In this book, Catherine Sider Hamilton introduces a new lens through which to view the death of Jesus in Matthew. Using the concept of 'innocent blood', she situates the death of Jesus within a paradigm of purity and pollution, one that was central in the Hebrew Scriptures and early Judaism from the Second Temple to the rabbis. Hamilton traces the theme of innocent blood in Matthew's narrative in relation to two Jewish traditions of interpretation, one (in Second Temple literature) reflecting on the story of Cain and Abel; the other (chiefly in rabbinic literature) on the blood of Zechariah. 'Innocent blood' yields a vision that resists the dichotomies (intra muros vs extra muros, rejection vs redemption) that have characterized the debate, a vision in which both judgment and redemption - an end of exile - may be true. 'Innocent blood' offers a new approach not only to the meaning of Jesus' death in Matthew but also to the vexed question of the Gospel's attitude toward contemporary Judaism.

'This richly engaging study vividly conveys how opening our hearts to Christ can release the transformative power of love to flow through our lives and into our broken and needy world. I pray that many will be touched by their encounter with Christ in Living Jesus.' Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu 'I'm with John Pritchard - unashamedly and incurably obsessed with Jesus. As I read his beautiful new book, I felt both my mind and my heart being enriched and challenged - to ponder the life and meaning of Jesus with my mind, and to respond from the depths of my heart. Whether you're a long-term follower of Jesus or just beginning to explore what he's about, you'll find in Living Jesus a dependable guide . . . gracious, intelligent, balanced, and generous with insight.' Brian McLaren, author, speaker and activist 'What a fantastic book! Jesus Christ is the centre of human history, but who is he? John Pritchard shows us the Jesus who jumped off the pages of the Bible and into his life. I encourage you to read this book, whether you're a follower of Jesus or just wanting to find out more. You will be moved, you will laugh and you will cry. In those moments when you wonder why you are a Christian, Living Jesus will remind you. An inspirational book written by a man who loves Jesus and loves people.' Mark Russell, Chief Executive, Church Army

The first full-length study to trace how early Christians came to perceive Jesus as a sinless human being. Jeffrey S. Siker presents a taxonomy of sin in early Judaism and examines moments in Jesus' life associated with sinfulness: his birth to the unwed Mary, his baptism by John the Baptist, his public ministry - transgressing boundaries of family, friends, and faith - and his cursed death by crucifixion. Although followers viewed his immediate death in tragic terms, with no expectation of his resurrection, they soon began to believe that God had raised him from the dead. Their resurrection faith produced a new understanding of Jesus' prophetic ministry, in which his death had been a perfect sacrificial death for sin, his ministry perfectly obedient, his baptism a demonstration of perfect righteousness, and his birth a perfect virgin birth. This study explores the implications of a retrospective faith that elevated Jesus to perfect divinity, redefining sin.

High profile author, particularly appreciated for his books popularizing theology

Originally published in 1924, this book contains meditations on the life of Jesus Christ, who famously described himself as 'the Way'. Martin uses quotations from poetry as well as from the Bible to shed some light on the deeper theological meanings of events such as Christ's childhood as well as his death and ascension. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the history of Christian thought and Christian theology.

Originally published in 1940, this book presents a revised chronology of the public ministry of Jesus in the light of revisions made to previously accepted dates pertaining to the birth and crucifixion of Christ. Ogg examines the evidence supplied by the Gospels as well as later Christian tradition to arrive at a rough outline of Christ's ministry and the conclusion that the crucifixion occurred in April of 33 AD. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Christology and in the historical person of Jesus.

Originally published in 1910, this book contains an exhaustive study of the use of the phrase 'Son of Man' in the Old and New Testaments. Abbott illustrates how Christian writers used the mystical trope present in many books of Jewish prophecy to convey their belief in Christ as an eschatological figure foretold by Scripture. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Christology and the use of this enigmatic title in Jewish and Christian theology.

First published in 1940, this book re-examines Christ's admonition to 'render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's'. Loewe places the incident in its rabbinical and historical context in order to explain fully the impact of Christ's statement and its potential application to modern relations between individuals and the state. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in New Testament theology or the background to the historical Christ.

In this book, originally published in 1959, Charles and Eleanor Raven provide the Jewish historical and religious background to the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, as well as evidence for Christ's historical existence. The book also includes overviews of the ministry and teaching of Jesus, as well as a breakdown of the stories and events specific to each gospel. This book will be of use to anyone seeking a simple overview of Gospel history and of the background to the events described in the first books of the New Testament.

Saint Marks invokes and pluralizes the figure of Mark in order to explore relations between painting and writing. Emphasizing that the saint is not a singular biographical individual in the various biblical and hagiographic texts that involve someone so named, the book takes as its ultimate concern the kinds of material life that outlive the human subject. From the incommensurate, anachronic instances in which Saint Mark can be located-among them, as Evangelist or as patron saint of Venice-the book traces Mark's afterlives within art, sacred texts, and literature in conversation with such art historians and philosophers as Aby Warburg, Giorgio Agamben, Georges Didi-Huberman, T. J. Clark, Adrian Stokes, and Jean-Luc Nancy. Goldberg begins in sixteenth-century Venice, with a series of paintings by Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, Tintoretto, and others, that have virtually nothing to do with biblical texts. He turns then to the legacy of John Ruskin's Stones of Venice and through it to questions about what painting does as painting. A final chapter turns to ancient texts, considering the Gospel of St. Mark together with its double, the so-called Secret Gospel that has occasioned controversy for its homoerotic implications. The posthumous persistence of a life is what the gospel named Mark calls the Kingdom of God. Saints have posthumous lives; but so too do paintings and texts. This major interdisciplinary study by one of our most astute cultural critics extends what might have been a purely theological subject to embrace questions central to cultural practice from the ancient world to the present.

Was Jesus a wisdom sage or an apocalyptic prophet? Did later followers view him as the Danielic "Son of Man" or did he use this expression for himself? These are familiar questions among historical Jesus scholars, and there has been much debate over Jesus' eschatological outlook since the controversial work of the Jesus Seminar. This book asks what is at stake in these debates and explores how scholarly constructions of Christian origins participate in contemporary efforts to confirm or challenge particular understandings of the essence of Christianity. Proposing that a Jesus-centered perspective has overly shaped our interpretation of the sayings source Q, Johnson-DeBaufre offers alternative readings to key Q texts, readings that place an interest in the community that shaped Jesus at the center of inquiry.

For centuries, we thought we knew what happened during Jesus last days. Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday are not only observed by Christians around the world, but are also recognized in calendars and by non-practitioners as commemorating events in the final week of Jesus life. But apparent inconsistencies in the Gospel accounts of this period have continued to puzzle Bible scholars and fuel skeptics. In The Mystery of the Last Supper, Colin Humphreys uses science to reveal the truth about Jesus final days. Reconciling conflicting biblical accounts with scientific evidence, Humphreys proves that the Gospels, correctly interpreted, are in remarkable agreement. He reveals the exact date of the Last Supper in a groundbreaking new timeline of Holy Week.
Colin Humphreys is director of research at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of The Miracles of Exodus (2003). He was awarded a knighthood in 2010 for services to Science."

Jesus and Muhammad are two of the best known and revered figures in history, each with a billion or more global followers. Now, in this intriguing volume, F.E. Peters offers a clear and compelling analysis of the parallel lives of Jesus and Muhammad, the first such in-depth comparison in print.
Like a detective, Peters compiles "dossiers" of what we do and do not know about the lives and portraits of these towering figures, drawing on the views of modern historians and the evidence of the Gospels and the Quran. With erudition and wit, the author nimbly leads the reader through drama and dogma to reveal surprising similarities between the two leaders and their messages. Each had a public career as a semi-successful preacher. Both encountered opposition that threatened their lives and those of their followers. Each left a body of teaching purported to be their very words, with an urgent imperative that all must become believers in the face of the approaching apocalypse. Both are symbols of hope on the one hand and of God's terrible judgment on the other. They are bringers of peace--and the sword. There is, however, a fundamental difference. Muslims revere Muhammad ibn Abdullah of Mecca as a mortal prophet. Although known as a prophet in his day, the Galilean Jew Jesus was and is believed by his followers to have been the promised Messiah, indeed the son of God. The Quran records revelations received by Muhammad as the messenger of God, whereas the revelations of the Gospels focus on Jesus and the events of his life and death.
A lasting contribution to interfaith understanding, Jesus and Muhammad offers lucid, intelligent answers to questions that underlie some of the world's most intractable conflicts.

The German theologian David Friedrich Strauss (1808 1874) published his highly controversial The Life of Jesus in three volumes between 1835 and 1836. This translation by George Eliot is based on the fourth German edition (1840). Strauss applied strict historical method to the gospel narratives and caused scandal across the Protestant world by concluding that all miraculous elements were mythical and ahistorical. Strauss introduces Volume 1 with a survey of 'de-mythology' in Western thought. He applies modern historical and scientific criticism to the annunciation and birth narratives; the Davidic descent and genealogies of Jesus; Jesus' visit to the temple; Jesus' baptism and temptation and his relationship with John the Baptist. The volume ends with a chapter on chronology and locality in the life of Jesus. This is a key text of nineteenth-century theology that pioneered the application of historical and scientific methods to the study of religious texts.

The German theologian David Friedrich Strauss (1808 1874) first published his highly controversial The Life of Jesus in three volumes between 1835 and 1836. This translation, by George Eliot, is based on the fourth German edition (1840). In this work Strauss applied strict historical methods to the New Testament gospel narratives and caused scandal across the Protestant world by concluding that all miraculous elements in the life of Jesus were mythical and ahistorical. In volume 2 Strauss applies modern historical criticism to 'de-mythologize' the idea of Jesus as Messiah; the narratives about the disciples; the discourses in the Synoptic gospels and the Fourth Gospel; the non-miraculous events; and the miracles' narratives. This is a key text of nineteenth-century theology that pioneered the application of historical and scientific methods to the study of religions and religious texts. It is essential reading for any student of the New Testament.

The German theologian David Friedrich Strauss (1808 1874) published his highly controversial The Life of Jesus in three volumes between 1835 and 1836. This translation, by George Eliot, is based on the fourth German edition (1840). In this work Strauss applied strict historical method to the New Testament gospel narratives and caused scandal across the Protestant world by concluding that all miraculous elements were mythical and ahistorical. Volume 3 applies modern historical criticism to 'de-mythologize' the narratives of the transfiguration, Jesus' final journey into Jerusalem, the passion, the death, and the resurrection; and investigates the historicity of Jesus' enemies. The volume concludes with an essay entitled 'The Dogmatic Import of the Life of Jesus'. This is a key text of nineteenth-century theology that pioneered the application of historical and scientific methods to the study of religious texts. It is essential reading for any student of the New Testament.

In The Case for Christ Graduate Edition, New York Times bestselling author Lee Strobel retraces his own spiritual journey from atheism to faith. Lee, former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune, cross-examines a dozen experts with doctorates who are specialists in the areas of old manuscripts, textual criticism, and biblical studies. Strobel challenges the experts with questions such as, How reliable is the New Testament? Does evidence for Jesus exist outside the Bible? Is there any reason to believe the resurrection was an actual event? In this beautifully decorated edition based on The Case for Christ Student Edition, Strobel's tough, point-blank questions make this bestselling book read like a captivating, fast-paced novel. But it's not fiction. It's a riveting quest for the truth about history's most compelling figure. Complimented with an exclusive interview with Strobel, this timeless book is one any graduate will want to keep and re-read for years to come.

Professor C. H. Dodd's four English broadcast talks upon the enduring significance of Advent are contained in this little book, uniform with his other broadcast brochure, 'About the Gospels'. The author's movingly simple, reasonable presentation, his acceptance of the problems, and his gift of interpreting his theme inspiringly and broadly, must make many new friends.

The Carolingian 'Renaissance' of the late eighth and ninth centuries, in what is now France, western Germany and northern Italy, transformed medieval European culture. At the same time it engendered a need to ensure that clergy, monks and laity embraced orthodox Christian doctrine. This book offers a fresh perspective on the period by examining transformations in a major current of thought as revealed through literature and artistic imagery: the doctrine of the Passion and the crucified Christ. The evidence of a range of literary sources is surveyed - liturgical texts, poetry, hagiography, letters, homilies, exegetical and moral tractates - but special attention is given to writings from the discussions and debates concerning artistic images, Adoptionism, predestination and the Eucharist.

The first extended study of relics of the Holy Blood: portions of the blood of Christ's passion preserved supposedly from the time of the Crucifixion and displayed as objects of wonder and veneration in the churches of medieval Europe. Inspired by the discovery of new evidence relating to the relic deposited by King Henry III at Westminster in 1247, the study proceeds from the particular political and spiritual motives that inspired this gift to a wider consideration of blood relics, their distribution across western Europe, their place in Christian devotion, and the controversies to which they gave rise among theologians. In the process the author advances a new thesis on the role of the sacred in Plantagenet court life as well as exploring various intriguing byways of medieval religion.

How were the Johannine books of the New Testament received by second-century Christians and accorded scriptural status? Charles E. Hill offers a fresh and detailed examination of this question. He dismantles the long-held theory that the Fourth Gospel was generally avoided or resisted by orthodox Christians, while being treasured by various dissenting groups, throughout most of the second century. Integrating a wide range of literary and non-literary sources, this book demonstrates the failure of several old stereotypes about the Johannine literature. It also collects the full evidence for the second-century Church's conception of these writings as a group: the Johannine books cannot be isolated from each other but must be recognized as a corpus.

This German language title presents a new interpretation of Luke's theology and ethics. The author demonstrates how Luke develops his theological agenda by contrasting the teaching of Jesus with that of John the Baptist. Boehlemann shows that the confrontation with the followers of John the Baptist runs through the whole of Luke's Gospel and through The Acts of the Apostles. By taking up and modifying the themes of John's preaching, Luke develops his own theology of liberation which distinguishes him from John's followers and with which he seeks to win them for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. John and his followers preached with threats of judgement while Jesus is depicted as a forgiving pastoral leader - the good shepherd. This new interpretation of the Lukan works reveals a narrative theology of great systematic consistency.