Did the evangelist Mark write two versions of his gospel? According to a letter ascribed to Clement of Alexandria, Mark created a second, more spiritual edition of his gospel for theologically advanced Christians in Alexandria. Clement's letter contains two excerpts from this lost gospel, including a remarkably different account of the raising of Lazarus. Forty-five years of cursory investigation have yielded five mutually exclusive paradigms, abundant confusion, and rumours of forgery. Strangely, one of the few things upon which most investigators agree is that the letter's own explanation of the origin and purpose of this longer gospel need not be taken seriously. Mark's Other Gospel: Rethinking Morton Smith's Controversial Discovery calls this pervasive bias into question. After thoroughly critiquing the five main paradigms, Scott G. Brown demonstrates that the gospel excerpts not only sound like Mark, but also employ Mark's distinctive literary techniques, deepening this gospels theology and elucidating puzzling aspects of its narrative. This mystic gospel represents Mark's own response to the Alexandrian predilection to discover the essential truths of a philosophy beneath the literal level of revered texts.

Given the dearth of non-messianic interpretations of Psalm 110:1 in non-Christian Second Temple Jewish texts, why did it become such a widely used messianic prooftext in the New Testament and early Christianity? Previous attempts to answer this question have focused on why the earliest Christians first began to use Ps 110:1. The result is that these proposals do not provide an adequate explanation for why first century Christians living in the Greek East employed the verse and also applied it to Jesus's exaltation. I contend that two Greco-Roman politico-religious practices, royal and imperial temple and throne sharing-which were cross-cultural rewards that Greco-Roman communities bestowed on beneficent, pious, and divinely approved rulers-contributed to the widespread use of Ps 110:1 in earliest Christianity. This means that the earliest Christians interpreted Jesus's heavenly session as messianic and thus political, as well as religious, in nature.

This book provides a clear scholarly introduction to study of the life of Jesus and of the four New Testament gospels. In the second edition, special attention is given to ways of assessing the relevant literary and archaeological evidence. Current scholarly debates are considered, but the main emphasis is on thorough study of key passages in the gospels.

Most experts who seek to understand the historical Jesus focus only on the Synoptic Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke. However, the contributors of this volume come to an important consensus: that the Gospel of John preserves traditions that are independent of the Synoptics, and which are often as reliable as any known traditions for understanding the historical Jesus. As such, the contributors argue for the use of John's Gospel in Jesus research. The volume contains various critical approaches to historical inquiry in the Gospel of John, including new evaluations of the relationship between John and the Synoptics, literary and rhetorical approaches, comparative analysis of other early traditions, the judicious use of archaeological data, and historical interpretation of John's theological tendencies. Contributing scholars include Dale C. Allison, Jr., Paul N. Anderson, Harold W. Attridge, James H. Charlesworth, R. Alan Culpepper, Michael A. Daise, Craig S. Keener, George L. Parsenios, Petr Pokorny, Jan Roskovec, and Urban C. von Wahlde, who help to reassess fully the historical study of John's gospel, particularly with respect to the person of Jesus.

Twenty-two scholars from an enormous range of theological disciplines came together in New York at Easter 1996 to debate the central truth of Christianity: the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. This ground-breaking and international study knits together mainstream scholarship on biblical studies, fundamental theology, moral theology, philosophy, and many other schools of thought to offer a balanced and integral view of the Resurrection.

In Jesus and the Politics of Roman Palestine, Richard A. Horsley offers one of the most comprehensive critical analyses of Jesus of Nazareth's mission and how he became a significant historical figure. In his study Horsley brings a fuller historical knowledge of the context and implications of recent research to bear on the investigation of the historical Jesus. Breaking with the standard focus on isolated individual sayings of Jesus, Horsley argues that the sources for Jesus in historical interaction are the Gospels and the speeches of Jesus that they include, read critically in their historical context.
This work addresses the standard assumptions that the historical Jesus has been presented primarily as a sage or apocalyptic visionary. In contrast, based on a critical reconsideration of the Gospels and contemporary sources for Roman imperial rule in Judea and Galilee, Horsley argues that Jesus was fully involved in the conflicted politics of ancient Palestine. Learning from anthropological studies of the more subtle forms of peasant politics, Horsley discerns from these sources how Jesus, as a Moses- and Elijah-like prophet, generated a movement of renewal in Israel that was focused on village communities.
Following the traditional prophetic pattern, Jesus pronounced God's judgment against the rulers in Jerusalem and their Roman patrons. This confrontation with the Jerusalem rulers and his martyrdom at the hands of the Roman governor, however, became the breakthrough that empowered the rapid expansion of his movement in the immediately ensuing decades. In the broader context of this comprehensive historical construction of Jesus's mission, Horsley also presents a fresh new analysis of Jesus's healings and exorcisms and his conflict with the Pharisees, topics that have been generally neglected in the last several decades.

Devotion to the crucified Christ is one of the most familiar, yet most disconcerting artifacts of medieval European civilization. How and why did the images of the dying God-man and his grieving mother achieve such prominence, inspiring unparalleled religious creativity as well such imitative extremes as celibacy and self-flagellation? To answer this question, Rachel Fulton ranges over developments in liturgical performance, private prayer, doctrine, and art. She considers the fear occasioned by the disappointed hopes of medieval Christians convinced that the apocalypse would come soon, the revulsion of medieval Jews at being baptized in the name of God born from a woman, the reform of the Church in light of a new European money economy, the eroticism of the Marian exegesis of the Song of Songs, and much more. Devotion to the crucified Christ is one of the most familiar yet disconcerting artifacts of medieval European civilization. How and why did the images of the dying God-man and his grieving mother achieve such prominence, inspiring unparalleled religious creativity and emotional artistry even as they fostered such imitative extremes as celibacy, crusade, and self-flagellation? Magisterial in style and comprehensive in scope, From Judgment to Passion is the first systematic attempt to explain the origins and initial development of European devotion to Christ in his suffering humanity and Mary in her compassionate grief. Rachel Fulton examines liturgical performance, doctrine, private prayer, scriptural exegesis, and art in order to illuminate and explain the powerful desire shared by medieval women and men to identify with the crucified Christ and his mother. The book begins with the Carolingian campaign to convert the newly conquered pagan Saxons, in particular with the effort to explain for these new converts the mystery of the Eucharist, the miraculous presence of Christ's body at the Mass. Moving on to the early eleventh century, when Christ's failure to return on the millennium of his Passion (A.D. 1033) necessitated for believers a radical revision of Christian history, Fulton examines the novel liturgies and devotions that arose amid this apocalyptic disappointment. The book turns finally to the twelfth century when, in the wake of the capture of Jerusalem in the First Crusade, there occurred the full flowering of a new, more emotional sensibility of faith, epitomized by the eroticism of the Marian exegesis of the Song of Songs and by the artistic and architectural innovations we have come to think of as quintessentially high medieval. In addition to its concern with explaining devotional change, From Judgment to Passion presses a second, crucial question: How is it possible for modern historians to understand not only the social and cultural functions but also the experience of faith-the impulsive engagement with the emotions, sometimes ineffable, of prayer and devotion? The answer, magnificently exemplified throughout this book's narrative, lies in imaginative empathy, the same incorporation of self into story that lay at the heart of the medieval effort to identify with Christ and Mary in their love and pain.

An enlightening follow-up to the bestselling book The Case for Christ, In Defense of Jesus follows award-winning journalist Lee Strobel as he explores the most explosive arguments against the identity of Christ as the Messiah. Has modern scholarship debunked the traditional Christ? Has the church suppressed the truth about Jesus to advance its own agenda? What if the real Jesus is far different from the atoning Savior worshiped through the centuries? In Defense of Jesus explores such hot-button questions as: Did the church suppress ancient non-biblical documents that paint a more accurate picture of Jesus than the four Gospels? Did the church distort the truth about Jesus by tampering with early New Testament texts? Do new insights and explanations disprove the resurrection? Have fresh arguments disqualified Jesus from being the Messiah? Did Christianity steal its core ideas from earlier mythology? Evaluate the arguments and evidence being advanced by prominent atheists, liberal theologians, Muslim scholars, and others. Sift through expert testimony. Then reach your own verdict with In Defense of Jesus. This title is also available in Spanish, En defense de Jesus.

Filled with compassion and brilliant scholarship, Fulton Sheen's recounting of the Birth, Life, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Christ is as dramatic and moving as the subject Himself.

You've never seen the Gospel of Luke quite like this!

You may have read the gospel of Luke. But you might have missed a few things. Maybe more than a few. Like:

• The way Luke viewed God, and how his view might change your view
• Why Luke's book matters more today than ever
• The people who angered Jesus the most, why they angered him, and how that applies to us
• The Lord's Prayer and Communion from a new perspective
• The radical ways Jesus loved outsiders, outcasts, and those on the fringe of society

In Dear Theophilus: A 40 Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus through the Gospel of Luke, you'll discover new insights from passages you thought were familiar, find fresh truths as you come to a deeper understanding of Luke's gospel, and get a revitalized perspective on your faith and your life.

Was Jesus a Nazi? During the Third Reich, German Protestant theologians, motivated by racism and tapping into traditional Christian anti-Semitism, redefined Jesus as an Aryan and Christianity as a religion at war with Judaism. In 1939, these theologians established the Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Religious Life. In "The Aryan Jesus," Susannah Heschel shows that during the Third Reich, the Institute became the most important propaganda organ of German Protestantism, exerting a widespread influence and producing a nazified Christianity that placed anti-Semitism at its theological center.

Based on years of archival research, "The Aryan Jesus" examines the membership and activities of this controversial theological organization. With headquarters in Eisenach, the Institute sponsored propaganda conferences throughout the Nazi Reich and published books defaming Judaism, including a dejudaized version of the New Testament and a catechism proclaiming Jesus as the savior of the Aryans. Institute members--professors of theology, bishops, and pastors--viewed their efforts as a vital support for Hitler's war against the Jews. Heschel looks in particular at Walter Grundmann, the Institute's director and a professor of the New Testament at the University of Jena. Grundmann and his colleagues formed a community of like-minded Nazi Christians who remained active and continued to support each other in Germany's postwar years.

"The Aryan Jesus" raises vital questions about Christianity's recent past and the ambivalent place of Judaism in Christian thought.

The Incarnation, God becoming human in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, is a central mystery of Christianity. This inspiring book examines the theology of the Incarnation, and traces the history of human thinking about it. Tom Ravetz goes on to discuss Rudolf Steiner's unique insights into the Incarnation and shows how the process of incarnation is reflected in each one of us, summed up in the well-known phrase from Galations "Not I, but Christ in me". This readable book explores the difference that the Incarnation can make in our own lives today.

Was Christ's human nature fallen, even sinful? From the 18th century to the present, this view has become increasingly prominent in Reformed theological circles and beyond, despite vigorous opposition. Both sides on the issue see it as vital for understanding the nature of salvation. Each side's advocates appeal to or critique the Church Fathers. This book reviews the history and present state of the debate, then surveys the connections, distinctions, and patristic interpretations of five of the modern fallenness view's proponents (Edward Irving, Karl Barth, T. F. Torrance, Colin Gunton, and Thomas Weinandy) and five of its opponents (Marcus Dods the Elder, A. B. Bruce, H. R. Mackintosh, Philip Hughes, and Donald Macleod). The book verifies the views of the ten most-cited Fathers: five Greek (Irenaeus, Athanasius, Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory Nyssen, and Cyril of Alexandria) and five Latin (Tertullian, Hilary of Poitiers, Ambrose, Augustine, and Leo the Great). The study concludes by sketching the implications of its findings for the doctrines of the Immaculate Conception, sin, sanctification, and Scripture.

"Linda Hall presents an outstanding comparative work on Spanish and American devotion to Mary. She skillfully handles a diversity of Marian imagery, moving with ease from one instance to the next, describing the theological, dogmatic, and even regional differences of each cult.... The book makes for a valuable and fascinating read."-- Theological Studies"In a brief review it is difficult to do justice to the richness of this book and its insights. It is well researched, well written, and enhanced by illustrations that truly support the text."-- The Americas"The book is an impressive and very welcome contribution to the history of Marian devotion and, more broadly, of religious culture in the Hispanic World."-- Journal of Latin American Studies." . . a magnificent overview of the complex phenomenon of Marianism in the Hispanic World, from the Islamic frontier of medieval Spain to the teeming barrios of the American Southwest."-- Luis Marti n, Kahn Professor Emeritus of History, Southern Methodist University

A Mother who nurtures, empathizes, and heals... a Warrior who defends, empowers, and resists oppression... the Virgin Mary plays many roles for the peoples of Spain and Spanish-speaking America. Devotion to the Virgin inspired and sustained medieval and Renaissance Spaniards as they liberated Spain from the Moors and set about the conquest of the New World. Devotion to the Virgin still inspires and sustains millions of believers today throughout the Americas.

This wide-ranging and highly readable book explores the veneration of the Virgin Mary in Spain and the Americas from the colonial period to the present. Linda Hall begins the story in Spain and followsit through the conquest and colonization of the New World, with a special focus on Mexico and the Andean highlands in Peru and Bolivia, where Marian devotion became combined with indigenous beliefs and rituals. Moving into the nineteenth century, Hall looks at national cults of the Virgin in Mexico, Bolivia, and Argentina, which were tied to independence movements. In the twentieth century, she examines how Eva Pero n linked herself with Mary in the popular imagination; visits contemporary festivals with significant Marian content in Spain, Peru, and Mexico; and considers how Latinos/as in the United States draw on Marian devotion to maintain familial and cultural ties.

The four Gospels unanimously present Jesus as someone who quoted from, commented on, and engaged with the Scriptures of Israel. Whether this portrayal goes back to the historical Jesus has been a hotly debated issue among scholars. In this book, eleven expert researchers from four different continents tackle the question anew. This is done through detailed study of specific themes and passages from the Scriptures which Jesus, according to the Gospels, quoted or alluded to. Among the various topics investigated are Jesus' use of Genesis 2 to bolster his teaching on divorce, his reference to the Queen of Sheba story in 1 Kings, the significance of the Book of Zechariah for Jesus' self-understanding, and his enigmatic quotation of Psalm 22 on the cross. These and other contributions result in a common understanding of Jesus' use of the Scriptures. Not only did Jesus engage with the Scriptures, according to these scholars, but his mode of engagement has to be placed within the early Jewish interpretative framework within which he lived.

The relevance of the message of the cross remains unchanged - It is central to the Christian faith. In this book Finlayson focuses on 2 Corinthians 4:3 - 6 and Isaiah 53, looking at the theological significance of the cross and its mystery. He applies the truth in a most compelling manner, a manner which ensures that no reader can be left unmoved.

Sosa Siliezar investigates the presence and significance of creation imagery in the Gospel of John. He argues that John has intentionally included only a limited (albeit significant) number of instances of creation imagery and that he has positioned them carefully to highlight their significance. Sosa Siliezar contends that the instances of creation imagery used in varying contexts function collectively in a threefold way that is consonant with John's overall argument. First, John uses them to portray Jesus in close relationship with his Father, existing apart from and prior to the created order. Second, John uses creation imagery to assert the primal and universal significance of Jesus and the message about him, and to privilege him over other important figures in the story of Israel. Third, John uses creation imagery to link past reality with present and future reality, portraying Jesus as the agent of creation whom the reader should regard as the primal agent of revelation and salvation. The book concludes by underscoring how these findings inform our understanding of John's Christology and Johannine dualism.

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 multidisciplinary treatment of the doctrine of Christ's deity combines evangelical scholarship with substantial and accessible theological content. Volume 3 in the noted Theology in Community series.

Who is Jesus? Christians have been arguing about the answer to that question since there have been Christians, and it seems unlikely that they're going to agree on an answer anytime soon. Mark Osler, always a bit uncomfortable in church, was never able to find a Jesus that seemed real to himaEURO"until he put Jesus on trial. Drawing on his training as a federal prosecutor and professor of law, he and a group of friends staged the trial of Jesus for their church, as though it were happening in the modern American criminal justice system. The event was so powerful that before long Osler received invitations to take it on the road. Each time he served as Christ's prosecutor, the story of Jesus opened up to him a bit more. Prosecuting Jesus follows Osler in this extraordinary journey of discovering himself by discovering Jesus. Juxtaposing things we rarely put together, like the passion of Christ and our ideas about capital punishment, Osler explores an active engagement between Jesus and our contemporary law and culture.