Bücher veröffentlicht von Polebridge Press

Rediscovered in 1873, the Didache provides a glimpse of early Christian ritual and liturgy. This text, which dates to the late first or early second century, is the very first manual for Christian life. Here Clayton Jefford presents parallel translations of the original-language manuscripts - from Greek, Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic, and Georgian.

This introductory text takes a secular approach to New Testament study. The book begins with a discussion of the differences between analytical and traditional church approaches. It maintains that students can learn to work with both and not feel that they must sacrifice one for the other.

States that the doctrines of Incarnation and Trinity, which began as attempts to reflect the indwelling of God in human beings, were soon distorted to proclaim the reality of a sacred realm in the heavens. This title concludes that the most credible scenario for Christianity's future depends on accepting the Gaia concept as a powerful modern myth.

The event of Jesus' resurrection is like the event of creation: There were no eye-witnesses. So how does one make sense of the story of the resurrection - or rather stories, for not one but many reports survive from early Christianity? This work suggests that we must begin by erasing all Christian art about the resurrection from our memory.

Explores the problem of history in ""Acts"" by asking, and answering, the fundamental questions: Who wrote ""Acts""? Where was ""Acts"" written? When was ""Acts"" written? Why was ""Acts"" written? How was ""Acts"" written?

In this compelling study of the birth and infancy of Jesus, Robert Miller separates fact from fiction in the gospel narratives and relates them to stories about the miraculous births of Israelite heroes and of Greek and Roman sons of God. "Born Divine analyzes the Christian claim that the birth and childhood of Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. The historical and theological dimensions of the virgin birth tradition are discussed with honesty and insight. This wide-ranging book also presents additional infancy gospels from the second century through the Middle Ages.

Can the authentic words and deed of Jesus identified by the Jesus Seminar furnish a sufficient basis for a credible profile of the Jesus of history? That is the challenge faced by the contributors to this volume. Their efforts have resulted in a unique collection of studied impressions of Jesus. Here readers will see not Jesus the icon of myth and creed, but a provocative young man of first-century Palestine whose vision and determination to live the vision gave birth to a new form of faith and changed the course of history.

For decades scholars have argued that Jesus' teaching fostered inclusive communities and the full participation of women. Now Kathleen Corley challenges the assumption that Jesus himself fought patriarchal limitations on women. Rather the analysis of his authentic teaching suggests that while Jesus critiques class and slave/free distinctions in his culture, his critique did not extend to unequal gender distinctions. The presence of women among his disciples, she says, is explained on the basis of the presence of women among many Greco-Roman religions and philosophical groups, including the Judaism of Jesus' own day.

What happens to faith when the creeds and confessions can no longer be squared with historical and empirical evidence? This book features thirteen scholars who take up the challenge to speak candidly about how they negotiate the conflicting claims of faith and reason.

What prompted the anonymous author of Luke to edit his sources-Mark and Q-and retell the story of Jesus? Using the Scholars Version translation that is true to the everyday Greek of the gospel writers, Pervo explores the who, when, where, why, and how of the Gospel of Luke. Includes the Greek text, introduction, notes, and cross-references.

Using fresh translations and paraphrases to wrest some measure of relevance and contemporaneity from twenty-four important biblical passages, Harry Cook addresses two important questions: How did ordinary people of first-century CE Palestine read or, better yet, hear these important passages, and how can twenty-first-century English speakers in the western world best appropriate them for instruction, inspiration and understanding?

According to Lloyd Geering, the world we inhabit is largely a product of our own making. We supply its meaning. Thus "God," a central symbol of meaning, is entirely a human creation. In Tomorrow's God, Geering traces the collective "drift toward meaning" that gave rise to the various religions and explores the reasons they are now in decline. He argues that, for our own survival, we must consciously create new meaning for our lives and shows how the Christian tradition may lead toward a new world of meaning.

"Getting Oriented leads readers on an adventurous trek to discover and unlock the treasures of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Paul Alan Laughlin sketches out an alternative, enlightened version of the Christian faith that draws upon the mystical dynamic of those great Eastern religions. Paying special attention to new ways of viewing God, humanity, Jesus, and the Bible, he offers a unique, compelling, and refreshing vision of Christianity for the Third Millennium.

Who was the apostle Paul? That question has provided grist for the scholarly mill for millennia. This fifth volume of the Jesus Seminar Guides opens with summaries of the traditional understanding of Paul that examine its inconsistencies and contradictions and reveal its bankruptcy. The authors then move beyond that traditional framework to more radical approaches.

Opens with a letter-like greeting to believers worldwide, followed by a brief summary of Jesus' earthly career. This work then launches into an extended dialogue between Jesus and his disciples. It employs the very form favored by the Gnostics to refute their claims regarding resurrection and judgment.

The books of the New Testament are not the infallible words of God and the texts were in a state of flux during the faith's early centuries. We can and should build on that flexible tradition. These are the claims by which this book is guided as the author challenges readers to take a more rational, more scholarly, and a more historical-critical approach to the New Testament.

Lloyd Geering has brought Ecclesiastes to life by ingeniously composing imaginative dialogues with the sage, which show that he was a free-thinker, a humanist, and an existentialist. The role of the sage, as Ecclesiastes saw it, was not to pass on gems of eternal wisdom, but to goad us into thinking things out for ourselves in our search for meaning in life.

"Revised and expanded from the German original."

A lively commentary, intended for a wide audience, raises as many questions about the text of Matthew as it answers. It uses the Scholars Version intended for more secular use than other versions and frequently discusses how the Greek, which is printed opposite the English, was translated, engaging the reader in the issues that arise when one turns an ancient language into vernacular American English.