Assembled from 20 years of writing by historian and archivist Stan Ingersol, Nazarene Roots is a collection of the heroic stories of people who have shaped the Church of the Nazarene. Every healthy plant has roots that feed, anchor, and give it shape. This book is about Christians whose faith and witness nourished the roots of the contemporary Church of the Nazarene.A CD and DVD are included.
Historians agree that Nazarenes or Al-Nassarah in Arabic, similar to Judaism, was a source for knowledge and religious thoughts for the Arabs of Hijaz. The Arab of Hijaz and specially Arab of Mecca had a tremendous knowledge in the Nazarene doctrines and sect and their opinion of Christs Birth, His message and His crucifixion. It was natural that such talks created a feedback in their knowledge, minds and dogma. The only religion known to the Quran is the religion of Moses (Moussa) and Jesus (Isa), as one religion that was carried by the Nazarenes. It is very important to remember that in history before Islam the term Nusrani and Nassarah, the Nazarenes never used to represent the Christians and Christianity wherever they lived throughout their history. The Nazarenes is the name confined to a sect of Beni Israel who believed in the coming of Christ, and deflected from the main streams of Christianity since the first Council of the Churches that took place in Jerusalem in 49 AD. Christians refer to them as the Shiites in relation to their Sunni Christianity, in faith and in dogma. With their presence in Mecca and Hijaz, the name Nazarene prevailed, as they had monopolized the Gospel. The best proof is the Raheb Gregarious Buheira of Basra Ash-sham who was labeled, in Al-Sira Al-Nabawiah, the caretaker of Isa on His religion, and to whom Waraka Bin Nofal belonged. Waraka Ben Nofal, the Bishop of Nazarenes in Mecca, was translating the Book and the Gospel of Mathews Hebrew in Aramaic to Arabic in the presence of Muhammad. Dr. Effarahs intention is to discuss in short that such important fact that deserves in depth study and research, especially the Quran never used the term Christianity and Christians. The only reference was to Jesus, as Isa Bin Mariam, and to the Nazarenes all the time. Therefore any translation from Arabic into English for the Holy Quran is misleading if Isa is considered a presentation for Jesus Christ, or any reference to the Nazarenes as Christians. The Holy Quran can be looked at as a continuous dialogue with the people of the Book from Jews and Nazarenes. The positions of testimony by the Nazarenes and their support to the Quranic call, and their affiliations to that mission, does not mean in the Quran, except the Nazarenes of Beni Israel due to the Qurans position, similar to their position, from the trinity and the divinity of Christ. The Arab Prophet direction is to follow the believers state of affairs Those are the ones to whom We have given the Book, along with Discretion and Prophet hood Such are the ones whom God has guided, so copy their guidance, as stated in Sura Al-Enaam, 6: verses 89-90. This book, What are the sacred roots of Islam, verifies how monotheism was spread in Arabia through the teaching of the Book and the Gospel through the Nazarenes Arab tribes who accepted the Prophet Mohammad as their leader and helped in setting the foundation for the Arab tribes in the Arabian Peninsula to unite and to spread out into an Islamic Empire. The current assumed Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) does not represent the true concept of the sacred roots of Islam that created the Islamic Empire in the past. Today, ISIL is nothing more than a group of terrorists hiding behind a form of Islam of their own brutal imagination. This book is written to those intellectuals who believe in the renewal, innovation and knowledge production that makes that make the contemporary Arab mentality open to global, psychological, social and human interactions and that Democracy is the solution and not Islam that ISIL is calling for by slaughtering humanity and its antiquities.
Take a look under 'Churches' in the yellow pages of any large-city telephone directory. What you'll get is an idea of the extreme diversity of religious groups in today's society . Add this proliferation to the widespread notion that 'all religions are simply different roads leading to the same place, ' and you may wonder how many religions justify their existence.In this well-documented examination of various religious beliefs, authors Wes Tracy and Stan Ingersol help Nazarenes gain a greater appreciation for their own faith heritage through a clearer understanding of where they fit on today's often frenzied religious landscape.
A mix of thematic essays, reference entries, and primary source documents covering the role of religion in American history and life from the colonial era to the present. Often controversial, religion has been an important force in shaping American culture. Religious convictions strongly influenced colonial and state governments as well as the United States as a new republic. Religious teachings, values, and practices deeply affected political structures and policies, economic ideology and practice, educational institutions and instruction, social norms and customs, marriage, and family life. By analyzing religion's interaction with American culture and prominent religious leaders and ideologies, this reference helps readers to better understand many fascinating, often controversial, religious leaders, ideas, events, and topics. The work is organized in three volumes devoted to particular periods. Volume one includes a chronology highlighting key events related to religion in American history and an introduction that overviews religion in America during the period covered by the volume, and roughly 10 essays that explore significant themes. These essays are followed by approximately 120 alphabetically arranged reference entries providing objective, fundamental information about topics related to religion in America. Each volume presents nearly 50 primary source documents, each introduced by a contextualizing headnote. A selected, general bibliography closes volume three.
Ethiopia accepted Christianity as her sovereign faith after being a Judaic nation for centuries before Christ. Her political seat being the Throne of David makes this event uniquely significant in that Judaism as a religion or as a nation had no existing empire. By this, we mean that after the destruction of Jerusalem in 588 BC and the dispersion of the Israelites, the Jews, as a nation, were unable to reconstruct an independent state anywhere in the world except for the empire established in Ethiopia. Therefore, Ethiopia represented the only nation to have made such a transition from Judaism to Christianity. When one makes a thorough study of the traditions of the biblical Jewish nation, one will understand that a Jewish nation could not be reestablished without the Throne and seed of King David. Therefore, Israel as a place remains to be the fragmented ruins of a past flourishing Jewish state. The Roman invasion and occupation of Jerusalem created an atmosphere of tension and political unrest that continued and subsequently led to the destruction of this once glorious city, which used to house the Ark of the Covenant. All this occurred before the birth of Christ, who was to be the major element in the events that were to lead to a New Way.
Messianic Judaism is a grass roots movement--a movement among Jewish and non-Jewish followers of Jesus of Nazareth who recognize and identify with their Jewishness. As a pulsating grass roots movement, Messianic Judaism exhibits the power and excitement of significant new discoveries. Topical chapters in Jewish Roots discuss the following: The Biblical Meaning of Israel Israel's Call and the New Testament Messianic Judaism--Difficult Passages History of Judaism and Christianity The Faith and Life of Messianic Jews Paul, Israel, and the Law Messianic Jewish Practice Jewish and Biblical Worship Dangers to Be Faced A Messianic Vision
Today the Church of the Nazarene faces issues that arise directly out of its past. For that reason, Past and Prospect argues that Nazarenes will be better equipped to face their future as a church armed by an understanding of their own history. Church historian Stan Ingersol examines issues that have characterized the Nazarene way of life during that denomination's first century, showing how the trajectory shaped by the church's founders has been altered through time by the shifting tides of Fundamentalism, mainstream Evangelicalism, global expansion, and the culture of affluence. He contends that current disagreements over polity, holiness, and worship are largely echoes and projections of tensions that have been present in the denomination since its very beginning. As the reader will discover, the common denominator running through these chapters is the prospect of rediscovering a relevant and useful past.
A landmark study on the original first century Jewish-Christian belief. Must reading for anyone who wants to prove what the true original apostolic faith was, for themselves.
