This one-of-a-kind presentation of the New Testament world and its archaeological treasures provides a new, more complete understanding of the world in which Christianity was born. Through lavish photographs, architectural plans, extensive maps, and detailed charts, you can explore the landscape of Nazareth where Jesus grew up; sit at the shores of Galilee where he preached; and enter the streets and temple of Jerusalem where his ministry was fulfilled. An experienced archaeologist and biblical expert will guide you throughout your journey around Israel and beyond--on the Mediterranean voyages of Paul to the homes and synagogues of the Roman Empire, where he planted the seeds of Christianity. Visit Emperor Nero's "Golden House," witness the desperation of the Jewish revolutionaries at Masada, and explore the magnificent basilicas of Constantine the Great.

The HarperCollins Visual Guide to the New Testament features:

Rich descriptions of the worlds of Jesus, Paul, and the first Christians

Full-color photographs of excavations, artifacts, coins, and pottery from New Testament sites

Extensive maps

Architectural floor plans of temples, palaces, and synagogues

Commentary on how archaeology relates to the Bible

Examination of modern excavation techniques and methods

A beginners' guide to understanding pottery, coins, temples, and inscriptions

A hugely topical collection of essays from a cross-disciplinary group of leading academics focussing on the implications for an understanding of human identity in light of the current possibilities in medical science. The book brings together an international body of medical experts alongside philosophers, sociologists, theologians and ethicists in order to discuss these vital issues.

The ensuing discussion will allow public debate to be more informed about the actual possibilities inherent in medical science, alongside a sophisticated treatment of ethical and theological issues. The result is a focused collection of essays that raises new and challenging questions.

In this groundbreaking book, Benezet Bujo, a leading voice in African Christian theology, offers an informed critique of Western ethics and lays the theoretical groundwork for a new African ethic. By skillfully drawing on themes from African life such as marriage, therapy, and art, Bujo exposes the shortcomings of the philosophical anthropology implicit in Western ethics, comparing Western theories of natural law, discourse ethics, and communitarianism with the African emphasis on community and remembrance. He then considers whether African ethics can account for central Western values such as autonomy, freedom, and individual identity. Finally, he considers how African ethics both challenges the Church and contributes to its richness, suggesting that an African palaver ethic can integrate the best features of communitarianism and discourse ethics. This timely contribution to African theology will be of special interest to students of religion, comparative and non-Western philosophy, anthropology, and African studies, as well as those intrigued by ongoing debates about universal ethical norms.

The youngest of the world religions and the second most widespread after Christianity, the Baha'i Faith is well known for its belief in the oneness of all religions. In this clear, readable, and informative guide, Momen provides a vibrant introduction to all aspects of this fast-expanding faith, which now has over 5.5 million adherents. From its teachings on the spiritual development of the individual to the belief in the need for world peace, Momen's comprehensive study gives anyone interested in the contemporary religious landscape an authoritative insight into this 150-year old tradition, whose spiritual and social teachings are so much in tune with the concerns of today.

"Thematic examination of monotheistic religions" The second edition of "Jews, Christians, Muslims: A Comparative Introduction to Monotheistic Religions," compares Judaism, Christianity, and Islam using seven common themes which are equally relevant to each tradition. Provoking critical thinking, this text addresses the cultural framework of religious meanings and explores the similarities and differences among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as it explains the ongoing process of interpretation in each religion. The book is designed for courses in Western and World Religions. Note: MySearchLab does no come automatically packaged with this text. To purchase MySearchLab, please visit www.MySearchLab.com or you can purchase a valuepack of the text + MySearchLab (9780205026340)

Writing in the wake of a near-fatal stroke, eminent theologian Anthony C. Thiselton addresses a universally significant topic: death and what comes next. This distinctive study of "the last things" comprehensively explores questions about individual death, the intermediate state, the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, hell, the final state of the redeemed, and more. At once scholarly and pastoral, Thiselton's Life after Death offers biblically astute, historically informed, and intellectually sound answers -- making this book an invaluable resource for thinking Christians.

This is an introduction to feminist and gender-critical perspectives on the New Testament and other early Christian writings.In this introductory book, Vander Stichele and Penner outline a gender-critical approach to the New Testament and discuss the issues involved. Building on feminist analysis, gender-criticism explores the place of both women and men in, behind, and in front of the text, but also understands sexual identities as part and parcel of the study of gender identities in both text and context, assessing the relative configuration of such identities through their broader, rhetorical, ideological, and socio-cultural contexts in the ancient (and modern) worlds.The authors clearly set out the methodology and hermeneutical issues and then give concrete examples of how gender-critical exegesis affects the reading of texts. The New Testament is not considered in isolation, rather the book deals with early Christian Literature in a more general sense, in that the issues discussed are related to the study of that broad body of literature and concrete examples either come from those texts or tackle issues at stake in them. This book is unique in terms of its range as well as in the explicit methodological focus that is fostered. Furthermore, it is a joint project of scholars from different cultural backgrounds, but with a similar interest and complementary skills.

John Dominic Crossan, the eminent historical Jesus scholar, and Jonathan L. Reed, an expert in biblical archaeology, reveal through archaeology and textual scholarship that Paul, like Jesus, focused on championing the Kingdom of God--a realm of justice and equality--against the dominant, worldly powers of the Roman empire.

Many theories exist about who Paul was, what he believed, and what role he played in the origins of Christianity. Using archaeological and textual evidence, and taking advantage of recent major discoveries in Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Syria, Crossan and Reed show that Paul was a fallible but dedicated successor to Jesus, carrying on Jesus's mission of inaugurating the Kingdom of God on earth in opposition to the reign of Rome. Against the concrete backdrop of first-century Grego-Roman and Jewish life, In Search of Paul reveals the work of Paul as never before, showing how and why the liberating messages and practices of equality, caring for the poor, and a just society under God's rules, not Rome's, were so appealing.

Readers interested in Paul as a historical figure and his place in the development of Christianity

-Readers interested in archaeology and anthropology

The science of the future of the physical universe has been transformed since the discovery of the accelerating universe in 1998. Overall science paints a picture of a future of futility and therefore poses question to a Christian theology of hope. This book argues that the Christian understanding of new creation, when applied beyond the life of the believer or indeed the church, speaks powerfully into this context, giving resources to both theologians and scientists to engage fruitfully with the questions of the end of the Universe. This book explores the future of the universe in the light of modern science, popular culture such as movies and science fiction, and "pop eschatology" such as the best-selling "Left Behind" series. The book argues that Christian theology can learn and contribute in a dialogue with the scientific picture of the future of the Universe. Using a Wesleyan approach to theology, the biblical narratives are explored in conversation with the scientific discoveries. If Christian eschatology is to have a fruitful dialogue, then it must take seriously the relationship between creation and new creation. In particular this relationship, modelled by the resurrection, must be represented by a tension between continuity and discontinuity. In this way the movement to new creation is seen as tranformation rather than destruction of this creation. Indeed, there are pointers to this new creation which may be part of a revised natural theology. The action and faithfulness of God are both key elements in this tranformation working both in process and event. Contemporary theologians including Moltmann and Pannenberg either ignore this tension or fail to relate it to the physical Universe. At the same time the "scientific eschatologies" of Dyson and Tipler, and the eschatological speculations of contemporary fundamentalism are shown to be inadequate scientifically and technologically. This tension leads to the suggestion that space and time are real in creation and new creation, and a multi-dimensional view of God's relationship with time is proposed. Further, speculation on the tranformation of matter in new creation needs to reflect its relationality and context. The consequences for the relationship of Christian eschatology to the biological world, providence, hope, ethics, and Christian apologetics are explored. In particular such a robust Christian eschatology engages constructively with questions of hope in contemporary culture.

The reader is taken on a journey from the earliest roots of Christianity to its near acceptance as religion of the Roman Empire. The reader is taken from the very first generation of Christians in Rome, a tiny group of Jews who acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, down to the point when Christianity had triumphed over savage persecution and was on the verge of becoming the religion of the Roman Empire. Rome was by far the biggest city in the Roman world and this had a profound effect on the way Christianity developed there. It became separate from Judaism at a very early date. The Roman Christians were the first to suffer savage persecution at the hands of Nero. Rome saw the greatest theological movements of the second century thrashing out the core doctrines of the Christian faith. The emergence of the papacy and the building of the catacombs gave the Roman Church extraordinary influence and prestige in the third century, another time of cruel persecution. And it was in Rome that Constantine's patronage of the Christian faith was most evident as he built great basilicas and elevated the personal status of the Pope.

Every year thousands of enthusiasts, both amateur and professional, spend the summer months digging in the sands of Israel hoping to find items that relate in some way to the places or events depicted in the Bible. Thousands more view artifacts in museums and long to know the full stories behind them. Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, Volume II, is the essential book for all of them
In Ephraim Stern's sequel to Archaeology of the Land of the Bible," Volume I, by Amihai Mazar, this world-renowned archaeologist who has directed excavations in the Holy Land for many years offers a dramatic look at how archaeological research contributes to our understanding of the connections between history and the stories recounted in the Bible. Stern writes about various artifacts unearthed in recent years and relates them to the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian periods in the Bible. Accompanied by photographs and illustrations of rare ancient relics ranging from household pottery to beautifully crafted jewelry and sculpture. His discussions bring the biblical world to life.

This study of the early church is written from a new religious and theological studies perspective. It builds on recent research in ancient history, archaeology, classical and oriental and cognate studies and also takes account of recent developments in reception studies, in particular in the area of popular literature, fiction, film, art and new religions. One of its aims is to demonstrate how certain perceptions of the early church still dominate the western cultural discourse and how important it is for a fruitful development of that discourse to inform it with a well grounded, well (historically) informed, notion of 'the early church'. The book falls into seven chapters. Chapter I discusses the concepts of 'the early church', 'early Christianity', its wording and history, including wider aspects of reception. Chapter II deals with concepts of history, memory and cultural origins in early Christian thought. Chapter III outlines varieties of religious traditions in the wider context of 'the early church', including 'heresies' or other religions like Gnosticism, Montanism and Manichaeism. Chapter IV introduces religious practices of early Christians and their perception in history, especially in western art. A fifth chapter deals with the emerging separation of religion and society in Late Antiquity. In a sixth chapter we outline the formation of orthodoxy, including the developments of creeds and the phenomenon of councils, and in a seventh chapter we will look at the phenomenon of 'De-Hellenization' and the formation of 'national' 'christianities' on the fringes of the old Mediterranean world.