In nine brief sections, this book gives an overview of the life of Jesus-from his birth to ministry, from his death to resurrection. When busy people want to know more about the Bible and the Christian faith, the Zondervan Quick-Reference Library offers an instant information alternative in a manageable length. Covering the basics of the faith and Bible knowledge in an easy-to-use format, this series helps new Christians and seasoned believers alike find answers to their questions about Christianity and the Bible. The information in The Life of Christ is presented in units of one or two pages, so that each section can be read in a few minutes, covering: The Gospels. The world of Jesus. His birth and ministry. His final week in Jerusalem. The Resurrection and appearances of Jesus. The Zondervan Quick-Reference Library makes important knowledge affordable, accessible, and easy to understand for busy people who don't have a lot of time to read or study.

Concise: Each book gets straight to the heart of its subject

This book examines Paul's letter to the Philippians against the social background of the colony at Philippi. After an extensive survey of Roman social values, Professor Hellerman argues that the cursus honorum, the formalized sequence of public offices that marked out the prescribed social pilgrimage for aspiring senatorial aristocrats in Rome (and which was replicated in miniature in municipalities and in voluntary associations), forms the background against which Paul has framed his picture of Jesus in the great Christ hymn in Philippians 2. In marked contrast to the values of the dominant culture, Paul portrays Jesus descending what the author describes as a cursus pudorum ('course of ignominies'). The passage has thus been intentionally framed to subvert Roman cursus ideology and, by extension, to redefine the manner in which honour and power were to be utilized among the Christians at Philippi.

John Dominic Crossan is widely regarded as the leading authority on the words and life of Jesus Christ. His classic national bestseller, Jesus, is a powerful and controversial portrait of a courageous revolutionary, philosopher, and political agitator who challenged the prevailing rules of the social order. Bold, moving, and provocative, a book that will affect every Christian reader deeply and profoundly, Jesus is a remarkable work that presents a very different view of a saviour and king of peace who proclaimed - in thought and action - that all may participate in the rule of God.

Scattered throughout the Talmud, the founding document of rabbinic Judaism in late antiquity, can be found quite a few references to Jesus--and they're not flattering. In this lucid, richly detailed, and accessible book, Peter Schafer examines how the rabbis of the Talmud read, understood, and used the New Testament Jesus narrative to assert, ultimately, Judaism's superiority over Christianity.

The Talmudic stories make fun of Jesus' birth from a virgin, fervently contest his claim to be the Messiah and Son of God, and maintain that he was rightfully executed as a blasphemer and idolater. They subvert the Christian idea of Jesus' resurrection and insist he got the punishment he deserved in hell--and that a similar fate awaits his followers.

Schafer contends that these stories betray a remarkable familiarity with the Gospels--especially Matthew and John--and represent a deliberate and sophisticated anti-Christian polemic that parodies the New Testament narratives. He carefully distinguishes between Babylonian and Palestinian sources, arguing that the rabbis' proud and self-confident countermessage to that of the evangelists was possible only in the unique historical setting of Persian Babylonia, in a Jewish community that lived in relative freedom. The same could not be said of Roman and Byzantine Palestine, where the Christians aggressively consolidated their political power and the Jews therefore suffered.

A departure from past scholarship, which has played down the stories as unreliable distortions of the historical Jesus, "Jesus in the Talmud" posits a much more deliberate agenda behind these narratives."

If asked how Matthew's Gospel differs from Luke's, or what aspects of Jesus' personhood and ministry the Gospel of Mark focuses on compared with those of John, how would you answer? In Discovering Jesus, T. Desmond Alexander helps readers understand how each Gospel account is uniquely written and why all four Gospels are important in their different, but complementary pictures of the person and ministry of Jesus Christ. Alexander shows how the Gospels display Jesus as the Son of David who establishes the kingdom of God, the Son of God who suffers to ransom others, the Saviour of the world who seeks the lost, and the Lamb of God who brings eternal life through a new exodus. Each chapter ends with discussion questions for individual or group study.

In recent years, there has been considerable debate concerning the origin of divine Christology. Nevertheless, the proposed theories are beset with problems, such as failing to address the evidence of widespread agreement among the earliest Christians concerning divine Christology, and the issues related to whether Jesus' intention was falsified. This book offers a new contribution by addressing these issues using transdisciplinary tools. It proposes that the earliest Christians regarded Jesus as divine because a sizeable group of them perceived that Jesus claimed and showed himself to be divine, and thought that God vindicated this claim by raising Jesus from the dead. It also provides a comprehensive critique of alternative proposals, and synthesizes their strengths. It defends the appropriateness and merits of utilizing philosophical distinctions (e.g. between ontology and function) and Trinitarian concepts for explaining early Christology, and incorporates comparative religion by examining cases of deification in other contexts.

The first book to explore in detail what we can deduce about the historical Jesus from the later New Testament writings (i.e. everything after the Gospels).

In what remains a widely discussed issue in contemporary theology, J. Gresham Machen's The Virgin Birth of Christ acts as both an introduction to the subject, and a window into American 'Princeton' theology in the early twentieth century. Machen undertakes an encyclopaedic study of the different perspectives on the virgin birth. He begins with a close reading of the scriptural accounts, comparing and contrasting the stories of Jesus' birth told in Luke and Matthew. Secular historical accounts are then considered, as well as possible alternative theories, including the likelihood of the story being of early Jewish or Pagan origin. Machen's study was the definitive work on the virgin birth for the majority of the twentieth century, and remains an invaluable resource, both as an apologetic work and as a time capsule of theological progress.

The classic text on examining the evidence for the Resurrection. Convinced that the story wasn't true, Frank Morison started to write about Jesus' last days. However, as he studied this crucial period something happened... First published in 1930, this is an in-depth exploration of what happened between the death of Jesus and the resurrection as recorded in the Bible. Using many information sources, this is crammed with vital detail that every Christian should know and is also a powerful tool for persuasion of those questioning Christianity. Writing this book changed Morison's life. Will you let it change yours?

Christianity was born nearly 2000 years ago in ancient Palestine. It has shaped the course of human history. Yet historians still cannot say how it really began. How did a 1st-century Jew called Jesus manage to spark a new religion?

It is one of the biggest and most profound of all historical mysteries. This extraordinary book finally provides the answer. And it has been staring us in the face for over a century.

Jesus is the most influential person who ever lived. But for many of us, he has ceased to be a real person. We've sanitised him with pious jargon, framed him in stained glass, and reduced him to a religious puppet who floats through biblical landscapes dispensing Christian cliches and nice advice. It's time for a fresh look at the man this book describes as "a square peg in a society of round holes." Whether you're new to Jesus or just want to rediscover him with fresh eyes, this is the book for you. No dry theological treatise, it's written in an engaging, sometimes even humorous, style. In short, readable chapters, you'll get a tour of important background info and fascinating history that will bring to life the era in which Jesus lived. Then you'll read about his birth, his adult ministry and teaching, and the crucial last week of his life on earth. You'll catch a glimpse of the impact and excitement as news of Jesus spread around the world. And finally, you'll be inspired to think about what Jesus means for us today.

Written to help readers get, find, and keep the work they love, "JESUS, Career Counselor "weaves

together practical self-help concepts, intriguing stories, relevant statistics, and Bible scriptures.

Divided into four sections centered on the four natural giftings or personalities of people, this book

explores twelve dreams that God has for each individual--including rise, risk, roar, renew, regenerate,

rejoice, relate, and more. It then instructs readers in how to realize each one of these dreams, no

matter their natural inclination.

As individual personalities of Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind are explored, the book explains how

the "Fire" of excitement translates to Leadership Skills, how the "Earth" of grounding translates into

Good Habits and Character Development, how the "Water" of life-giving becomes Relationship Skills,

and how the "Wind" of release becomes the Creativity and Innovation, which are in high demand in

every industry in the world today.

Readers will learn how to discover their four greatest talents and create their personal Talent Shield,

which will help them choose a meaningful career based on their Life's Mission Statement.

Each chapter serves as a free-standing career guidepost, and includes Career Exercises, pertinent

Word Definitions, Career Choices for individual gifting, Self-Quizzes, and Reader Study Guides.

This book is an informed, focused, deep, and creative analysis of the topic of (im)politeness applied to Jesus in Matthew's Gospel, with in-depth conclusions and analysis about the Matthean Jesus' (im)politeness. This study utilizes innovative methodological approaches regarding the analysis and interpretation of the subject in Matthew's Gospel, finding similarities with the language and (im)polite engagements of other first-century Greco-Roman characters and the Matthean Jesus in similar contexts. The (Im)Polite Jesus would make an excellent addition for studies on Matthew's Gospel or courses focused on biblical studies, biblical literature, biblical hermeneutics, methodologies, and in discussions about exposing interpreters' cultural biases when addressing the topic of (im)politeness.

The Blackwell Companion to Jesus features a comprehensive collection of essays that explore the diverse ways in which Jesus has been imagined or portrayed from the beginnings of Christianity to the present day. * Considers portrayals of Jesus in the New Testament and beyond, Jesus in non-Christian religions, philosophical and historic perspectives, modern manifestations, and representations in Christian art, novels, and film * Comprehensive scope of coverage distinguishes this work from similar offerings * Examines both Christian and non-Christian perspectives on Jesus, including those from ethnic and sexual groups, as well as from other faiths * Offers rich and rewarding insights which will shape our understanding of this influential figure and his enduring legacy

Jurgen Moltmann's The Crucified God is one of the most influential theological books of the twentieth century and a classic to be found on every reading list on Christian doctrine. Arguably the most powerful of Moltmann's books. The Crucified God is a seminal work on the crucifixion and its significance. The book takes death, despair and dreadfulness, the dark side of the human condition, with total seriousness and relates these to a liberating hope of redemption through divine agony and suffering. Influential for many years, especially with political and liberation theologians, but also much more widely, the book represents a concentrated blast of hard-edged doctrinal reflection and will continue to inspire upcoming generations who take seriously the life-changing notion that 'God was in Christ.' Reissued with a new foreword by the author himself.

The gospel accounts of the birth and childhood of Jesus have puzzling discrepancies and contradictions. In particular, Matthew and Luke give different versions of the genealogy and birth of Jesus, and of the events that follow. A long forgotten tradition held that there were, in fact, two families and two Jesus children whose destinies would come together: one from the kingly line of Solomon, and the other from the priestly line of Nathan. There are various apocryphal texts, as well as works of art, in which both children clearly occur. Emil Bock shows how the pattern and structure of the four gospels support the stories of two boys called Jesus, living side by side in Nazareth until the age of twelve, right up to the dramatic day of their visit to the temple in Jerusalem. He also recreates the years between this time and Jesus' baptism. This book is essential reading for every Christology student, and for anyone who has ever wondered about the gospel accounts of Jesus' birth.

The New Testament is filled with stories of Jesus eating with people-from extravagant wedding banquets to simple meals of loaves and fishes. The Food and Feasts of Jesus offers a new perspective on life in biblical times by taking readers inside these meals. Food production and distribution impacted all aspects of ancient life, including the teachings of Jesus. From elaborate holiday feasts to a simple farmer's lunch, the book explores the significance of various meals, discusses key ingredients, places food within the socioeconomic conditions of the time, and offers accessible recipes for readers to make their own tastes of the first century. Ideal for individual reading or group study, this book opens a window into the tumultuous world of the first century and invites readers to smell, touch, and taste the era's food.

Jesus changed our world forever. But who was he and what do we know about him? David Wenham's accessible volume is a concise and wide-ranging engagement with that enduring and elusive subject. Exploring the sources for Jesus and his scholarly reception, he surveys information from Roman, Jewish, and Christian texts, and also examines the origins of the gospels, as well as the evidence of Paul, who had access to the earliest oral traditions about Jesus. Wenham demonstrates that the Jesus of the New Testament makes sense within the first century CE context in which he lived and preached. He offers a contextualized portrait of Jesus and his teaching; his relationship with John the Baptist and the Qumran community (and the Dead Sea Scrolls); his ethics and the Sermon on the Mount, his successes and disappointments. Wenham also brings insights into Jesus' vision of the future and his understanding of his own death and calling.

Regina Press is proud to introduce Catholic Classics "TM" for Children. This new line features the artwork of William Luberoff and is edited by Rev. Victor Hoagland, C.P., and Sister Karen Cavanagh, C.S.J. This collection is ideal for schools, groups, parishes and individuals. A must for every child.

When Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World in 1492, there began a new way of the cross, traced for five hundred years in the lives of the poor and oppressed peoples of the Americas. These short meditations on the stations--by such figures as Gustavo Guiterrez, Enrique Dussel, Leonardo Boff, Helder Camara, Elsa Tamez, and Jon Sobrino--reflect on the passion of Christ against the background of conquest. They write, as Virgil Elizondo says in his preface, to "invite our readers to take this journey with us, to share our suffering, to experience our crucifixion, and to taste in anticipation our Easter joy. We invite all--rich and poor, black and brown and white, clerics and lay people--to a profound conversion that will stimulate us to build a better world in the Americas, a world of the new humanity enjoying justice, freedom, and love."

What do Christians mean when they call Jesus "son of God"? In this study of the phrase "son of God" as applied to Jesus of Nazareth, Christopher Bryan examines the testimony of various New Testament witnesses who used this expression to speak of him, and asks where they got it, what they meant by it, and how it might have been understood. In Bryan's view, any attempt to address these questions stands self-condemned if it does not point to both the words and works of Jesus himself in the memory of early Christians, and the Torah of Israel as then understood, centering on Israel's Scriptures. Of course Paul and his fellow believers did not proclaim Jesus in a vacuum. They proclaimed Jesus in the Roman Empire during the decades following the death of Augustus. With regard to the meaning of the phrase "son of God," what becomes clear, Bryan argues, is that whereas "Lord" (another expression frequently used in the New Testament for Jesus of Nazareth) reflects believers' sense of Jesus' relationship to them, "son of God" reflects their sense of his relationship to God. It is a title that reflects their consciousness of Jesus' holiness-that is, his "set-apartness," his consecration, and even his divinity. Readers of Son of God will gain a well-rounded understanding of classic and recent research in Christology and the New Testament, as well as an in-depth, historically situated view of the evidence that paints a clearer picture of what New Testament witnesses meant when they called Jesus "son of God."

The follow-up to the author's highly successful The Things He Carried, this book takes the post-resurrection sayings of Jesus as starting-points and uses the same reflection format. The meaning and significance of the resurrection, how it was first communicated and how it is communicated to us today, are explored by piecing together these sayings of Jesus. However, the content may not quite be what we imagine. Following the resurrection, we would expect the triumphant 'I have risen from the dead'. Yet Jesus' statements are so different, so apparently innocuous, that they are often overlooked. The Christian faith stands or falls on the resurrection of Jesus; without it, says St Paul, we are to be most pitied. In this revelatory book of surprising reflections, Stephen Cottrell's retelling of the Easter story encourages us to slow down and hear it properly - perhaps for the very first time.