Cave of John the Baptist

Cave of John the Baptist

Author: Shimon Gibson

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 009942648X

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Here is the first archaeological evidence of the truth of the gospel stories to emerge in modern times. Unique about this site, is that it contains archaeological evidence that comes to us from the very time of the personalities and events described in the Gospels. For here is the largest ritual bathing pool ever found in the Jerusalem area, found indeed in the village where John the Baptist was born, showing unmistakable signs of ritual use in the first century AD and containing the earliest ever Christian art, depicting John the Baptist as well as the three crosses of the crucifixion. By using the forensic techniques available to the modern archaeologist Gibson - a working field archaeologist of the highest credentials - and his international team of experts will be able to draw information from the drawings, pottery, coins, bones, remains of a ritual fire, pieces of cloth etc found in the cave and, by matching these up with the contemporary literary sources, allow them to shed light on each other.This is a unique opportunity to build up a picture of the very first Christians, how they lived and even what they believed.As Gibson writes- 'By fitting together all the new archaeological facts with the basic historical information that has been available (sometimes even buried) in scholarly literature for a long time -I believe I am able to throw an amazing amount of light on the personality and mission of John the Baptist -the man, the prophet.Who was he? Where did he come from? What were his beliefs and what was the baptism all about?...


John the Baptist in History and Theology

John the Baptist in History and Theology

Author: Joel Marcus

Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press

Published: 2018-11-16

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1611179017

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An analysis that challenges the conventional Christian hierarchy of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth While the Christian tradition has subordinated John the Baptist to Jesus of Nazareth, John himself would likely have disagreed with that ranking. In this eye-opening new book, John the Baptist in History and Theology, Joel Marcus makes a powerful case that John saw himself, not Jesus, as the proclaimer and initiator of the kingdom of God and his own ministry as the center of God's saving action in history. Although the Fourth Gospel has the Baptist saying, "He must increase, but I must decrease," Marcus contends that this and other biblical and extrabiblical evidence reveal a continuing competition between the two men that early Christians sought to muffle. Like Jesus, John was an apocalyptic prophet who looked forward to the imminent end of the world and the establishment of God's rule on earth. Originally a member of the Dead Sea Sect, an apocalyptic community within Judaism, John broke with the group over his growing conviction that he himself was Elijah, the end-time prophet who would inaugurate God's kingdom on earth. Through his ministry of baptism, he ushered all who came to him—Jews and non-Jews alike—into this dawning new age. Jesus began his career as a follower of the Baptist, but, like other successor figures in religious history, he parted ways from his predecessor as he became convinced of his own centrality in God's purposes. Meanwhile John's mass following and apocalyptic message became political threats to Herod Antipas, who had John executed to abort any revolutionary movement. Based on close critical-historical readings of early texts—including the accounts of John in the Gospels and in Josephus's Antiquities—as well as parallels from later religious movements, John the Baptist in History and Theology situates the Baptist within Second Temple Judaism and compares him to other apocalyptic thinkers from ancient and modern times. It concludes with thoughtful reflections on how its revisionist interpretations might be incorporated into the Christian faith.


The Cave of John the Baptist

The Cave of John the Baptist

Author: Shimon Gibson

Publisher: Image

Published: 2004-08-17

Total Pages: 391

ISBN-13: 0385512554

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The first archaeological evidence of the historical reality of the Gospel story. From a historical point of view, the uniqueness of this cave is that it contains archaeological evidence that comes to us from the very time of the personalities and events described in the Gospels. For here is the largest ritual bathing pool ever found in the Jerusalem area, and found in the village where John the Baptist was born, showing unmistakable signs of ritual use in the first century AD. Also in the cave is the earliest ever Christian art, depicting John the Baptist as well as the three crosses of the crucifixion. By using the forensic techniques available to the modern archaeologist, Gibson and his international team have been able to draw information from the drawings, pottery, coins, bones, remains of ritual fire and pieces of cloth found in the cave and match these up with the contemporary literary sources. This is a unique opportunity to build up a picture of the very first Christians, how they lived and even what they believed. As Gibson writes: “By fitting together the new archaeological facts with the historical information available (and sometimes buried) in scholarly literature, I believe I am able to throw an amazing amount of light on the personality and mission of John the Baptist. Who was he? Where did he come from? What were his beliefs and what was the baptism all about?”


Revelation

Revelation

Author:

Publisher: Canongate Books

Published: 1999-01-01

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13: 0857861018

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The final book of the Bible, Revelation prophesies the ultimate judgement of mankind in a series of allegorical visions, grisly images and numerological predictions. According to these, empires will fall, the "Beast" will be destroyed and Christ will rule a new Jerusalem. With an introduction by Will Self.


From Wild Man to Wise Man

From Wild Man to Wise Man

Author: Richard Rohr

Publisher: Franciscan Media

Published: 2024-02-05

Total Pages: 171

ISBN-13: 1632534118

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“Richard Rohr’s work has been life-changing in my own experience. Over the last twenty years, no other teacher has had a more formative impact on my mind and heart than this unpretentious Franciscan brother. Being set free from the need to perform—to get it right—has been a particularly important gift for me.”—Belden C. Lane, from the foreword A newly revised edition of Richard Rohr's perennial bestseller, this book reflects and incorporates his years of experience with men's work as well as changes in society. With Richard Rohr as mentor and guide, men—and women who care about men—will want to study and discuss the ideas presented here. A new foreword from Belden C. Lane emphasizes the need for this work to continue.


The Library of Qumran

The Library of Qumran

Author: Hartmut Stegemann

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9789004112100

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Northwest of the Dead Sea, twelve kilometers to the south of Jericho and thirty-two kilometers north of the En-gedi Oasis, lie the ruins of a community long known to the Bedouins as 'Khirbet Qumran'. The nearly 900 original manuscript fragments found in caves near the site between 1947 and 1956 have fundamentally altered our view of ancient Judaism. The incredible discoveries at Qumran are unveiled in this compelling volume by one of the world's foremost experts on biblical archaeology and the ancient Qumran community. Drawing on the best of current research and a thorough knowledge of all the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hartmut Stegemann deciphers the meaning of the historical facts regarding the Qumran community and answers in an understandable and exciting way many of the questions that have provoked sensational speculation in the press since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Stegemann analyzes the purpose of the Qumran settlement itself and paints a picture of how daily life was carried on there. He probes similarities and differences between Essene baptism, commemorative meals, and eschatology and their early Christian counterparts. He also explores the relation of the Qumran community to John the Baptist, to Jesus, and to early Christianity, and uncovers the true nature of the Qumran writings, which continue to have a profound impact on biblical studies today.


Apocalypse of Moses

Apocalypse of Moses

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute

Published: 2019-10-10

Total Pages: 62

ISBN-13: 1989604153

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The Apocalypse of Moses is the Greek version of the Life of Adam and Eve. The original version is believed to have been written in a Semitic language, as there as terms transliterated into Greek from a Semitic language, however, it is not known positively which language, as the original text is lost, and so far, no fragments have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls that can be firmly linked to it. The closest text discovered to date among the Dead Sea Scrolls would be the Genesis Apocryphon scroll, written in Aramaic and generally dated to between 37 BC to 50 AD. The original language of the Apocalypse of Moses was likely also Aramaic, as demonstrated by the use of the name Iah (Jah), which is found more commonly in Aramaic language books, like Tobit. A number of references circumstantially date the original work to the era when the Greeks ruled Judea, between 330 and 140 BC. The reference to Iah is itself evidence of a pre-Hasmonean origin, as the Hasmoneans’ authorized’ version of the Hebrew texts appear to have redacted Iah (יה) to Yahweh (יהוה) when they converted the Jews from the Canaanite (Samaritan/Paleo-Hebrew) script to the Assyrian (Hebrew) script. The name Iah (Jah) does show up in many ancient names, such as Josiah, and phrases such as Hallelujah, implying it was once widely accepted as the name of (a) God, however, virtually disappeared from the Hebrew scriptures at some point, likely during the Hasmonean redaction and standardization circa 140 BC. The reference to Lord Sabaoth (κυρίῳ σαβαωθ) is another indicator of a pre-Hasmonean origin for the text. Lord Sabaoth was the Major-General of the Lord God’s army that helped Joshua destroy the walls of Jericho in the Septuagint’s Book of Joshua. There are many references to Lord Sabaoth, the ‘Lord of War’ in the Greek era, however, during the early Hasmonean era, he became an epitaph of Iaw (Yahweh) the national God of Hasmonean Judea: Iaw Sabaoth (יהוה צבאות). The Hasmoneans redacted Lord Sabaoth from the Book of Joshua, replacing him with Yahweh (יהוה), meaning that Yahweh was the Major-General of his own army in the Masoretic version of Joshua. According to later-Hasmonean records, Yahweh Sabaoth became the Jewish version of Dionysus or Bacchus, a god of war, wine, and lust, before he was abandoned during the formation of the Pharisee sect, who rejected the pronunciation of any of the names of God.


The Hebrew Gospel of Matthew

The Hebrew Gospel of Matthew

Author: George Howard

Publisher: Mercer University Press

Published: 2005-07

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780865549890

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For centuries the Jewish community in Europe possessed a copy of Matthew in the Hebrew language. The Jews' use of this document during the Middle Ages is imperfectly known. Occasionally excerpts from it appeared in polemical writings against Christianity.


Paul and Jesus

Paul and Jesus

Author: James D. Tabor

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-11-13

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1439134987

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In this “compulsively readable exploration of the tangled world of Christian origins” (Publishers Weekly), religious historian James Tabor illuminates the earliest years of Jesus’ teachings before Paul shaped them into the religion we know today. This fascinating examination of the earliest years of Christianity reveals how the man we call St. Paul shaped Christianity as we know it today. Historians know almost nothing about the two decades following the crucifixion of Jesus, when his followers regrouped and began to spread his message. During this time Paul joined the movement and began to preach to the gentiles. Using the oldest Christian documents that we have—the letters of Paul—as well as other early Chris­tian sources, historian and scholar James Tabor reconstructs the origins of Christianity. Tabor shows how Paul separated himself from Peter and James to introduce his own version of Christianity, which would continue to develop independently of the message that Jesus, James, and Peter preached. Paul and Jesus illuminates the fascinating period of history when Christianity was born out of Judaism.


The Family of Jesus (eBook)

The Family of Jesus (eBook)

Author: Karen Kingsbury

Publisher: Struik Christian Media

Published: 2014-10-01

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 1415331510

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America’s favorite inspirational novelist offers a fictional view of six of the family members of Jesus, all anchored by Scriptural truth, creating a life-changing and unprecedented emotional connection to the Bible.Through The Family of Jesus, readers will develop an emotional connection to the family members of Jesus, learning about their lives and falling in love with Scripture along the way. Bible studies and devotionals abound, and in churches everywhere people gather to seek a deeper understanding of God’s Word and its application to their lives. But too often these studies engage only the analytic approach to Bible learning. In The Family of Jesus Karen Kingsbury will make you laugh, cry, and ultimately care more deeply about the Bible by helping you grasp the truths in Scripture not just with your mind, but with your heart. The characters in these short stories were among those closest to Jesus – Mary, Joseph, Jesus’ brother James, John the Baptist, Zechariah and Elizabeth. Each has a compelling tale to tell. Kingsbury intersperses fictional, emotionally gripping details anchored in Scripture with historical and theological insights and questions that will guide soul-searching and reflection. The Family of Jesus not only provides a deeper understanding of the relatives of our Saviour, but also helps readers acquire tools that will draw them closer to Christ, to the Scriptures, and to each other.