Without presupposing prior knowledge this accessibly written introduction to Christianity covers the entire history of the religion from its Old Testament foundations up to the present, including the significant individuals, events, doctrines, and rituals of the faith. Sinclair surveys the major historical forms of Christianity (Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism) and the contemporary issues that divide Christians today (e.g., homosexuality). The book also tackles such difficult...

New York Times bestselling author and Bible expert Bart Ehrman reveals how Jesus’s divinity became dogma in the first few centuries of the early Church.The claim at the heart of the Christian faith is that Jesus of Nazareth was, and is, God. But this is not what the original disciples believed during Jesus’s lifetime—and it is not what Jesus claimed about himself. How Jesus Became God tells the story of an idea that shaped Christianity, and of the evolution of a belief tha...

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...

Bestselling author, Scott Hahn illuminates a fresh and enlightening perspective on Mary, Mother of God, and her central importance in the Christian faith***.***In The Lamb's Supper, Hahn explored the relationship between the Book of Revelation and the Roman Catholic Mass, deftly clarifying the most subtle of theological points with analogies and anecdotes from everyday life. In Hail, Holy Queen, he employs the same accessible, entertaining style t...

“Borg and Crossan reveal a figure who, besides being neither anti-Semitic, anti-sex, nor misogynist, stresses social and political equality among Christians and between them and others. A refreshing and heartening exculpation of a still routinely maligned figure of the first importance to culture and civilization.” — Booklist (starred review)John Dominic Crossan and Marcus J. Borg—two of the world’s top-selling Christian scholars and the bestselling authors of The Last Week and The...

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 su...

An insightful and practical exploration of Catholicism’s most sacred tradition.The Mass: The Glory, the Mystery, the Tradition is an engaging and authoritative guide to Catholicism’s most distinctive practice. And now, with the Church introducing revised language for the Mass, Catholics have a perfect opportunity to renew their understanding of this beautiful and beloved celebration.With eloquent prose and elegant black-and-white photography, bests...

In his staggeringly popular work of fiction, Dan Brown states up front that the historical information in the The Da Vinci Code is all factually accurate. But is this claim true? As historian Bart D. Ehrman shows in this informative and witty book, The Da Vinci Code is filled with numerous historical mistakes. Did the ancient church engage in a cover-up to make the man Jesus into a divine figure? Did Emperor Constantine select for the New Testament--from some 80 contending Gospels--the onl...

Operating instructions for being a Catholic.The Catechism is an amazing collection of Church teachings and rules that cover everything from the basics, like honoring God, to more unusual subjects, such as paying just wages and respecting animals. Perfect for students, lay teachers, Catholics, and readers of other faiths, this guide is the key to understanding the daily life of Catholics and gives readers an appreciation for what Catholics believe.I...

In The Catholic Way, Bishop Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington D.C., has offered up an accessible, easy-to-use blueprint to the Catholic Church's most recent catechism, a detailed summary of Catholic thought compiled by a commission of church cardinals and bishops in 1992.

From the bestselling author of The Lamb's Supper and Signs of Life comes an illuminating work that unlocks the many mysteries of the Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist.Long before the New Testament was a document, it was a sacrament. Jesus called the Eucharist by the name Christians subsequently gave to the latter books of the Holy Bible. It was the "New Covenant," the "New Testament," in his blood. Christians later extended the phrase to cover the books produced ...

In an eloquent defense of Calvinist theology, author and professor Michael Horton invites us to explore the teachings of Calvinism—also commonly known as Reformed theology—by showing how it is biblical and Christ-centered, leading us to live our lives for the glory of God.The system of theology known as Calvinism has been immensely influential for the past five hundred years, but it's often encountered negatively as a fatalistic belief system that confines human fr...