Scholarly literature on Jesus has often attempted to relate his miracles to their Jewish context, but that context has not been surveyed in its own right. The present study supplies that lack by examining both the ideas on miracle in Second Temple literature (including Josephus, Philo, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha) and the evidence for contemporary Jewish miracle workers. The penultimate chapter explores insights from cultural anthropology to round out the picture obtained from the literary evidence, and the study concludes that Jesus is distinctive as a miracle-worker in his Jewish context while nevertheless fitting into it.

Was Jesus celibate, as the Church claims, or did he marry? If he had a wife, was she Mary Magdalene or someone completely unknown to us? In this knowledgeable and accessible book, Bible metaphysician, theologian and author Maggy Whitehouse puts forward a ground-breaking new theory; that just like any other Jew of the time, Jesus married at the age of 14. The "missing years" in the Bible are those he spent as a husband, raising his family. Given that the average life-span of a woman 2000 years ago was 27 years and two out of three women died in childbirth, Jesus was probably a widower when he began teaching. So what happened to Jesus' wife, this most forgotten of women? To find out, Maggy Whitehouse examines the legends, social and economic laws of the time on marriage and the legends of Jesus' celibacy and his marriage to Mary Magdalene. She explores the evidence in ancient Graeco-Roman and Pagan religions, the Gnostic gospels, the earliest known Christian scripts, the Jewish oral tradition and the commentaries on the Torah, demonstrating how the Christian world grew to need both the idea of a celibate God made man and the sacred union of male and female.

Now available in trade paper! New York Times bestselling author Kathie Lee Gifford reveals heartwarming, entertaining conversations between people and personalities who both agree and disagree about who Jesus is, his role throughout history, and his presence in our lives today. For decades Kathie Lee has had deep conversations about her faith with anyone who is interested in talking about it. What she discovered early on is most people are very willing to talk about Jesus: atheists, agnostics, Scientologists, Jews, broken-hearted Catholics, confused Baptists, Pentecostals, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Hindus alike. While some of the people Kathie Lee has spoken with do not share her belief that Jesus is the Messiah-as prophesied for centuries by prophets in the Hebrew scriptures-they nonetheless have a universal fascination with Him. This singular man who lived more than two thousand years ago, and never traveled more than one hundred miles from where He was born, managed to change the entire world. Even the way we delineate history (BC/AD) comes from His short thirty-three years of life. In The Jesus I Know, Kathie Lee shares cherished conversations that she's had with others who find Jesus to be an ancient historical figure who somehow continues to be an undeniably magnetic, relevant presence in the modern world. Those conversations include actors like Kristin Chenoweth and Cynthia Garrett, with stories of Craig Ferguson and Kevin Costner, newsmakers and news personalities like Kris Jenner, Megyn Kelly, Jason Kennedy, and Janice Dean, performers like Chynna Phillips Baldwin, Brian Welch, Jimmie Allen, and Jimmy Wayne, hitmakers like Louis York and David Pomeranz, as well as those coming from other faith traditions. Using Kathie Lee's favorite Scripture passages as scaffolding, these thought-provoking exchanges will bring His teachings to life before your very eyes.

The British Jesus focuses on the Jesus of the religious culture dominant in Britain from the 1850s through the 1950s, the popular Christian culture shared by not only church, kirk, and chapel goers, but also the growing numbers of Britons who rarely or only episodically entered a house of worship. An essay in intellectual as well as cultural history, this book illumines the interplay between and among British New Testament scholarship, institutional Christianity, and the wider Protestant culture. The scholars who mapped and led the uniquely British quest for the historical Jesus in the first half of the twentieth century were active participants in efforts to replace the popular image of "Jesus in a white nightie" with a stronger figure, and so, they hoped, to preserve Britain's Christian identity. They failed. By exploring that failure, and more broadly, by examining the relations and exchanges between popular, artistic, and scholarly portrayals of Jesus, this book highlights the continuity and the conservatism of Britain's popular Christianity through a century of religious and cultural transformation. Exploring depictions of Jesus from over more than one hundred years, this book is a crucial resource for scholars of British Christianity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Is there credible evidence that Jesus--the carpenter from the ancient town of Nazareth--really is the Son of God? In this video Bible study (DVD/digital video sold separately), based on the New York Times bestselling book The Case for Christ, participants journey with Lee Strobel on a quest for the truth about Jesus. Skeptics dismiss the Jesus of the Gospels by claiming there is no evidence that he was God's Son. But does their claim hold weight? And, if not, what evidence is there, especially outside the Bible? Lee Strobel--a former legal journalist and one-time atheist--presents the findings of his own search for truth. This study guide is ideal for: Believers who want to learn more about the hard evidence behind their faith. Christians who find themselves becoming uncertain or doubtful. Anyone investigating, curious, or even skeptical about Christianity. Sift through historical evidence and passages from a range of theologians, thinkers, philosophers, and laypeople on the topic of Jesus as you weigh compelling expert testimony that rejects easy answers. With discussion prompts, Bible passages, and personal reflection cues facilitated by contributor Garry Poole, Strobel invites you and your group to investigate the truth about Jesus Christ as he leads up to the facts that guided him from atheism to faith in Christ. By the end of this six-session study, groups may very well see Jesus in a new way--and even, like Strobel, find their life transformed. Sessions include: The Investigation of a Lifetime Eyewitness Evidence Evidence Outside the Bible Analyzing Jesus Evidence for the Resurrection Reaching Your Verdict Designed for use with The Case for Christ Video Study 9780310698517 (sold separately).

'God wants people to become like Christ,' said international preacher, writer and teacher John Stott in a public address at the end of his long life. Peter Lewis is similarly passionate about the Bible's message - that God has a plan which centres on Jesus and includes each one of us. In this accessible and helpful book, he focuses on the: source of Christlikeness model of Christlikenesshelps to Christlikeness contradictions of Christlikeness an dtriumph of Christlikeness Here, the reader who wants to become like Christ will find radical - sometimes challenging - teaching, practical wisdom and warm reassurance.

It is often observed that no historical figure has had a greater impact on the world than Jesus Christ. Why is that? And what difference does his impact make to the world today? It is also often said that Jesus was a 'revolutionary', and numerous books have appeared in recent years claiming just that - from the wild and sensational to the serious and respectable. This book, written by influential authors reflecting a diversity of expertise and points of view, considers the claims that continue to be made about Jesus, whether by believers or nonbelievers.

Updated format and series design for the UK

This book explores the religious concerns of Enlightenment thinkers from Thomas Hobbes to Thomas Jefferson. Using an innovative method, the study illuminates the intellectual history of the age through interpretations of Jesus between c.1650 and c.1826. The book demonstrates the persistence of theology in modern philosophy and the projects of social reform and amelioration associated with the Enlightenment. At the core of many of these projects was a robust moral-theological realism, sometimes manifest in a natural law ethic, but always associated with Jesus and a commitment to the sovereign goodness of God. This ethical orientation in Enlightenment discourse is found in a range of different metaphysical and political identities (dualist and monist; progressive and radical) which intersect with earlier 'heretical' tendencies in Christian thought (Arianism, Pelagianism, and Marcionism). This intellectual matrix helped to produce the discourses of irenic toleration which are a legacy of the Enlightenment at its best.

Since the early 4th century, Christian pilgrims and visitors to Judea and Galilee have worshipped at and been inspired by monumental churches erected at sites traditionally connected with the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. This book examines the history and archaeology of early Christian holy sites and traditions connected with specific places in order to understand them as interpretations of Jesus and to explore them as instantiations of memories of him. Ryan's overarching aim is to construe these places as instantiations of what historian Pierre Nora has called "lieux de memoires," sites where memory crystallizes and, where possible, to track the course and development of the traditions underlying them from their genesis in the Gospel narratives to their eventual solidification in the form of pilgrimage sites. So doing will bring rarely considered evidence to the study of early Christian memory, which in turn helps to illuminate the person of Jesus himself in both history and reception.

Teaching the Historical Jesus in his Jewish context to students of varied religious backgrounds presents instructors with not only challenges, but also opportunities to sustain interfaith dialogue and foster mutual understanding and respect. This new collection explores these challenges and opportunities, gathering together experiential lessons drawn from teaching Jesus in a wide variety of settings-from the public, secular two- or four-year college, to the Jesuit university, to the Rabbinic school or seminary, to the orthodox, religious Israeli university. A diverse group of Jewish and Christian scholars reflect on their own classroom experiences and explicates crucial issues for teaching Jesus in a way that encourages students at every level to enter into an encounter with the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament without paternalism, parochialism, or prejudice. This volume is a valuable resource for instructors and graduate students interested in an interfaith approach in the classroom, and provides practical case studies for scholars working on Jewish-Christian relations.

This study takes a Christian perspective on the entire Bible, rather than simply the New Testament. David Wenkel asks: Why did Jesus have to be beaten before his death on the cross? Christian theology has largely focused on Jesus' death but has given relatively little attention to his sufferings. Wenkel's answer contextualizes Jesus' crucifixion sufferings as informed by the language of Proverbs. He explains that Jesus' sufferings demonstrate the wisdom of God's plan to provide a substitute for foolish sinners. Jesus was beaten as a fool - even though he was no fool, in order to fulfill God's loving plan of salvation. This analysis is then placed within the larger storyline of the whole bible - from the Garden of Eden to the story of Israel and beyond.

Saul of Tarsus is one of the best known and most beloved figures of Christianity. This man, later known as St. Paul, set the tone for Christianity, including an emphasis on celibacy, the theory of divine grace and salvation, and the elimination of circumcision. It was Paul who wrote a large part of the New Testament, and who called it euangelion, "the gospel." There is another side of Paul, however, that has been little studied and that is his connection to the Roman military establishment and its intelligence arm. While other scholars and writers have suggested the idea that Paul was cooperating with the Romans, this is the first book-length study to document it in detail. By looking at the traditional story through a new lens, some of the thorniest questions and contradictions in Paul's life can be unravelled. How did he come to work for the Temple authorities who collaborated with the Romans? How was he able to escape from legal situations in which others would have been killed? Why

Medieval miracle stories from a major pilgrim destination in 12c France. In the second half of the twelfth century Rocamadour developed an international reputation as a centre of devotion to the Virgin Mary, drawing pilgrims from Spain, Italy, Germany, England and the Latin East as well as France, as witnessed by the 126 miracle stories written there in 1172-3, here translated for the first time. Reflecting and enhancing Rocamadour's status (aristocratic figures feature prominently), they throw light on many of the dangers faced by medieval men and women: illness and injury; imprisonment; warfare; arbitrary justice; and natural disasters. In his introduction Marcus Bull identifies issues which the collection helps to elucidate, and assesses thevalue of the text as source material, particularly in view of the lack of other chronicles from southern France for the period. He makes comparisons with other texts, such as the miracle collection compiled at the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury, and argues that the monks of Rocamadour asserted their importance through the miracles, in the face of competition from neighbouring monastic communities. MARCUS BULL is Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Professor of Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Many experts in education, psychology, science, philosophy, politics, and across the social sciences and humanities believe that a plethora of people in the world have lost their way and lack a moral compass. In a world in which youth often lack guidance from parents, countless individuals are hurting from broken relationships, and many people lack a sense of purpose, direction, and a sense of who they are, there is a growing awareness around much of world that people should revisit the teachings of Jesus Christ for answers. The Bible is the most published book in the history of the world for a reason. At the heart of Christ's teachings is love, which sadly in many academic, political, and business circles has become the most feared four-letter word of all. In this context, the need to revisit the personal significance of the most quoted verse in the Bible, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only son..." and "God is love," is axiomatic. In a world filled with divisiveness, a dearth of civility, a lack of love, a dismissive attitude toward any sense of truth and absolute values, and the inability for people to get along, it would seem that there is no timelier action one can take than to ask the pertinent question, "What would Christ do?" It is a vital question to ask not only as it applies to one's personal life, but also to the world situation at large. For example, one can argue that the economic crisis of 2008-2009 in the West and the Asian economic crisis of 1997-1998 were largely the result of lack of character and the love of money and power than pervaded the government, business, and the general population. One can argue that had the nations of the world been guided by the example of love, self-sacrifice, humility, and integrity that Christ set, those crises would not have happened. Life is filled with enough challenges without a lack of virtue creating more trials. Addressing the question of, "What would Christ do?" can help the reader engage in better decision making that can literally change one's life and help establish a reputation of love, character, and compassion that will open doors into a better life.

Argues that there are sharply conflicting images of God in the Bible and that for Christians the true God can only be the one revealed through the words and actions of the historical Jesus

In A Relevant Way to Read, Margaret G. Sim draws on her in-depth knowledge of New Testament Greek to forge a new exegesis of the Gospels and Paul's letters. Locating her studies in the linguistic concept of relevance theory, which contends that all our utterances are laden with crucial yet invisible context, Sim embarks on a journey through some of the New Testament's most troubling verses. Here she recovers some of that lost information with a meticulous analysis that should enlighten both the experienced biblical scholar and the novice. Whether discussing Paul's masterful use of irony to shame the Corinthians, or introducing the ground-breaking ideas behind relevance theory into a whole new field of study, Margaret G. Sim demonstrates her vast learning and experience while putting her complex subject into plain words for the developing student.

Dale Allison has written another brilliant book. He manages to dissect technical, complicated subjects and then present them to his readers with remarkable clarity and simplicity. Constructing Jesus will be read with great benefit by scholars, pastors, students, and laity. Readers will find everywhere in this book mastery of the topic, judicious assessment of the options, and invariably sensible and compelling conclusions.

William Wrede was among the first to recognise the creative contribution of the Gospel writers. His work thus laid the foundation for the work of the Form Critics, Redaction Critics and Literary Critics whose scholarship dominated New Testament studies during the twentieth century. This highly influential work was throughout this period the departure point for all studies in the Gospel of Mark and in the literary methods of the evangelists. It remains highly relevant for its ground-breaking approach to the classically complicated question of whether Jesus saw himself and represented himself as the Messiah.

In 'SEEKING THE IMPERISHABLE TREASURE', Johnson tracks the use of a single saying of Jesus over time and among theologically divergent authors and communities. He identifies six different versions of the saying in the canonical gospels and epistles (Mark, Matthew, Luke, John, James, and Colossians), as well as the Gospel of Thomas and Q. After tracing the tradition and redaction history of this wisdom admonition, he observes at least two distinctly different wisdom themes that are applied to the saying: the proper disposition of wealth and the search for knowledge, wisdom, or God. What he discovers is a saying of Jesus - with roots in Jewish wisdom and pietistic traditions, as well as popular Greek philosophy - that proved amazingly adaptable in its application to differing social and rhetorical contexts of the first century. Steven R. Johnson is Associate Professor of Religion at Lycoming College, Pennsylvania. He is a managing editor of the International Q Project and is the author and editor of 'Q 7:1-10: The Centurion's Faith in Jesus' Word' and 'Q 12:33-34: Storing up Treasures in Heaven'. "An important and very readable contribution to Q and Gospel of Thomas studies by an experienced member of the International Q Project. With a careful historical-critical approach, Johnson examines how early Christians adopted and updated a saying of Jesus." - Cristoph Heil, Professor of New Testament, University of Graz, Austria. "With studies like Steve Johnson's, the study of the Gospel of Thomas is entering a new, more mature, phase, where careful, thorough analysis of particular texts can begin to make substantive contribution to our understanding of the Jesus tradition and its early history. An exemplary piece of critical scholarship." - Stephen J. Patterson, Professor of New Testament, Eden Theological Seminary.

The British Jesus focuses on the Jesus of the religious culture dominant in Britain from the 1850s through the 1950s, the popular Christian culture shared by not only church, kirk, and chapel goers, but also the growing numbers of Britons who rarely or only episodically entered a house of worship. An essay in intellectual as well as cultural history, this book illumines the interplay between and among British New Testament scholarship, institutional Christianity, and the wider Protestant culture. The scholars who mapped and led the uniquely British quest for the historical Jesus in the first half of the twentieth century were active participants in efforts to replace the popular image of "Jesus in a white nightie" with a stronger figure, and so, they hoped, to preserve Britain's Christian identity. They failed. By exploring that failure, and more broadly, by examining the relations and exchanges between popular, artistic, and scholarly portrayals of Jesus, this book highlights the continuity and the conservatism of Britain's popular Christianity through a century of religious and cultural transformation. Exploring depictions of Jesus from over more than one hundred years, this book is a crucial resource for scholars of British Christianity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Did Jesus marry and have children with Mary Magdalene? If so, what happened to his family? Are descendants of Jesus still alive today? This extraordinary account of the potential family line that the author believes was born from Jesus Christ encompasses some of the most romantic, colourful and sacred territory of the past 2,000 years. From royal and suppressed archives, Gardner presents proof of the heritage of Jesus in the West and new findings on the long awaited discovery of the Holy Grail. Featuring all the charm and adventure of Arthurian romance, coupled with enthralling Rosicrucian and Templar disclosures, this work has a cutting edge of intrigue and exposure of conspiracy in the vein of Michael Baigent's international bestseller The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (Arrow). Bringing together revelatory insights into the descendant heirs of Jesus and his brother James, Gardner: Proves that there is an authentic line of succession from the sons of Jesus and James * Documents a hidden legacy of the Messiah and unveils hitherto guarded secrets about Mary Magdalene (was married to Jesus) and Joseph of Arimathea (was Jesus's brother). * Traces the sacred lineage through centuries of persecution and Inquisition, revealing a systematic suppression of authentic records and a strategic manipulation of the New Testament Gospels * The author was granted privileged access to royal and religious archives and repositories across Europe

"Jesus Christ entered into the history of our world. Christianity, therefore, has historical basis. The backbone of history is chronology. Whereas history is a systematic account of events in relation to a nation, institution, science, or art; chronology is a science of time. It seeks to establish and arrange the dates of past events in their proper sequence. Thus chronology serves as a necessary framework upon which the events of history must be fitted. In this book (the author) attempts to establish certain fixed dates in our Lord's life." - Dr. Harold W. Hoehner. Dr. Hoehner has gathered a vast amount of data, both from Scripture and extrabiblical sources, to support his conclusions concerning key dates in the life of our Lord, among them: - The Date of Christ's Birth - The Commencement of Christ's Ministry - The Duration of Christ's Ministry - The Year of Christ's Crucifixion He carefully documents his position and compares the date available--including a study of Greek words, Roman law, and Jewish customs and prophecy.