Dr Paul Allen

English: "The Deluge", Frontispiece to Doré's illustrated edition of the Bible. Based on the story of Noah's Ark, this shows humans and a tiger doomed by the flood futilely attempting to save their children and cubs. Français : "Le Déluge", Frontispice de l'édition illustrée par Gustave Doré de la Bible. Basé sur l'histoire de l'Arche de Noé, la gravure montre des humains et un tigre tentant en vain de sauver leur progéniture. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Darren Aronofsky ’s film  Noah   has created quite the stir. Regardless of whether we agree with his portrayal of Noah, we must admit he does raise some interesting questions about this important biblical account. After seeing the movie, I left the theater wanting to know more—wanting to find answers to these tough questions. I’m sure others did, too. But where can we find all the best scholarship and interpretations collected in one place? The  Lexham Bible Guide: Genesis 1–11  is our answe...

English: Noah sent out this dove Русский: Ной выпускает голубя (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) I would never go to a movie titled “ Noah ” and expect to witness an accurate account of the biblical narrative. In fact, no one should ever go to a Hollywood production of any kind and expect to see a true rendering of biblical truth. Think about it; if someone has spent millions of dollars to procure for themselves actors and directors and writers of prominence to recreate a biblical story then almost by definition they aren’t going to promote the certainty of Scripture. There is a certain beautiful but dangerous naivety in most evangelical circles that has allowed them to entertain the idea that on some level Hollywood desires to promote the glory of God when they don’t. Perhaps it comes from the newest Christian vogue of trying to win the culture by living like the culture. Perhaps we have tried to become so much like them that now we believe they are like us. Somehow believers have sed...

My first experience teaching the Bible came when I was asked at the last minute to teach a Sunday School class of first-grade boys. I was only 16 years old, and I did not exactly volunteer to teach the class. I found myself telling a familiar Bible story to six-year olds and explaining it as best I could. There have been very few Sundays since when I have not taught or preached, usually to a congregation a bit less fidgety than my first. You learn one thing fast when teaching the Bible to six-year-old boys — they often think they can “improve” on the story as found in the Bible. First-grade boys are big on special effects, blowing away bad guys, exploding just about anything, and what we might gently call “narrative overkill.” That helps me to understand director Darren Aronofsky and his new film,  Noah . Aronofsky and his co-writer Ari Handel started with the Old Testament narrative about Noah, just about 2,400 words in English translation, and exploded it into a huge Hollyw...