Mark's gospel has an urgency to it that's hard to ignore. It's as if he is breathless, trying to get the information out as quickly as he can. A few decades have passed since Jesus' ministry, and with persecution intensifying, some believers were tempted to compromise or simply give up on being a follower of the Messiah. So, Mark needed to take the early Christians back to the basics and get them ready to move! In this six-session study (video streaming code included), pastor Jeff Manion takes you and your group through the gospel of Mark to answer such urgent questions about the Christian faith as: Who is this Jesus? What does he expect of me? Is suffering a normal part of the Christian life? What will encourage and strengthen my trust in Jesus? These questions are not born of a lack of faith but serve to strengthen and stabilize our relationship with the Savior. So, lace up your running shoes. Open your heart and mind. And come with your questions! Get ready to move as Mark's Gospel reveals what it means to follow Jesus. This study guide has everything you need for a full Bible study experience, including: The study guide itself-a 40 Day reading plan through Mark with discussion and personal reflection questions, video notes, and a leader's guide. An individual access code to stream all six video sessions online (you don't need to buy a DVD!). 40 Days Through the Book series: Each of the studies in this series, taught by a different pastor or Bible teacher on a specific book of the Bible, is designed to help you more actively engage with God's Word by understanding its background and culture and applying it in a fresh way to your life. Throughout each study, you'll be encouraged to read through the corresponding book in the New Testament at least once during the course of 40 days. Watch on any device! Streaming video access code included. Access code subject to expiration after 12/31/2027. Code may be redeemed only by the recipient of this package. Code may not be transferred or sold separately from this package. Internet connection required. Void where prohibited, taxed, or restricted by law. Additional offer details inside.

The present study represents the first attempt to expand the methodological and practical framework of textual scholarship on the Greek New Testament from an Orthodox perspective. Its focus is on the Antoniades edition of 1904, commonly known as the Patriarchal Edition. The examination of the creation and reception of this edition shows that its textual principles are often misrepresented. In particular, it is shown to be more closely related to the Textus Receptus than to lectionary manuscripts. This is confirmed by an analysis of lectionary manuscripts using the Text und Textwert methodology and a detailed comparison of the Antoniades edition with the recent Editio Critica Maior of the Catholic Epistles. A textual commentary is provided on key verses in order to formulate guidelines for preparing an edition of the Greek New Testament that would satisfy the needs of Orthodox users in different contexts. This study offers a foundation for the further development of New Testament textual scholarship from an Orthodox perspective, informed both by modern critical scholarship and Orthodox tradition. It also provides a fresh translation of Antoniades' introduction in an Appendix.

For a hundred years, the million dollar question has been, What was the nature and state of the tradition between Jesus and the gospels? Eve surveys the major proposals, offers critical and constructive commentary, and makes appropriately nuanced suggestions of his own. On this topic, his work is now the place to start' Dale C. Allison, Jr. Professor of New Testament, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary 'Eric Eve has written a magnificent guide to one of the most exciting areas in Gospels studies today - oral tradition and memory theory. With clear writing and judicious assessment, he covers the important personalities and ideas in the search to get behind the Gospels, from form criticism to the present. I highly recommend this book to scholars and students alike' Chris Keith, Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, St Mary's University College, London 'Eric Eve gives a balanced and lucid account of all attempts to reconstruct the oral tradition behind the written Gospels . . . Eve's judgments on these questions are fair, his arguments convincing. This is a foundational book both for Jesus research and for our understanding of the literary history of the New Testament' Gerd Theissen, Professor Emeritus of New Testament, University of Heidelberg.

The subject of the Bible's last book is often met with fear, awe, and fascination. In fact, the true meaning of Revelation is so often interpreted or speculated on by authors, ministers, or academics, that very few individuals actually study the book themselves. The literal meaning of Revelation, in Greek, is 'an unveiling.' Allow yourself to be engaged in God's vision of hope and promise for the faithful, obedient Christian and discover what truths Revelation will unveil in your own life. Part 1 contains the first 11 chapters of the book. Part 2 contains the last 11. Paper.

Making use of his true scholar's understanding, yet writing in an approachable and anecdotal style, Tom Wright manages to convey the simplicity, and helps to unravel the great complexity, of this extraordinary gospel. He describes it as "one of the great books in the literature of the world; and part of its greatness is the way it reveals its secrets not just to high-flown learning, but to those who come to it with humility and hope".

Every Sunday, the Lord's Prayer echoes in every Church around the world. It is an indispensable element of the faith. It is the way Jesus taught his followers to pray, and encapsulates the essential beliefs and attitudes to which all Christians aspire. Here, John Dominic Crossan, one of the world's leading experts on Jesus and his times, explores this foundational prayer line by line. This is quintessential Crossan, providing just the right amount of historical detail and literary insight to enhance our understanding, and drawing out the enduring richness and relevance of Jesus' words for today.

A new and better society has been the constant dream of men and women. Responding to this dream, John Stott has been attracted back again and again by Paul's letter to the young church at Ephesus. It portrays a new society of Christ's making that stands out in bright relief against our colourless world of oppression, heartache, separation and division. Paul's letter, with its exultant vision of a renewed human community, has, says John Stott, 'stirred me deeply'. John Stott expounds Paul's theme of uniting all things in Christ by uniting his church and breaking down all that separates us from God, one ethnic group from another, husband from wife, parent from child, master from slave. Paul's insights are for all who want to build the church into the new society God has planned it to be.

Paul as Pastor demonstrates the critical nature of Paul's pastoral care to his identity and activities. Despite the fact that Paul never identifies himself as a pastor, there is much within the Pauline letters that alludes to this as a possible aspect of Paul's vocation and commitments, and this has been a topic of relative scholarly neglect. The contributors to this volume consider the household setting of Paul's pastoral practice, the evidence of Acts and a survey of themes in each of the letters in the traditional Pauline corpus. Additionally, three chapters supply case studies of the Wirkungsgeschichte of Paul's pastoral practice in the pastoral offices of the Anglican Communion in the denomination's Ordinal, and in the lives and thought of Augustine of Hippo and George Whitfield. As such Paul as Pastor provides a stimulating resource on a neglected and critical dimension of Paul and his letters and an invaluable tool for those in pastoral ministry and those responsible for their training.

Paul and the Greco-Roman Philosophical Tradition provides a fresh examination of the relationship of Greco-Roman philosophy to Pauline Christianity. It offers an in-depth look at different approaches employed by scholars who draw upon philosophical settings in the ancient world to inform their understanding of Paul. The volume houses an international team of scholars from a range of diverse traditions and backgrounds, which opens up a platform for multiple voices from various corridors. Consequently, some of the chapters seek to establish new potential resonances with Paul and the Greco-Roman philosophical tradition, but others question such connections. While a number of them propose radically new relationships between Paul and GrecoRoman philosophy, a few seek to tweak or modulate current discussions. There are arguments in the volume which are more technical and exegetical, and others that remain more synthetic and theological. This diversity, however, is accentuated by a goal shared by each author - to further our understanding of Paul's relationship to and appropriation of Greco-Roman philosophical traditions in his literary and missionary efforts.

Are the Thomas references in the Gospel of John, the Thomas compositions, and the early Thomas traditions in northwestern and southern India purely legendary as biblical scholars have assumed or do they preserve unexamined historical traditions intermittently as the Thomas Christians in India have believed? Didymus Judas Thomas is one of the most misunderstood characters from the beginning of the New Testament history and interpretation. In this study, Thomaskutty addresses the following questions: whether Thomas was merely a 'doubting Thomas' or a 'genuine Thomas'? Can we understand Thomas comprehensively by bringing the New Testament, apocrypha, and historical traditions together? How was Thomas connected to eastern Christianity and how does the Thomas literature support/not support this connectivity? Can we understand the Thomas traditions related to Judea, Syria, and India with the help of canonical, extra canonical, and traditio-historical documents? Thomaskutty investigates the development of the Thomas literature right from the beginning, examining and questioning the approaches and methodologies that have been employed in interpreting these documents, and analyzes the Thomas literature closely in order to understand the character, his mission involvements, and the possible implications this may have for understanding early Christianity in the east.

For two centuries scholars have sought to discover the historical Jesus. Presently such scholarship is dominated not by the question 'Who was Jesus?' but rather 'How do we even go about answering the question, "Who was Jesus?"?' With this current situation in mind, Jonathan Bernier undertakes a two-fold task: one, to engage on the level of the philosophy of history with existing approaches to the study of the historical Jesus, most notably the criteria approach and the social memory approach; two, to work with the critical realism developed by Bernard Lonergan, introduced into New Testament studies by Ben F. Meyer, and advocated by N.T. Wright in order to develop a philosophy of history that can elucidate current debates within historical Jesus studies.

This book provides a literary analysis of New Testament texts on marriage, sex, family, and celibate ideals. It seeks to explore if, how, and eventually to what extent the New Testament favors sexual abstinence. The core of this study consequently consists of fresh perspectives on the issue of sexual abstinence in the New Testament through close readings of 1 Cor 7, Gal 3:28, Matt 19:10-12, and Mark 12:18-27/Matt 22:23-33/Luke 20:27-40, with a keen eye to the many ambassadors of abstinence in the texts-characters exhibiting sexual abstinence given a favorable characterization and function. As a comprehensive literary analysis of these texts from this perspective lacks precedent in contemporary biblical scholarship, the study is a valuable contribution to the ongoing scholarly debate on the biblical views on sex and marriage.

Mark, Manuscripts, and Monotheism is organized into three parts: Mark's Gospel, Manuscripts and Textual Criticism, and Monotheism and Early Jesus-Devotion. With contributors hailing from several different countries, and including both senior and junior scholars, this volume contains essays penned in honor of Larry W. Hurtado by engaging and focusing upon these three major emphases in his scholarship. The result is not only a fitting tribute to one of the most influential New Testament scholars of present times, but also a welcome survey of current scholarship.