-5)
Genesis: The Bible Project Classroom: Noah to Abraham (Gen. 5-11)
Exodus: The Bible Project Classroom: Exodus Overview
Joshua: C. Howard, “Who Were the Amorites?”
Judges: P. J. Williams, “Getting to know the Old Testament: Judges”
Kings, Isaiah: S. Z. Aster, “Israelite and Judahite Ambassadors to Assyria”: helpful background information to understand the Assyrian empire.
H. K. Harrington, New International Commentary on the OT: Ezra and Nehemiah; GB Inc.
Psalms: Y. Wyner, “The Book of Psalms and its Musical Interpretations”
ó Isaiah & Daniel: O. Pedersén, Babylon: The Great City, a book on excavations at the historical site of Babylon with awesome computer reconstructions of buildings, available for free in pdf.
Jonah: The Bible Project Classroom: The Book of Jonah
Micah: T. Watkins, “Getting to know the Old Testament: Micah”
Paul: M. F. Bird, “What Is There between Minneapolis and St. Andrews? A Third Way in the Piper-Wright Debate”, a sequel to Wright’s article listed below.
Paul: D. Lewis “The New Pauline Perspective”, an introduction in 5 videos.
Paul: J. Piper, The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright: free download.
Paul: N. T. Wright, “Justification: Yesterday, Today, and Forever”, Wright’s response to Piper’s response (see The Future of Justification above), dealing with the meaning of justification.
Romans: C. S. Keener, New Covenant Commentary: Romans GB Inc.
1 Corinthians: The Bible Project Classroom: 1 Corinthians
1 Corinthians: I. Paul & S. Travis, The Apostle Paul’s Corinth offers a tour of the historical site and its remains.
2 Corinthians: G. H. Guthrie, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: 2 Corinthians; GB Inc.
Ephesians: The Bible Project Classroom: Ephesians
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Attribution
Cover image: Psalter, Bodleian Library MS. Don. e. 248, fol. 20v by Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford is licensed under CC-BY-NC 4.0. Photo © Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford.
References
F. McGrath, James F. N.d. The Bible and Music (PALSave)
It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted, which means you may share and adapt it (see the Creative Commons link for details).