From Christ to Christianity

From Christ to Christianity

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  • Author: James R. Edwards
  • Publisher: Baker Academic
  • ISBN: 1493420216
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 320

How did the movement founded by Jesus transform more in the first seventy-five years after his death than it has in the two thousand years since? This book tells the story of how the Christian movement, which began as relatively informal, rural, Hebrew and Aramaic speaking, and closely anchored to the Jewish synagogue, became primarily urban, Greek speaking, and gentile by the early second century, spreading through the Greco-Roman world with a mission agenda and church organization distinct from its roots in Jewish Galilee. It also shows how the early church's witness can encourage the church today.


From Jesus to Christ

From Jesus to Christ

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  • Author: Paula Fredriksen
  • Publisher: Yale University Press
  • ISBN: 0300164106
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 286

"Magisterial. . . . A learned, brilliant and enjoyable study."—Géza Vermès, Times Literary Supplement In this exciting book, Paula Fredriksen explains the variety of New Testament images of Jesus by exploring the ways that the new Christian communities interpreted his mission and message in light of the delay of the Kingdom he had preached. This edition includes an introduction reviews the most recent scholarship on Jesus and its implications for both history and theology. "Brilliant and lucidly written, full of original and fascinating insights."—Reginald H. Fuller, Journal of the American Academy of Religion "This is a first-rate work of a first-rate historian."—James D. Tabor, Journal of Religion "Fredriksen confronts her documents—principally the writings of the New Testament—as an archaeologist would an especially rich complex site. With great care she distinguishes the literary images from historical fact. As she does so, she explains the images of Jesus in terms of the strategies and purposes of the writers Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John."—Thomas D’Evelyn, Christian Science Monitor


The Case for Christ

The Case for Christ

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  • Author: Lee Strobel
  • Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
  • ISBN: 1458759202
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 510

The book consists primarily of interviews between Strobel (a former legal editor at the Chicago Tribune) and biblical scholars such as Bruce Metzger. Each interview is based on a simple question, concerning historical evidence (for example, "Can the Biographies of Jesus Be Trusted?"), scientific evidence, ("Does Archaeology Confirm or Contradict Jesus' Biographies?"), and "psychiatric evidence" ("Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God?"). Together, these interviews compose a case brief defending Jesus' divinity, and urging readers to reach a verdict of their own.


How Jesus Became Christian

How Jesus Became Christian

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  • Author: Barrie Wilson
  • Publisher: Vintage Canada
  • ISBN: 0307375846
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 338

In How Jesus Became Christian, Barrie Wilson asks "How did a young rabbi become the god of a religion he wouldn’t recognize, one which was established through the use of calculated anti-Semitism?" Colourfully recreating the world of Jesus Christ, Wilson brings the answer to life by looking at the rivalry between the "Jesus movement," informed by the teachings of Matthew and adhering to Torah worship, and the "Christ movement," headed by Paul, which shunned Torah. Wilson suggests that Paul’s movement was not rooted in the teachings and sayings of the historical Jesus, but solely in Paul’s mystical vision of Christ, a man Paul actually never met. He then shows how Paul established the new religion through anti-Semitic propaganda, which ultimately crushed the Jesus Movement. Sure to be controversial, this is an exciting, well-written popular religious history that cuts to the heart of the differences between Christianity and Judaism, to the origins of one of the world’s great religions and, ultimately, to the question of who Jesus Christ really was – a Jew or a Christian.


Christ Circumcised

Christ Circumcised

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  • Author: Andrew S. Jacobs
  • Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
  • ISBN: 0812206517
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 328

In the first full-length study of the circumcision of Jesus, Andrew S. Jacobs turns to an unexpected symbol—the stereotypical mark of the Jewish covenant on the body of the Christian savior—to explore how and why we think about difference and identity in early Christianity. Jacobs explores the subject of Christ's circumcision in texts dating from the first through seventh centuries of the Common Era. Using a diverse toolkit of approaches, including the psychoanalytic, postcolonial, and poststructuralist, he posits that while seeming to desire fixed borders and a clear distinction between self (Christian) and other (Jew, pagan, and heretic), early Christians consistently blurred and destabilized their own religious boundaries. He further argues that in this doubled approach to others, Christians mimicked the imperial discourse of the Roman Empire, which exerted its power through the management, not the erasure, of difference. For Jacobs, the circumcision of Christ vividly illustrates a deep-seated Christian duality: the fear of and longing for an other, at once reviled and internalized. From his earliest appearance in the Gospel of Luke to the full-blown Feast of the Divine Circumcision in the medieval period, Christ circumcised represents a new way of imagining Christians and their creation of a new religious culture.


From Christ to Confucius

From Christ to Confucius

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  • Author: Albert Monshan Wu
  • Publisher: Yale University Press
  • ISBN: 0300225261
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 344

A bold and original study of German missionaries in China, who catalyzed a revolution in thinking among European Christians about the nature of Christianity itself In this accessibly written and empirically based study, Albert Wu documents how German missionaries—chastened by their failure to convert Chinese people to Christianity—reconsidered their attitudes toward Chinese culture and Confucianism. In time, their increased openness catalyzed a revolution in thinking among European Christians about the nature of Christianity itself. At a moment when Europe’s Christian population is falling behind those of South America and Africa, Wu’s provocative analysis sheds light on the roots of Christianity’s global shift.


The True Jesus Christ

The True Jesus Christ

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  • Author: David Pack
  • Publisher: iUniverse
  • ISBN: 9781440180491
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 276

Through the centuries, thousands of books, stories, novels, television programs, and films about Jesus Christ have been written and produced. Hundreds of thousands of churches have been erected in His name. Millions have claimed to be His ministers. Billions have professed Him as "Lord and Savior." Today, Jesus is renowned the world over, commonly known in one way or another in every culture of the world, whether one professes to be Christian, atheist, or of any other religion. Many have positive comments about Him, regardless of their beliefs about who He was and what He taught. His name also stirs great controversy and debate. Yet, despite worldwide recognition-despite billions professing to be His followers-despite all the knowledge circulating about Him-Jesus Christ remains unknown-even to Christianity! Unlike anything ever produced, "The True Jesus Christ - Unknown to Christianity "accurately examines the life, ministry, and teachings of the most influential Person in the history of the world. Excluding popular tradition, theory, and opinion-the usual approach to His life-it takes you on an extraordinary and gripping journey through the corridors of the life and times of Jesus Christ, and correctly answers in plain language the greatest questions about Him-straight from the Bible and history. You will learn what only a tiny few have understood.


Christ's Resurrection in Early Christianity

Christ's Resurrection in Early Christianity

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  • Author: Markus Vinzent
  • Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
  • ISBN: 140941793X
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 283

This is the first Patristic book to focus on the development of the belief in the Resurrection of Christ through the first centuries A.D. By Paul, Christ's Resurrection is regarded as the basis of Christian hope. In the fourth century it becomes a central Christian tenet. But what about the discrepancy in the first three centuries? Vinzent offers an eye-opening experience with insights into the craftsmanship of early Christianity - the earliest existential debates about life and death, death and life - all centred on the cross, on suffering, enduring and sacrifice.


The Case for Easter

The Case for Easter

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  • Author: Lee Strobel
  • Publisher: Harper Collins
  • ISBN: 0310254752
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 100

Of the many world religions, only one claims that its founder returned from the grave. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very cornerstone of Christianity. But a dead man coming back to life? In our sophisticated age, when myth has given way to science, who can take such a claim seriously? Some argue that Jesus never died on the cross. Conflicting accounts make the empty tomb seem suspect.sHow credible is the evidence for the resurrection? Focusing his award-winning skills as a legal journalist on history's most compelling enigma, Lee Strobel retraces the startling findings that led him from atheism to belief. Drawing on expert testimony first shared in his blockbuster book The Case for Christ, Strobel examines: The Medical Evidence -- Was Jesus' death a sham and his resurrection a hoax? The Evidence of the Missing Body -- Was Jesus' body really absent from his tomb? The Evidence of Appearances -- Was Jesus seen alive after his death on the cross? Written in a hard-hitting journalistic style, The Case for Easter probes the core issues of the resurrection. Jesus Christ, risen from the dead: superstitious myth or life-changing reality? The evidence is in. The verdict is up to you. Book jacket.


He Came Down from Heaven

He Came Down from Heaven

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  • Author: Douglas McCready
  • Publisher: InterVarsity Press
  • ISBN: 0830827749
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 350

Douglas McCready reviews the evidence and arguments for and against the Christian claim of Jesus' prexistence and divine identity.