Showing titles in Biblical History & Culture

How does everyone else see me? How do I see myself? How does God see me? These women in the Bible asked the same three questions we still ask today. In this 12-session audio study, you'll see how the stories of Rahab, Hagar, and Naomi reflect our own lives and what we can learn about...

One of the most controversial statements in the New Testament concerns the virgin conception and subsequent birth of Jesus, a conception in which man had no part. It's recorded that a virgin conceived a son without the aid of man, then secretly and without effort gave birth to her conception. This is the foundation upon which all Christendom rests. The Christian world is asked to believe this story, for man must believe the unbelievable to fully express the greatness that he is.

An examination of one of the most controversial aspects of the Hebrew Scripture: What the Old Testament really says about sex, and how contemporary understanding of those writings is frequently misunderstood or misrepresented. In the engaging and witty voice generations of students have...

In the middle of the third century CE, one North African bishop wrote a treatise for the women of his church, exhorting them to resist such culturally normalized yet immodest behaviors in their cosmopolitan Roman city as mixed public bathing in the nude, and wearing excessive amounts of jewelry...

The Second Book of Baruch (Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch) is a Jewish apocalypse likely composed in the late 1st or early 2nd century CE. It is a profound prophetic meditation built around the loss of the Temple, divine justice, and future hope. Written in Syrian Aramaic but drawing from Hebrew linguistic traditions, it is attributed to Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe from the Bible (see Jeremiah 36), to lend authority to its message. This new culturally nuanced translation presents Second Baruch as an Eastern text, but written in modern, easy-to-understand English to ensure it can be appreciated...

In Behind the Bible’s Greatest Stories, Dr. Paul Wright takes you behind the scenes, uncovering the ancient cultures and historical geography that frame the most memorable stories in the Bible. Posing rarely asked questions about these popular Old Testament stories, you’ll move beyond the typical Sunday school answers and into the fascinating world of the Bible.

In this concise, engaging book, noted New Testament scholar Luke Timothy Johnson takes listeners on a journey back to the time of the early Roman Empire, when the New Testament was written in ordinary Greek (koine) by the first Christians. The author explains how the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, and Revelation evolved into the canon of sacred writings for the Christian religion, and how they reflect a reinterpretation of the symbolic world and societal forces of first-century Greco-Roman and Jewish life.

How does the Jesus of the New Testament compare to the Jesus we think we know so well? Join bestselling author Philip Yancey as he conducts an enlightening biblical and historical investigation into the real Jesus. From the manger in Bethlehem to the cross in Jerusalem, Philip Yancey presents a...

Is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ really history—or is it treated differently because of what it implies? Every day, students, scholars, and readers accept the events of ancient history with little hesitation. Alexander the Great’s conquests, Julius Caesar’s campaigns, the rise of Rome, and the teachings of ancient philosophers are all considered settled facts—even though the evidence for them is often distant, fragmentary, and preserved only through copies made centuries later. Yet when the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is examined, the rules suddenly change. In If the ...

These audio lectures are a unique learning experience. Unlike a traditional audiobook's direct narration of a book's text, Jesus, Contradicted Audio Lectures includes high quality live-recordings of college-level lectures that cover the important points from each subject as well as relevant...

Is the Bible a collection of religious traditions—or a reliable historical record? The Bible as History challenges the modern assumption that Scripture becomes “historical” only when confirmed by archaeology or secular sources. From creation to the close of the apostolic age, Edward D. Andrews demonstrates that the Bible presents itself as a continuous, chronological account of real events involving real people, real nations, and real dates. This volume follows the biblical timeline as it unfolds in Scripture itself—beginning with the creation of Adam in 4026 B.C.E., passing through...

In this major new BBC radio series, Neil MacGregor investigates the role and expression of shared beliefs through time and around the world. One of the central facts of human existence is that every society shares a set of beliefs and assumptions - a faith, an ideology, a religion - that goes far beyond the life of the individual. These beliefs are an essential part of a shared identity. They have a unique power to define - and to divide - us, and are a driving force in the politics of much of the world today.

Lo que saben los rabinos, y que nunca aprendí en la iglesia es un examen revelador de lo que los cristianos pueden aprender sobre Dios de aquellos que lo llaman Adonai. El autor Chaim Bentorah ha pasado cuarenta años hablando con rabinos, aprendiendo de ellos y estudiando con ellos para que los cristianos puedan experimentar el evangelio a través de una nueva lente.

By exploring the stories of the Bible in their actual locations, and the stories of the complex human beings who lived them, you’ll gain fascinating and illuminating new dimensions of the texts. In this visually stunning course, you’ll also experience the Bible’s connection to both the real world and ancient history while you’ll engage with the past in a way that is both immediate and tangible.

The Old Testament of the Bible can feel like a junk drawer—a disorganized collection of important stuff we don't want to lose yet but don't know what to do with. From the Pentateuch to patriarchs and from kings to prophets, it can feel like a puzzle we've tried to put together but wind up...

The Gospel of Thomas – A Modern Translation of the Sayings Gospel from Early Christianity Discover the words attributed to Jesus that nearly disappeared from history. The Gospel of Thomas is one of the most intriguing early Christian texts ever discovered. Found in 1945 among the Nag Hammadi manuscripts in Egypt, this collection of 114 sayings presents a voice of Jesus that is at once familiar and strikingly different. Some sayings closely parallel the canonical Gospels. Others explore mystical themes of self-knowledge, inner transformation, and the kingdom within. Yet most editions ...

The recent rise in Christian nationalism and religious violence demands new approaches to scriptural interpretation that are rooted in nonviolence and moral seriousness. In The Accessorized Bible, David Dault explores the ethical implications of how we use scripture as an accessory, whether as an accessory to our fashion choices or as an accessory to our crimes and violence against one another.

Women comprise at least half the world, and usually more than half the church, but so often Christian teaching to women either fails to move beyond a discussion of roles or assumes a particular economic situation or stage of life. This all but shuts women out from contributing to God’s kingdom...

Conventional wisdom has it that the origins of the horror genre are found in the nineteenth century, in works like Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In this paradigm-shaking new book, Bible scholar and cultural historian Brandon Grafius argues that the Bible is, among other things, the world's first work of horror literature. The tropes and themes that we find in slasher movies, body horror, folk horror, and zombie apocalypses were kickstarted by the Bible. Before Godzilla, there were the monsters arising from the sea in the book of Daniel.

What are the feasts and festivals of the Messiah? They are not just “Jewish holidays” that are defunct for Christians because the Law of Moses is fulfilled and the Jerusalem temple destroyed. Rather, the ancient feast and festival days were given to all of Israel to keep forever. Ezekiel and Zechariah prophesy that both the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles will be kept during the Millennium. If that is true, what do we need to know and understand about them?