By bringing together all of the available evidence on the life of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, this book offers a compelling biography of His time on Earth. Looking at sources such as the gospels, inscriptions, early Church writings, the apocryphal gospels and more, readers will be able to vividly visualise Jesus’ life and his First-Century Jewish cultural context. If you've ever wondered about the impact of Jesus' social class on his ministry; the influence on His disciples of contemporary resistance movements; or the prominent role of women in the disciple community, then allow this book to challenge and deepen your understanding of the Jesus described in the Bible.
From the bestselling author and acclaimed historian, a powerful portrayal of the life of Jesus Is Jesus relevant to us today? Few figures have had such an influence on history as Jesus of Nazareth. His teachings have inspired discussion, arguments, even war, and yet few have ever held forth as movingly on the need for peace, forgiveness, and mercy. Paul Johnson's brilliant reading offers readers a lively biography of the man who inspired one of the world's great religions and whose lessons still guide us in current times. Johnson's magisterial and revered book A History of Christianity is a masterpiece of historical writing on religion; and in his new book he returns to focus on a central figure in one of the world's dominant religions. Johnson's intelligent and conversational style, as well as his ability to distill complex subjects into succinct, highly readable works, make this book the ideal match of a major historian with a major subject. The result is an accessible biography and an insightful analysis of how Jesus is important in the present era.
The Bible is moving, inspirational and endlessly fascinating - but is it true? Starting with Genesis and the implicit background to the birth of Christ, Robin Lane Fox sets out to discover how far biblical descriptions of people, places and events are confirmed or contradicted by external written and archaeological evidence. He turns a sharp historian's eye on when and where the individual books were composed, whether the texts as originally written exist, how the canon was assembled, and why the Gospels give varying accounts even of the trial and condemnation of Jesus.
By 1987 Swaggart was one of the most popular video preachers in the world, with a weekly television audience of 2.1 million in the US and a worldwide audience of millions more in 143 countries. But then, in a cheerless motel west of New Orleans, Jimmy's life and ministry took a calamitous turn. This the tale of the rise of two intimately linked colossi of the American century: Pentecostalism, the fastest growing religious movement in the world, and its "evil twin", Rock 'n' Roll. A major theme of the book is how the religious ecstasy of Pentecostalism - the rousing music, the speaking in tongues, the reception of the Spirit - combined with its severe sexual repression leads to the kind of furtive acting out that brought down not only Jimmy Swaggart but also other evangelists. It is the story, too, of the rapid rise of the Religious Right, with its competing personalities and ideologies. In the end, the author sees Jimmy as a victim - like many others - of a primitive faith colliding with the forces of the late 20th century fame.
A fresh look at the earliest Christian movement reveals what made the new faith so compelling...and what we need to change today to make it so again. Once upon a time there was a version of the Christian faith that was practically irresistible. After all, what could be more so than the gospel that Jesus ushered in? Why, then, isn't it the same with Christianity today? Author and pastor Andy Stanley is deeply concerned with the present-day church and its future. He believes that many of the solutions to our issues can be found by investigating our roots. In Irresistible, Andy chronicles what made the early Jesus Movement so compelling, resilient, and irresistible by answering these questions: What did first-century Christians know that we don't—about God's Word, about their lives, about love? What did they do that we're not doing? What makes Christianity so resistible in today's culture? What needs to change in order to repeat the growth our faith had at its beginning? Many people who leave or disparage the faith cite reasons that have less to do with Jesus than with the conduct of his followers. It's time to hit pause and consider the faith modeled by our first-century brothers and sisters who had no official Bible, no status, and little chance of survival. It's time to embrace the version of faith that initiated—against all human odds—a chain of events resulting in the most significant and extensive cultural transformation the world has ever seen. This is a version of Christianity we must remember and re-embrace if we want to be salt and light in an increasingly savorless and dark world.
As a follow-up to their first true feature film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the comic troupe next decided to tackle a “shadow” version of the Christ story. Shot in the Middle East and produced during Margaret Thatcher’s ascendant years, the film satirized—among other matters—authoritarianism and religious zealotry. Upon its release, Monty Python’s Life of Brian was both a critical and commercial success, and has been since hailed as one of the greatest comedies of all time. But the film also faced backlash from religious groups for its blasphemy, perceived or otherwise. In A Book about the Film Monty Python's Life of Brian: All of the References from Assyrians to Zeffirelli, Darl Larsen identifies and examines the plethora of cultural, historical, and topical allusions in the film. In this resource, Larsen delineates virtually every allusion and reference that appears in the film—from first-century Jerusalem through 1970s Great Britain. Organized chronologically by scene, the entries in this cultural history cover literary and metaphoric allusions, symbolisms, names, peoples, and places, as well as the many social, cultural, and historical elements that populate this film. By closely examining each scene, this book explores the Pythons’ comparisons of the Roman and British Empires and of Pilate and Margaret Thatcher. In addition, Larsen helps to situate Life of Brian in the “Jesus” re-examination of the postwar period, while also taking a close look at the terror groups of first-century Judea and the modern world. A Book about the Film Monty Python's Life of Brian will appeal to scholars of history, film, British culture, and pop culture, as well as to the many fans of this iconic group.
Elon Musk is already one of the most extraordinary, innovative and controversial entrepreneurs of the 21st century. Humankind has reached a point that it faces some unique challenges as a direct consequence of its technological evolution, some arguably existential. Billionaire Elon Musk is an engineer, inventor and businessman on a quest to save humanity from global warming and possible extinction. Musk believes in the technological future and is determent to restore that promise to mankind, and not letting others dissuade him with the perceived impossibility of ventures like: - Igniting the EV revolution and transition the world to sustainable energy. - Making life multi-planetary by establishing a human colony on Mars. - Revolutionizing long distance travel with multi-level tunnels. - Develop a brain-computer interface to fight the rise of A.I. Elon Musk: The Unauthorized Autobiography not only chronicles his life and the history and philosophy behind Tesla, SpaceX, PayPal, The Boring Company, Neuralink, etc, but also explores today's most pressing issues and offers a radical vision for the future of mankind.
