Showing results by author "Bill Creasy" in All Categories

A new reading of the 1441 Latin Autograph Manuscript. The Imitation of Christ is widely considered one of the greatest manuals of devotion in Christianity.

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!

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.

In 1 Samuel we continue our narrative. Samuel is the last of the judges, and with his end approaching the people demand a king “so we can be like all the other nations.” As God tells Samuel, “it is not you they have rejected, they have rejected me as their king.” And indeed they have. The people choose a king, Saul of the tribe of Benjamin. Saul will rule Israel for an entire generation, but although he looks like a king, he does not have the heart of a king, and the weight of kingship crushes him.

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.

The Psalms have been the prayer book of Israel for the past 3,000 years and the prayer book of the church for the past 2,000 years. The Psalms explore every possible response we can have to God, from the highest awe to the deepest love, from the darkest despair to icy anger. In the Psalms, we join David as we plumb the very depths of our hearts in our relationship with God. Join Logos Bible Study as Dr. Bill Creasy explores the Psalms, a journey through the poetry of experience.

For Paul, Corinth was nothing but trouble. In the winter of A.D. 54, a delegation from Corinth arrives in Ephesus to meet with Paul. They inform Paul that the church in Corinth has (1) developed factions and divisions among the believers, and that (2) believers are suing one another in the secular courts, and that (3) rampant sexual immorality is spreading throughout the church. In 1 Corinthians Paul addresses each of these issues.

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.

If Isaiah is the “thundering prophet” and Jeremiah is the “weeping prophet”, then Ezekiel is the “weird prophet”! Taken captive in the second wave of Babylonian attacks on Jerusalem in 597 B.C., Ezekiel writes in Babylon about the 13 “visions” that comprise his book (593-573 B.C.) And strange visions they are! Ezekiel is the “street performer” of the prophets, acting out many of his prophecies in dramatic and strange ways. Join Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy as he follows Ezekiel, the weird prophet, in his street theater performance!

From Genesis through Judges we have a straight, linear narrative; in Ruth we have a recapitulation, a backward glance into the main story. When we look over our shoulders at the linear path we have followed, we see only a charred, smoking and bloody landscape. Ruth is a diamond lying in the muck and mire of Judges, flashing in the sunlight. “Back in the days when the Judges ruled”... there was Ruth—the greatest love story in the Bible, a story of redemption.

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.

Exodus and Leviticus span a period of 13 months in the biblical narrative; Numbers covers the remaining 39 years of the Exodus. In Numbers, Moses counts the people and organizes them by tribe, clan and family, completing a journey that spans a generation. Far from tracking aimless wanderings in the wilderness, Numbers tells the incredible story of survival against all odds, as God grooms a new generation to invade and conquer the Promised Land.

Written during a period of intense persecution under the Roman emperor Nero in 64-68 B.C., Mark offers an urgent message for a community in crisis. With its fast start (“Beginning the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God... as it is written in Isaiah the prophet”), Mark hits the ground running, and he doesn’t slow down until the final episode at the end, in which the women who see Jesus’ empty tomb say nothing, for they were terrified." Mark’s Gospel is a clarion call to action. Master story teller, Dr. Bill Creasy, sounds the trumpet!

Peter and Paul were close associates, and Peter had read many of Paul's writings, some of which, he says “are hard to understand”. Peter was a commercial fisherman, not a scholar like Paul. Nonetheless, Peter has in mind in the early 60s to write an epistle addressing a number of important issues - but he doesn’t feel rhetorically equipped to do so. Enter Paul’s associate, Silas. Peter says, “With the help of Silas I have written this letter.” And what a letter it is!

In the Bible’s longest soliloquy, Moses imparts his final thoughts to the people of Israel. Deuteronomy is not a “repetition” of the Law, but a retelling of it to a new audience, on the backside of 40 years of experience. Join Logos Bible Study’s Dr. Bill Creasy as we listen to Moses address a new generation of God’s people on the plains of Jericho.

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.

Paul sends 1 Corinthians to the church at Corinth, and when they receive the epistle, they are livid! They immediately write back to Paul in very harsh terms (the letter from Corinth has been lost, but Paul alludes to it in 2 Corinthians), prompting Paul to get on board ship in Ephesus, sail to Corinth and address the church in person. It is not a pleasant visit. When Paul gets back to Ephesus he has second thoughts about his “short but painful visit”, and he writes 2 Corinthians to smooth things over.

Logos Bible Study presents another masterful presentation of a how a divided kingdom will surely fall. Join Dr. Bill Creasy as he guides us across the landscape of a broken nation ruled by evil kings, the prophets who confront them, and the idolatrous worshippers who turn their backs on God. In the end, both Israel and Judah fall into captivity, and once again it seems that God’s plan of salvation has come to an end.

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.