Historical Jesus asks two primary questions: What does historical mean? and How should we apply this to Jesus?
Anthony Le Donne begins with the unusual step of considering human perception how sensory data from sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell are interpreted from the very beginning by what we expect, what weve learned, and how we categorize the world. In this way Le Donne shows how historical memories are initially formed. He continues with the nature of human memory and how it interacts with group memories. Finally, he offers a philosophy of history and uses it to outline three dimensions from the life of Jesus: his dysfunctional family, his politics, and his final confrontation in Jerusalem.
This little book is ideal for those with no background in religious studies even those with no faith who wish to better understand who Jesus was and how we can know what we do know about him.

The Mary of the Celts is essential reading for anyone interested in the reality of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Celtic spirituality. The book explores themes and images associated with the Annunciation, Nativity, Crucifixion, and Assumption, as also the Blessed Virgin's Joys and Sorrows, through a detailed study of poetry on Mary from the Celtic regions of medieval Britain and Ireland. There are haunting images such as the Blessed Virgin Mary as daughter of her Son and as the chamber of the Trinity, with her virginity remaining as unstained and pure as glass pierced by a beam of light, as well as references to popular apocryphal legends, including those of the Instantaneous Harvest that grew while Mary and her child were fleeing into Egypt from Herod's men, and of the girdle thrown down by the Virgin to St Thomas at the Assumption. Amongst the many poets encountered are Muiredeach Albanach, a thirteenth-century Irishman who established a dynasty of poets in the Western Isles of Scotland, and his Welsh contemporary Brother Madog ap Gwallter, whose poem on Mary and her child at Bethlehem has been praised for a Franciscan simplicity and freshness. Taking the original verse in Middle and Early Modern Irish, Middle Welsh, and Middle Cornish (from medieval Cornish drama), Andrew Breeze relates their characteristic images to patristic material, other vernacular poetry (especially in Old and Middle English), Latin hymns, and medieval painting and sculpture. Indeed, The Mary of the Celts has been written as a guide to Marian iconography. It will be useful for students of medieval European literature and art, as well as for specialists in early Irish and Welsh, all of whom will find in it much that is new. It should make readers aware of the wealth of Marian material to be found in Celtic Ireland and Britain, not all of which has had the attention it deserves beyond the Celtic lands. In reviewing Andrew Breeze's Medieval Welsh Literature, Dr Jerry Hunter of the University of Wales wrote in The Times Literary Supplement, 'he has succeeded where generations of scholars have failed'. The Mary of the Celts is likely to have a similar warm welcome from all those concerned with the Marian devotion of the Middle Ages in the Celtic lands and beyond. Dr Andrew Breeze (b. 1954), FSA, FRHistS, was educated at Sir Roger Manwood's Grammar School and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Married with six children, he has been lecturer in English since 1987 at the University of Navarre, Pamplona. Besides numerous research papers on philology, he is the author of the controversial study Medieval Welsh Literature (Dublin, 1997) and co-author with Professor Richard Coates of Celtic Voices, English Places (Stamford, 2000).

RELIGION / CHRISTIAN STUDIESThe familiar story of Judas, betrayer of Jesus, is striking because of its incomprehensibility. Why would one of Christ's disciples and companions of the heart deliver him up to his enemies and a barbarous, ignominious, and certain death for thirty pieces of silver? Jean-Yves Leloup's careful investigation of the gospels, various apocryphal texts, and most importantly the Coptic codex known as the Gospel of Judas leads him to conclude that there is more to the familiar story of Judas than a simple demonstration, viewed through one man, of humanity's inherent failings.In this reconstruction, based on these classic texts, Leloup offers an alternative explanation for Judas's actions, complete with illustrative dialogue. The betrayal of Jesus to the Romans was Jesus's idea, explains Leloup. Jesus persuaded Judas to play the role of "evil" in humankind by telling him that this enactment was crucial to God's plan and would set Judas by Jesus's side in eternity: "There where I am," spoke Jesus to Judas, "is where I wish you, too, to be."But to get there, Judas--a metaphorical representation of the darker side present in all human beings and the "shadow" counterpart to his Messiah dying on the cross--must first shed all his human qualities. His failings of greed, deceit, and cowardice--and even his faith and hope--are washed away in the despair that engulfs him. A parallel moment occurs for Jesus on the cross, when he comes to know the despair of separation from God. The moment Judas "loses" his life and all that gave it meaning--his God, his law, his justice, his Messiah--is the very moment he finds that which cannot be discarded--life eternal. Thus, in the momentof his ultimate extremity, Judas receives Jesus's true message and his intended gift.JEAN-YVES LELOUP is a theologian and founder of the Institute of Other Civilization Studies and the International College of Therapists. His other books include The Sacred Embrace of Jesus and Mary, The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, The Gospel of Philip, and The Gospel of Thomas. He lives in France.

In today's theological landscape the significance of the cross has become strongly affirmed and radically questioned. This exciting volume gathers theologians and historians who have thought through these critical and constructive issues: Do traditional understandings of the cross valorize suffering or violence? Are the older soteriological models, which see redemption as a kind of ransom or debt satisfaction, fitting for the contemporary worldview? Do they produce a piety that acquiesces in needless suffering, or does the cross precisely meet the massive suffering and injustice of today's world? Following an expert introduction to the issues and options by editor Marit Trelstad, each

This is the second edition of a book that has already proved of timeless popularity. White Eagle, the renowned spiritual teacher, does not speak in any conventional way of Jesus. Instead he seeks to help each one of us realise their own closeness to a teacher who is at once a person who lived a life not unlike our own, and is also the perfect manifestation of a Christ spirit alive within each one of us. All of a sudden Jesus takes on a new form, appearing at one moment as a perpetual healer (of our hearts as well as those he healed beside Galilee) and at another as a teacher of even greater vision, newness and power. This interpretation is esoteric and mystical, but it bears the stamp of one who knows, we feel as we read that White Eagle has a real awareness of the continuing spirit of Christ. Chapters include one on who, from the spiritual point of view, Jesus really was and one on the out working of divine law, and another on sayings and parables of Jesus. There are also chapters on Jesus as healer, and four more chapters on Jesus' teachings, while the book closes with a chapter, 'In the Aquarian Age' about the age towards which Jesus' teaching leads us. The book reminds us yet again how inspiring is the teaching that comes to us from this very deep source.

"The Passion of the Christ" was an extraordinary media event. But the film has also, and more importantly, been a religious phenomenon. Mel Gibson's professed intent was to create not just a cinematic experience but a spiritual one. And he has succeeded for many moviegoers, most notably evangelical Christians, of whom millions have embraced the film as a presentation of Holy Scripture, a twenty-first century incarnation of the Word.
In this volume, biblical scholars Timothy K. Beal and Tod Linafelt--along with an esteemed group of contributors--offer a provocative range of views on "The Passion of the Christ," Their book is organized in three parts. The first analyzes the film in terms of its religious foundations, including the Gospels and nonbiblical religious texts: What are the film's literary sources and how does it use them? In what ways does the medium of film require a radically different way of representing gospel narrative? The second group of essays focuses on the ethical and theological implications of the film's presentation of the Christian gospel: What do we make of its representations of female sexuality? What are the implications of focusing on the Passion in terms of atonement rather than social justice? Finally, the third section explores the film as a pop cultural phenomenon: How has the film worked to create a sense of insider status for some and alienated so many others? What can we learn about the religious dimensions of contemporary mass culture from the film's reception?
Whether one is inspired or appalled by "The Passion of the Christ," there can be no question that it is a defining moment in the cultural afterlife of the Bible. This volume tries tomake sense of that moment and will prove to be a touchstone for adherents and detractors of the film alike.

Since the beginnings of Christianity, veneration for the Virgin Mary, mother of God, has played a fundamental role in the confession of the Christian faith. This fully illustrated new book explores the history of Marian devotion and its significance today. Its perspective is that of Vatican II, and it is addressed to Orthodox. Anglicans and Protestants as well as to Roman Catholics. Companions to this volume are: How to Read the Old Testament, How to Read the New Testament, How to Read Church History Vols 1 & 2, How to Read the World: Creation in Evolution, How to Understand Marriage, How to Understand the Creed, How to Understand the Liturgy, How to Understand Islam, How to Understand God, How to Understand the Sacraments, How to Read the Church Fathers, How to Read the Apocalypse. In preparation: How to Understand the Eucharist, How to Read the Prophets. Jacques Bur was a theological expert at Vatican II; he has taught in many seminaries and universities and now works in Papeete, New Guinea. The cover shows Titian's Assumption (Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frani, Venice)

From the author of the ever popular author of A Scots Gospel comes a gospel written in Glasgow's distinctive vernacular. With the author's characteristic enthusiasm and sense of the dignity of this most beautiful of all stories, the drama unfolds-from the joy of the birth of Jesus, to the tragedy of his betrayal, and the joy of the resurrection. This is a book to be read out loud and quite simply enjoyed

The parable of the prodigal son stands as one of the most powerful imaginings of the grace of God extended to fallen humanity: its themes of departure, longing, and embrace speak to the very heart of human existence. In Prodigal Christ Kendall Cox engages this timeless story as not only a parable of salvation but also a parable of atonement and election, and therefore a parable of the divine life. Far more than a depiction of God's abstract, general, or unmediated love for humankind, what it recounts is the primordial prodigality of the second person of the Trinity. Setting in conversation two innovative and highly resonant christological readings of the parable, found in Julian of Norwich's Revelations of Divine Love and Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics, Cox shows that the identity of Jesus Christ with the wayward son is a textually faithful interpretive trajectory arising from the Lukan story itself. Such an identification is illuminated by a Ricoeurean account of parable as metaphorized narrative and by aligning the parable along the intertextual threads to which both Julian and Barth appeal. The extraordinary divine welcome figured in the lost son's homecoming prompts Julian's unprecedented excursus on divine motherhood and compels Barth to speak, irreducibly, of the humanity of God. This famous story of God's tender condescension is theologically fecund not only because of its content but also because of its parable form. Through their creative retellings, Cox argues that Julian and Barth are not simply interpreting scripture christologically but rather doing Christology in the mode of parable. Embodying what we might call "parabolic theology," these authors invite us to consider this narrative form as an exemplary and enduring theological genre particularly well suited to christological discourse. What emerges from this reading is a striking image of Christ the divine Son and Servant who goes into the far country in order to bear humanity's burden as his own, taking on an alien identity, taking it up into the divine life. This is our story, and the story of God.

In Acts 15-28: A Handbook on the Greek Text, Martin Culy, Mikeal Parsons, and Josiah Hall provide a foundational examination of the Greek text of Acts. The analysis is distinguished by the detailed yet comprehensive attention paid to the text. The authors' exposition is a convenient pedagogical and reference tool that explains the form and syntax of the biblical text, offers guidance for deciding between competing semantic analyses, engages important text-critical debates, and addresses questions relating to the Greek text that are frequently overlooked or ignored by standard commentaries. Beyond serving as a succinct and accessible analytic key, Acts also reflects the most up-to-date advances in scholarship on Greek grammar and linguistics. This handbook proves itself an indispensable tool for anyone committed to a deep reading of the biblical text. This revised and expanded handbook on the Greek text of Acts, unlike its predecessor, includes comments on the grammar and syntax of every word in the text and incorporates insights from the Editio Critica Maior, now the standard critical Greek text for the Acts of the Apostles.

This is an introduction to the New Testament portrayals of Jesus of Nazareth. Analysis of editorial emphases by each author gives access to the ways Jesus is characterized. This is an introductory guide to the ways Jesus is depicted in the New Testament. Both college students and the general reader will find here a variety of New Testament understandings of Jesus that are rooted in critical reading of the four Gospels and Pauline letters. Underlining these particular portrayals is the historical Jesus, a prophet mighty in word and deed who challenged the people running the Temple state. This new addition gives attention to his historical context and adds to a realistic understanding of this most studied book and person. This work presumes neither religious faith nor lack of faith; its aim is to inform and to give the readers portraits as synthetic balance to the vital work of analysis. Ideally, this book should be read with a copy of the New Testament at hand to answer questions and to test the assertions of reader and author.

What do the fields, rivers, and streams that provide food have to do with the God who created them? How do we become at home in this world where so many hunger for food, for companionship, or for the presence of God? "Scripture is also a feast." As an invitation to feast at the table of God's word, The Hunger for Home explores the deepest human longings for home through the simple ingredients of bread, water, wine, and stories. Matthew Croasmun and Miroslav Volf read the meals of the Gospel of Luke as stories of God eating with God's people. By making a common home with us in this way, God turns all our meals into invitations to eat in God's home-a home with a seat open for all who are willing. No longer is bread simply fuel for getting through the day, but also a call to be present to the agricultural workers, grocers, chefs, friends, and strangers with whom food connects us: everyone God is calling to the banquet. As Croasmun and Volf show, Luke gives us an image of creation at home by bringing God into the home, as it was always meant to be.

Perhaps the most important discovery in the long history of research on the Gospel of Matthew is that the book represents a self-contained literary whole as it participates in a vibrant intertextual network. Scripture illuminates the gospel story at every step, from the appearance of Jesus to the resistance of the authorities who oppose him. The famed intertextuality of Matthew, when considered alongside the social contexts in which the Matthean community lived, helps us recognize the strategy of this Gospel: the constant references to the scriptural text should assure those addressed that Christ-faithful communities are the true guardians of the theological traditions of Israel. The Gospel according to Matthew provides a comprehensive interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew that draws on the best of modern research. Along with an analysis of the narrative structure, Matthias Konradt discusses the dense network of references to the Scriptures of Israel as well as the historical situation in which the Gospel was composed, namely the conflict between believers in Christ and the predominantly Pharisaic synagogue. Konradt focuses on theological topics such as the narrative unfolding of Jesus' messianic identity as Immanuel, Son of God, and Son of David; Matthew's understanding of discipleship and the church; the role of Israel and the Gentiles; and ethical orientation with its relationship to the Torah. From the richness of Matthew's theological reflection emerges the challenging question of the Gospel's meaning and relevance for today. Modern scholarship has correctly emphasized that Matthew is an inclusive history - it tells the story of the past in a way that reflects and speaks to the experiences of the community. Taking into account a broad sweep of scholarly approaches to this text, Konradt provides a clear outline of the Gospel by tracing the shape of Matthew's masterful narrative dynamics and the evangelist's careful unfolding of theological doctrine.

How did the controversy between Jesus and the scribal elite begin? We know that it ended on a cross, but what put Jesus on the radar of established religious and political leaders in the first place? Chris Keith argues that an answer to these questions must go beyond typical explanations such as Jesus's alternative views on Torah or his miracle working and consider his status as a teacher. Keith examines Jesus' own likely educational background, and situates Jesus within his first-century context, showing readers that some of the tensions between Jesus and the scribal authorities may have originated in Jesus' own lack of formal education. Keith builds on his earlier work on Jesus' literacy and uses insights from memory theory and ancient media studies to consider how Jesus' actions and teachings may have specifically been seen to challenge an elitist scribal culture.

The God of the universe knows your name. He has walked your streets. Jesus. Perhaps you’ve heard about him, studied him, or prayed to him. But do you know him? This is the question Max poses to the reader.

Divided into six sections (Immanuel, Friend, Teacher, Miracle Worker, Lamb of God, Returning King) each containing multiple chapters, this book not only describes the person of Jesus but also eloquently dives into the heart of Jesus towards the reader.

By exploring Jesus’ life death and resurrection as well as specific details like how he interacted with his friends and his enemies, what he did with time alone, how he acted at a party, this compilation from Max Lucado, now with original never-before-read content from Max, gives readers the chance to become more familiar with the man at the center of the greatest story ever told.

By learning more about the person Jesus was and is, the reader will understand more clearly the person they were created to be. Max writes “Don’t settle for a cursory glance or a superficial understanding. Look long into the heart of Christ and you’ll see it. Grace and life. Forgiveness of sin. The defeat of death. This is the hope he gives. This is the hope we need.”

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas (or Paidika) is one of the most unusual gospels in the Christian tradition. Instead of revealing the compassionate Jesus so familiar to us from the biblical Gospels, it confronts its readers with a very different Jesus - a child who sometimes acts like a holy terror, killing and harming others for trifling faults. So why is Jesus portrayed as acting in such an 'unchristian' fashion? To address this question, Cousland focuses on three interconnected representations of Jesus in the Paidika: Jesus as holy terror, as child, and as miracle-working saviour. Cousland endeavours to show that, despite the differing character of these three roles, they present a unified picture. Jesus' unusual behaviour arises from his 'growing pains' as a developing child, who is at the same time both human and divine. Cousland's volume is the first detailed examination of the Christology of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and provides a fresh and engaging approach to a topic not often discussed in representations of Jesus.

"Fatherless in Galilee" explores the stories of the fatherless child Jesus, who called upon God as his heavenly father. Van Aarde offers an explanation of the historical figure of Jesus who claimed and trusted God as his father and destroyed conventional patriarchal values by caring for fatherless children within the sociological framework of family distortion and divine alienation in Herodian Palestine.

The interpretation of the phrase 'the testimony of Jesus' in the Book of Revelation has been the centre of much debate, with no clear consensus regarding its meaning. One of the most important but often neglected issues is whether or not the phrase can be read consistently across each instance of its occurrence. The opening lines of the Apocalypse clearly specify that 'the testimony of Jesus' is a moniker for the book of Revelation itself, indicating that the phrase is an internal self-reference to the book's own message. Nevertheless, most interpreters are reluctant to apply this interpretation to the phrase in other parts of the book, leading to varied and inconsistent interpretations of the phrase. Following the intratextual pattern of the apocalyptic books of Daniel and 1 Enoch we can see that it is entirely possible that 'the testimony of Jesus' is a reference to Revelation's own message, an interpretation which is then supported by Dixon's in-depth study of each of the passages in which the phrase occurs. The exploration of the rhetorical impact of interpreting the phrase in this way shows that 'the testimony of Jesus' is not just another title for John's writing, but is something that is given to and even characterizes those who hear the message of the Apocalypse.

Hierdie boek is die werklike woorde van Jesus.

Jesus het in die Bybel baie met sy dissipels gepraat, maar daardie woorde is net so van toepassing vandag as wat dit was in daardie tyd. Die woorde van Jesus is gegroepeer in temas. Daardeur kan die leser meer leer oor die lesse wat die Here sy volk leer.

Die eerste van sy soort in Afrikaans!

Examines what the Gospels can tell us about the sexuality of Jesus, rather than simply what they say about sex and sexual ethics

The Politics of Jesus is a powerful new biography of Jesus told from the margins. Miguel A. De La Torre argues that we all create Jesus in our own image, reflecting and reinforcing the values of communities-sometimes for better, and often for worse. In light of the increasing economic and social inequality around the world, De La Torre asserts that what the world needs is a Jesus of solidarity who also comes from the underside of global power. The Politics of Jesus is a search for a Jesus that resonates specifically with the Latino/a community, as well as other marginalized groups. The book unabashedly rejects the Eurocentric Jesus for the Hispanic Jesus, whose mission is to give life abundantly, who resonates with the Latino/a experience of disenfranchisement, and who works for real social justice and political change. While Jesus is an admirable figure for Christians, The Politics of Jesus highlights the way the Jesus of dominant culture is oppressive and describes a Jesus from the barrio who chose poverty and disrupted the status quo. Saying "no" to oppression and its symbols, even when one of those symbols is Jesus, is the first step to saying "yes" to the self, to liberation, and symbols of that liberation. For Jesus to connect with the Hispanic quest for liberation, Jesus must be unapologetically Hispanic and compel people to action. The Politics of Jesus provocatively moves the study of Jesus into the global present.

Some scholars believe that Jesus' punitive instructions about possessions and material goods amount to little more than antiquated sayings. By contrast, Jesus Consumer combines modern consumer research with the latest writings on historical Jesus to propose a model for contemporary consumer behavior that pays serious regard to Jesus' "consumption teachings." The author argues that Jesus' consumer teachings possess the greatest potential to help us effect positive change in our personal lives and social relationships. We need to interpret and enact his teachings symbolically, not follow them literally.

Saint Anne, the mother of Mary, is not a biblical figure. She first appears in a second-century apocryphal infancy gospel as part of the story of the savior's birth and maternal ancestry. Over the ensuing centuries, Anne's story circulated throughout eastern and western Christendom, but it was not until the late Middle Ages that a cult of Saint Anne gained a firm footing in Europe. Mary's Mother is about the remarkable rise of Anne as a figure of devotion among medieval Christians who found solace in her closeness to Jesus and Mary.

Anne's popularity grew especially in German-speaking areas, so much so that by the late 1400s artists in Germany, Flanders, and Holland were busy producing all manner of sculptures, prints, and paintings of her. Anne's power derived from her physical connection to the Redeemer and his mother, a connection that artists emphasized in works that depicted her. In the most widely reproduced trope, known as Anna Selbdritt, Anne is depicted as a matronly woman presiding over Mary and Jesus, who both appear as children.

Clerics played a crucial role in fostering Anne's growing popularity. They promoted her as having power to help in salvation, a matter of urgent concern to late medieval German Christians. Churches and convents (and rulers too) adopted her as a fundraising device in an increasingly competitive ecclesiastical landscape. Churches, shrines, and altars were dedicated to her, lay brotherhoods adopted her as their patroness, and many families named their daughters for her.

Anne's clerical promoters frequently used her as a model of sober domesticity for women, part of a broader attempt to channel the growing lay piety that the clergy perceived as a potential threat to their own power and incomes. And yet, as a gender model, she embodied conflicts between medieval and early modern ideas about sanctity and sexuality. Devotion to Anne gradually declined in the 1500s as medieval modes of religious practice and ideas about women's place in family life began to change.

Today many Catholics know Saint Anne as the mother of the Blessed Virgin and the protector of women in labor, but few know how she came to be a figure of devotion. Mary's Mother brings her story to life for general readers as well as scholars and students of history, art history, religious studies, and women's studies.

Many important issues are connected with the trial and death of Jesus, not least the question of who was mainly instrumental in seeking his death; and the manifest tendency of the GOspels to put the blame on the Jews and play down the role of the Romans has had pernicious effects throughout history. A clear historical understanding is obviously of the utmost importance and that is what this new book aims to provide. Taking account of all the most recent literature, from both the historical and the legal side, it clearly sets out the main issues that arise, and the most likely answers to the questions they pose. How reliable are the sources? Why ws Jesus arrested? Was his trial primarily a Jewish affair or a Roman affair? Does greater knowledge of Jewish and Roman law illuminate the proceedings? Beginning with the arrest of Jewsus it goes through the events of his last days in Jerusalem as related by the Gospels, covering them in detail right through the legal processes to Jesus' scouring, crucifixion and burial. Those who have never studied the issues raised here, and those who have found previous studies daunting and confusing by their complexity, will find a level-headed and judicious guide