"The Lord is my shepherd."
Thus begins the most beloved of all Psalms—and thus begins a thousand-year journey through the Bible. Prophets, apostles, and Jesus himself took up this image from David, reshaping it, developing it, and applying it to their own situations and needs. Kenneth Bailey uses his celebrated insights into Middle Eastern culture, especially his familiarity with Middle Eastern shepherding customs, to bring new light and life to our understanding of this central image of the Christian faith. With each of nine major Old and New Testament passages, Bailey reveals the literary artistry of the biblical writers and summarizes their key theological features. His work is also enriched by his unique access to very early Middle Eastern commentaries on these passages, bringing fresh understanding from within the mind-set of these ancient worlds. The Good Shepherd invites us to experience a rich, biblical feast of ethical, theological, and artistic delights.
Kenneth E. Bailey, ThD, is an author and lecturer in Middle Eastern New Testament studies. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he also serves as canon theologian of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh. The author of more than 150 articles in English and in Arabic, Bailey spent forty years living and teaching in seminaries and institutes in Egypt, Lebanon, Jerusalem, and Cyprus. For twenty of those years he was professor of New Testament and head of the biblical department of the Near East School of Theology in Beirut, where he also founded and directed the Institute for Middle Eastern New Testament Studies.
Stephen R. Thorne is a professional actor and a member of the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island. He has played Hamlet, Henry V, and Tom Joad, among many other roles. Stephen has narrated over fifty audiobooks.