Jesus of Galilee taught through stories, which even today contain the power to startle us out of our prejudices and preconceptions. Now Father Andrew M. Greeley, one of America's most beloved storytellers, examines the parables told by Jesus in search of a fuller understanding of the man and his message.This engaging and informal collection of homilies reveals a Jesus whose simple parables carry profound lessons about the Kingdom of Heaven. Along the way, Father Greeley touches on such provocative topics as the significance of Jesus's Jewish roots, his deep and revolutionary relationship with women, "The Da Vinci Code", and "The Passion of the Christ". He also singles out the four greatest parables, which best illustrate the infinite love and mercy of the God whose kingdom began with Jesus and continues even today.As a storyteller, Jesus often surprised his listeners with unexpected twists that challenged them to see the world in a whole new light. Father Greeley's insightful tour of the Gospels provides a fresh look at the parables that strips away centuries of false and mistaken interpretations to get at the essential truth of who Jesus really was and what he believed.

"Intriguing and thought-provoking, "Murder at Golgotha" amounts to a latter-day "Cold Case" episode on a centuries-old event that has changed the lives of millions throughout the world."
---"Booklist"
"The most definitive recent study of the historical relic."
---"The Dallas Morning News "on "The Shroud of Turin"
"Wilson's outstanding study must surely be the most complete yet undertaken of the subject."
---"Washington"" Post" on "The Shroud of Turin"
"If you want a beautifully illustrated account of the sort of evidence that can be got from papyri, textual criticism, archaeology, and grammar concerning the founder of Christianity, you will find it in Wilson."
---"The Spectator "on "Jesus: The Evidence"
"Murder at Golgotha "approaches Jesus' crucifixion from the perspective of a crime scene investigator: What do we know is fact? What can be historically documented? What can we deduce may have happened?
Taking the popular "CSI" television dramas as inspiration, "Murder at Golgotha "is a direct reaction to Mel Gibson's much talked about movie "The Passion of the Christ," Ian Wilson carefully assesses what can be known about Jesus' trial and crucifixion, as well as where art and the movies have gone astray in depicting them. He systemically deploys eyewitness testimony (that embodied in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), archaeology, history, and medical and forensic findings to unravel the truth surrounding the most famous murder in history.
Ian Wilson is a historian and writer whose many books include "The Shroud of Turin, Jesus: The Evidence,""" "Shakespeare: The Evidence, "and "The Blood and the Shroud." He lives with his wife, Judith Wilson, inQueensland, Australia.

The women in Jesus' life are a raucous and rowdy bunch, including "riotous" foremothers, "loose women," and "distressed daughters of Israel." Reading these new ways of interpreting women in the Gospels, male New Testament scholars have discovered liberating perspectives. In seven scintillating studies, Spencer explores among others the genealogy of Matthew's Gospel to discover the riotous yet righteous nature of Jesus' foremothers, slave girls and prophetic daughters in Luke-Acts, and women leading men in the Gospel of Mark 5-7. Scott Spencer, a virtuoso young New Testament scholar, provides his own lively forays into reading the Gospels through women's eyes. He shows what it is like for a man to read stories about the women in Jesus' life from a new perspective. Spencer is an able and inventive scholar whose broad-ranging insights and engaging style make his work very accessible.

America's best preacher, according to Time magazine, presents the perfect book for the holidays - a heart-warming and life-affirming collection of stories and reminiscences that will bring readers a deeper understanding of the true meaning of Christmas. In Follow The Star, Jakes leads a journey that makes Christmas, past and present, come alive through deeply personal experiences that have shaped his life: family stories about finding the Christmas spirit during the worst hardships, and the need to appreciate fellowship, love and God. With his unique insight, warmth and wisdom Bishop Jakes fully embraces the magnificence miracle of the birth of Christ.

This book reconstructs first-century Galilee from archaeological surveys, excavations, and artifacts, and provides descriptions of the material remains relevant to historical Jesus research and New Testament studies. Drawing on his years of field experience in Galilee, Reed illustrates how the archaeological record has been misused by New Testament scholars, and how synthesis of the material culture is foundational for understanding Christian origins in Galilee and the Jewish culture out of which they arose.

Part One shows how settlement patterns and artifacts from Galilee point to close ties between Judean and Galilean Jews at the time of Jesus, and how Herod Antipas' urbanization projects at Sepphoris and Tiberias commercialized and aggravated peasant life in agrarian Galilean society. Part Two focuses on the archaeology of two Galilean sites and their import for historical Jesus research: Sepphoris, Antipas' capital and the largest city in Galilee just north of Nazareth, and Capernaum, Jesus' base of operations on the periphery of Antipas' power. Part Three concludes with studies illustrating the necessity of considering the specifically Galilean local conditions when interpreting New Testament texts.

Recent scholarship on the historical Jesus has rightly focused upon how Jesus understood his own mission. But no scholarly effort to understand the mission of Jesus can rest content without exploring the historical possibility that Jesus envisioned his own death. In this careful and far-reaching study, Scot McKnight contends that Jesus did in fact anticipate his own death, that Jesus understood his death as an atoning sacrifice, and that his death as an atoning sacrifice stood at the heart of Jesus' own mission to protect his own followers from the judgment of God.

Known throughout the world as masters of Gregorian chant, the Benedictine monks of Solesmes, under the direction of Dom Jean Claire, have recorded the antiphons and responsories for the Great Offices of Vigils, Lauds, and Vespers for Holy Saturday.

Where Was Jesus From The Age Of 13 To 29? Was He In India? Some Buddhists Call Him 'Issa.' Compelling Reading For People Of All Faiths.

15 colour maps on plates with traditional illustrations with important references from Josephus and Origen together with Biblical text references The text further illustrated with traditional illustrations An essential companion for biblical Old Testament studies covering Palestine at the time of Christ and ancient history in context and useful for tracking of the journeys of The Israelites, Empires of the Syrians, Greeks, Alexander and Romans. Full details of Paul's apostolic journeys

An introduction to Jesus Christ for new Christians and unchurched tweens. A two-part short term study with6 sessions that includes a teacher book with reproducible handouts. Extra teaching helps are in the back of the book. It helps tweens learn more about Jesus and what He taught, and gives a deeper look at Jesus for those who have little or no Sunday School background. There are many teacher tips on how to deal with questions tweens may have.

Features: Short term study for New Chrisitans and for Chrisitan tweens needing an overview before Confirmation. Leaders guide with reproducibles. Adaptable to retreat settings.

Benefits: Short term study great for preconfirmation. May be used in conjunction with Choosing to Be a Christian and/or A United Methodist Is . . . Leader s guide with reproducibles has easy to use format with many different learning styles making teaching fun and easy. Adaptable for retreats, Wednesday nights, day camps, and other difficult to resource settings. "

Some two thousand years ago, in a small province of the Roman Empire, an obscure Roman governor ordered the execution of a peasant leader. It went virtually unnoticed at the time. No official report of the event has survived, and we would have no memory at all of it except for the efforts of a handful of followers of the condemned man. Those followers who kept that memory alive changed the course of history, and the results of their efforts continue to reverberate to this day. Conventional interpretation says that the execution of Jesus of Nazareth came on the heels of a series illegal trials before a number of different tribunals, and at the culmination of that series of trials a moral coward by the name of Pontius Pilate ordered Jesus' execution despite being satisfied that he was innocent. Revisionist interpretation says that there was no trial at all, that Pilate simply executed Jesus because he was a nuisance, and that Jesus' followers invented the story of his execution as a means of shifting the blame from the Roman government to a group of people whom they despised - the Jews. Are the Gospels good history or bad propaganda? Does a fair reading of the Gospel accounts support either the conventional or the revisionist interpretation of the trial of Jesus? Who, if anyone, should shoulder the blame for the crucifixion of Jesus? The Case against Christ seeks to answer these questions by treating the matter as a forensic death investigation and answering the questions as they might be answered by a prosecutor attempting to determine who should be held criminally responsible for the death of Jesus.

This insightful volume represents the "hands-on" experience in the world of academia of two Jewish scholars, one of Orthodox background and the other a convert to the Jewish faith. As a series of separate but interrelated essays, it approaches multiple issues touching both the historical Jesus (himself a pious Jew) and the modern phenomenon of Messianic Judaism. It bridges the gap between the typically isolated disciplines of Jewish and Christian scholarship and forges a fresh level of understanding across religious boundaries. It delves into such issues as the nature and essence of Jesus' message (pietistic, militant or something of a hybrid), and whether Messianic Jews should be welcome in the larger Jewish community. Its ultimate challenge is to view sound scholarship as a means of bringing together disparate faith traditions around a common academic table. Serious research of the "great Nazarene" becomes interfaith discourse.

Liddon's lectures on the divinity of Christ stand as one of the hallmarks of nineteenth century English churchmanship. Following the trajectory of the Bible itself, Liddon considers the testimony of the Old and New Testaments, as well as the Ecumenical Councils, in his lectures on the nature of Christ's divinity.

In Engaging the Passion, Oliver Larry Yarbrough has gathered an impressive array of scholars to survey the wealth of ways in which the death of Jesus has been portrayed and represented in Scripture, liturgy and music, literature, art and film, theology, and ethics. In addition to addressing topics many readers will find familiar-gospel narratives, Holy Week services, Bach Passions, and well-known paintings-the essays also treat rap music, street art, a contemporary Buddhist Passion, Chagall's crucifixions, the poetry of Walt Whitman and Countee Cullen, J. R. R. Tolkien's unlikely hero Frodo Baggins, images from the battlefield, and stories from the soup kitchen. The contributors approach their topics from a variety of perspectives-Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and secular; their voices differ as well, from the challenging to the comforting and from the academic to the confessional. Addressing the faithful, the skeptical, and the curious, Engaging the Passion is unique in its breadth and rare in the diverse voices of its contributors. Amply illustrated and with accompanying discography and filmography, it will be a welcome resource for classes in Scripture, theology, liturgy, and the arts, as well as for personal and congregational study.

This insightful volume represents the "hands-on" experience in the world of academia of two Jewish scholars, one of Orthodox background and the other a convert to the Jewish faith. As a series of separate but interrelated essays, it approaches multiple issues touching both the historical Jesus (himself a pious Jew) and the modern phenomenon of Messianic Judaism. It bridges the gap between the typically isolated disciplines of Jewish and Christian scholarship and forges a fresh level of understanding across religious boundaries. It delves into such issues as the nature and essence of Jesus' message (pietistic, militant or something of a hybrid), and whether Messianic Jews should be welcome in the larger Jewish community. Its ultimate challenge is to view sound scholarship as a means of bringing together disparate faith traditions around a common academic table. Serious research of the "great Nazarene" becomes interfaith discourse.

Primary motifs in the New Testament, the person of Jesus and the future kingdom of God, resurrection and hell, are examined within their historical and hermeneutical context. New interpretations are offered in the light of contemporary scholarly discussion and debate. This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here for details.