How did the early Messianic believers understand the book of Revelation? How did they understand its often strange and bewildering symbols? The answer is surprisingly simple: they used the Bible to interpret the Bible. Modern scholars have long noted the similarities between the images of Revelation and those found elsewhere in the Bible. But rarely has this been used as a method to interpret Revelation's meaning. Most modern interpretations are based instead on cultures and concepts forei...

In the last few decades, an incredible amount of information has come out of Israel to help us understand more about the real Jesus. Fantastic discoveries in Israel and the Middle East are bringing the world of the Bible to life again. Ancient documents like the Dead Sea Scrolls have been found. Ancient buildings and the objects of daily life have been dug up. And Christian scholars have begun to better understand the ancient Jewish writings that provide insight into the life world of Jesu...

Christianity is Jewish? The rediscovery of the Jewish roots of Christianity raises lots of questions: Why were these roots forgotten for so long? And how do they affect us today? Do Gentile Christians need to obey the Jewish Law? What about Messianic Jews? Does God have a plan for Gentile Christians? And what about modern Israel? To answer these questions, we need to dive back into history to find out what happened: how Christianity was separated from so many of its Jewish roots, why Chris...

The Winter 2024-25 Issue. Ploughshares is an award-winning journal of new writing. Since 1971, Ploughshares has discovered and cultivated the freshest voices in contemporary American literature, and now provides readers with thoughtful and entertaining literature in a variety of formats. Find out why the New York Times named Ploughshares “the Triton among minnows.”The Winter 2024-25 Issue, edited by John Skoyles, features poetry and prose by Joan Silber, Timothy Liu, Pádraig Ó Tuam...

How does consciousness inhabit liminal spaces? In Jeffrey Harrison’s Between Lakes, the death of the speaker’s father places him in the ever-shifting zone between the living and the dead while also sending him back into his journey to manhood. Old arguments are reimagined: What does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be a participant in one’s life as well as a witness and recorder of the lives of others? The exploration of these questions leads to new discoveries, including...