The cross and empty tomb form the center of the Christian faith. The church celebrates these two events in what is traditionally referred to as the Lord's Supper. It is the custom in some Christian traditions to have a brief meditation related to the Lord's Supper immediately prior to participation. These may be given by the pastor or by a layperson who presides over the ceremony. This book is a series of meditations delivered prior to the celebration of the Lord's Supper. It is our hope t...

The late second and early third century was a turbulent time in the Roman Empire and in the relationship between the empire and the church. Origen was the son of a Christian martyr and was himself imprisoned and tortured in his late life in a persecution that targeted leaders of the church. Deeply pious and a gifted scholar, Origen stands as one of the most influential Christian teachers in church history, and also one of the most controversial. This introduction to Origen begins by lookin...

This clear and concise text helps readers grasp the doctrines of the Christian faith considered basic from the earliest days of Christianity. Ronald Heine, an internationally known expert on early Christian theology, developed this book from a course he teaches that has been refined through many years of classroom experience. Heine primarily uses the classical Christian doctrines of the Nicene Creed to guide students into the essentials of the faith.This broadly ecumenical work wil...

This book is about the life and thought of Origen (c.185-254 A.D.) the most important Greek-speaking Christian theologian and Biblical scholar in antiquity. His writings included works on the text of the Bible commentaries and sermons on most of the books of the Bible a major defense of the Christian faith against a philosophical skeptic and the first attempt at writing systematic theology ever made. Ronald E. Heine presents Origen's work in the context of the two urbancenters where he liv...

This interrogation of Origen's legacy for the 21st Century returns to old questions built upon each other over eighteen centuries of Origen scholarship-problems of translation and transmission, positioning Origen in the histories of philosophy, theology, and orthodoxy, and defining his philological and exegetical programmes. The essays probe the more reliable sources for Origen's thought by those who received his legacy and built on it. They focus on understanding how Origen's legacy was a...

The contemporary church dismisses Christianity's foundational Scriptures at its own peril. However, the teachings of the Old Testament are less and less at the center of congregational preaching and conversation. The early church fathers--visionaries such as Augustine, Origen, and Tertullian--embraced the Hebrew Scriptures, allowing the Old Testament to play a central role in the formation of their beliefs. As today's Christians struggle to relate to concepts such as the Jewish law and the...

This book is about the life and thought of Origen (c.185-254 A.D.), the most important Greek-speaking Christian theologian and Biblical scholar in antiquity. His writings included works on the text of the Bible, commentaries and sermons on most of the books of the Bible, a major defense of the Christian faith against a philosophical skeptic, and the first attempt at writing systematic theology ever made. Ronald E. Heine presents Origen's work in the context of the two urban centers where h...

L. Michael White, one of the world's foremost scholars on the origins of Christianity, provides the complete, astonishing story of how Christianity grew from the personal vision of a humble Jewish peasant living in a remote province of the Roman Empire into the largest organized religion in the world.Rather than reading the New Testament straight through in its traditional, or "canonical" order, From Jesus to Christianity takes a historical approach. Looking at the individ...

In this engaging introduction to the New Testament, Professor Dale B. Martin presents a historical study of the origins of Christianity by analyzing the literature of the earliest Christian movements. Focusing mainly on the New Testament, he also considers nonbiblical Christian writings of the era.Martin begins by making a powerful case for the study of the New Testament. He next sets the Greco-Roman world in historical context and explains the place of Judaism within it. In the dis...

The early Christian Church was a chaos of contending beliefs. Some groups of Christians claimed that there was not one God but two or twelve or thirty. Some believed that the world had not been created by God but by a lesser, ignorant deity. Certain sects maintained that Jesus was human but not divine, while others said he was divine but not human. In Lost Christianities, Bart D. Ehrman offers a fascinating look at these early forms of Christianity and shows how they came to be suppressed,...

This book unravels mysteries, corrects misunderstandings, and offers thoughtful, straightforward responses to common objections about the Catholic faith.Bestselling author Scott Hahn, a convert to Catholicism, has experienced the doubts that so often drive discussions about God and the Church. In the years before his conversion, he was first a nonbeliever and then an anti-Catholic clergyman.In REASONS TO BELIEVE, he explains the "how and why" of the Catholic faith—drawing f...

“This book will prove to be a most effective weapon against the debunking and skeptical attitudes toward the Gospels that are so prevalent, not only in academe, but also on the street.”—Robert Barron, author of CatholicismFor well over a hundred years now, many scholars have questioned the historical truth of the Gospels, claiming that they were originally anonymous. Others have even argued that Jesus of Nazareth did not think he was God and never claimed ...