Great Men and Women of the Bible: Great Men and Women of the Bible

Fortosis (a professor of religion at Palm Beach Atlantic College in Florida) here shares brief biographies of numerous men and women from the Old and New Testaments. Fortosis introduces his lives of the great men and women of the Bible with an extended meditation on the ways that the greatness of these biblical figures is derived from the presence and the activity of God in their lives. The portrait of each biblical figure consists of a brief biography, rendered from the scriptural accounts of the figure's life, and a brief reflection on one particular characteristic of the figure from which certain spiritual lessons may be drawn. For example, Fortosis reads the story of Job as a story of suffering that points to suffering and loss as the fundamental condition of humanity. These meditations offer no earth-shattering theological insights, but readers seeking simple devotional materials may want to pick up Fortosis's book. (Nov.)