"Conjuring Jesus" presents a disarmingly fresh picture of Jesus as a mystic, a mischievous reformer, and a poet of the sensuous. It portrays him in his tumults and his moments of transcendence, his musings and stories, and his diverse encounters with women and men. Continually surprising in its perspectives, while closely based on Biblical texts, "Conjuring Jesus" reveals a man who is playful and resolute: moved by a keen and encompassing acceptance, a persistent impulse toward sinuous reshaping, and a liberating awareness of his own sexuality.
"A twentieth-century classic, uncannily smart, incredibly learned."--from the foreword by Bart Ehrman This book challenges traditional Christian teaching about Jesus. While his followers may have seen him as a man from heaven, preaching the good news and working miracles, Smith asserts that the truth about Jesus is more interesting and rather unsettling. The real Jesus, only barely glimpsed because of a campaign of disinformation, obfuscation, and censorship by religious authorities, was not Jesus the Son of God. In actuality he was Jesus the Magician. Smith marshals all the available evidence including, but not limited to, the Gospels. He succeeds in describing just what was said of Jesus by "outsiders," those who did not believe him. He deals in fascinating detail with the inevitable questions. What was the nature of magic? What did people at that time mean by the term "magician"? Who were the other magicians, and how did their magic compare with Jesus' works? What facts led to the general assumption that Jesus practiced magic? And, most important, was that assumption correct? The ramifications of Jesus the Magician give new meaning to the word controversial. This book recovers a vision of Jesus that two thousand years of suppression and polemic could not erase. And--what may be the central point of the debate--Jesus the Magician strips away the myths and legends that have obscured Jesus, the man who lived.
This book reflects my pondering the basic tenets of Christianity, such as the Trinity and the value of Scripture, in forming a more viable Christian faith in the 21st Century. It asks big questions about God and Jesus Christ, about the tense relationship between Christianity and Judaism, about how we better bolster and maintain our faith as well as about miracles and the many people indifferent to God at all. This book is particularly for those who have left the Church and need guidance without its structure and habits with which we are all familiar. It is for those forging your own faith and needing more than Scripture alone. It is for those interested in the divine realm of spirituality beyond what Scripture generally describes. This book is purposely designed to take you somewhere else than you have likely considered before. It may well change your life.
Every Christian, from the pastor to the newest believer, is to study the Scriptures and learn to handle the Word of God correctly. Yet far too many congregations are being fed sweet but empty words that leave them spiritually malnourished and ill-prepared to stand firm in their faith. Alistair Begg calls for a fresh commitment to biblical preaching in this newly formatted re-release. Drawing on his thirty-five years of pastoral ministry and the lessons of great preachers, Begg defines Bible-based preaching and outlines its practical implications within a local church.
The first scholarly history of the iconic Anabaptist text. Approximately 2,500 Anabaptists were martyred in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Europe. Their surviving brethren compiled stories of those who suffered and died for the faith into martyr books. The most historically and culturally significant of these, The Bloody Theater—more commonly known as Martyrs Mirror—was assembled by the Dutch Mennonite minister Thieleman van Braght and published in 1660. Today, next to the Bible, it is the single most important text to Anabaptists—Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites. In some Anabaptist communities, it is passed to new generations as a wedding or graduation gift. David L. Weaver-Zercher combines the fascinating history of Martyrs Mirror with a detailed analysis of Anabaptist life, religion, and martyrdom. He traces the publication, use, and dissemination of this key martyrology across nearly four centuries and explains why it holds sacred status in contemporary Amish and Mennonite households. Even today, the words and deeds of these martyred Christians are referenced in sermons, Sunday school lessons, and history books. Weaver-Zercher argues that Martyrs Mirror was designed to teach believers how to live a proper Christian life. In van Braght’s view, accounts of the martyrs helped to remind readers of the things that mattered, thus inspiring them to greater faithfulness. Martyrs Mirror remains a tool of revival, offering new life to the communities and people who read it by revitalizing Anabaptist ideals and values. Meticulously researched and illustrated with sketches from early publications of Martyrs Mirror, Weaver-Zercher’s ambitious history weaves together the existing scholarship on this iconic text in an accessible and engaging way.
