John Meier's previous volumes in the acclaimed series A Marginal Jew are founded upon the notion that while solid historical information about Jesus is quite limited, people of different faiths can nevertheless arrive at a consensus on fundamental historical facts of his life. In this eagerly anticipated fourth volume in the series, Meier approaches a fresh topic--the teachings of the historical Jesus concerning Mosaic Law and morality--with the same rigor, thoroughness, accuracy, and insightfulness on display in his earlier works.

After correcting misconceptions about Mosaic Law in Jesus' time, this volume addresses the teachings of Jesus on major legal topics like divorce, oaths, the Sabbath, purity rules, and the various love commandments in the Gospels. What emerges from Meier's research is a profile of a complicated first-century Palestinian Jew who, far from seeking to abolish the Law, was deeply engaged in debates about its observance. Only by embracing this portrait of the historical Jesus grappling with questions of the Torah do we avoid the common mistake of constructing Christian moral theology under the guise of studying "Jesus and the Law," the author concludes.

A single-volume treatment based on the eschatological center of Paul's message

Paul's life, letters, and theology are unified by the theme of the overlapping of two ages--this age and the age to come. With the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the age to come (i e, kingdom of God) broke into this present age but didn't end it. Where other important doctrines such as justification by faith, reconciliation, and the cross of Christ were key players in Paul's theology, Marvin Pate compellingly demonstrates that the overarching theme driving the Pauline corpus was indeed Paul's inaugurated eschatology. In fact, Paul's apocalyptic framework was only one of a number of other rival eschatologically focused religious perspectives of the day, such as the Imperial Cult, Hellenistic/syncretistic religion, and the merkabah Judaizers. Paul's vigorous debates with the churches he served centered on the exclusivity of the gospel of Christ that he preached: the nonnegotiable apocalypse of Jesus the Messiah. Apostle of the Last Days will be welcomed in the classroom as a one-volume treatment of Paul's life and letters as well as his theology.

Learn Something New This Christmas

We hate to admit it, but after years, sometimes even decades, of reading the same Luke 2 story of Christmas, we get a little bored--we lose some of the awe we ought to have when discussing the greatest miracle in history. That's why The Characters of Christmas was written, to help you take a fresh look at the Christmas story by getting to know the minor characters that played a part in Jesus' birth, such as Zechariah and Elizabeth, the Shepherds, and Herod.

As you slow down, engage your imagination, and enter into the stories of these women and men, you'll see the most important character--Jesus Christ--with new eyes. And with discussion questions and a Christmas song suggestion at the end of each chapter, it's perfect for engaging your whole family.

Break free from the familiar, and discover something you never knew about the story you've always heard.

A Doubter's Guide to Jesus is an introduction to the major portraits of Jesus found in the earliest historical sources. Portraits because our best information points not to a tidy, monolithic Jesus, but to a complex, multi-layered and, at times, contradictory figure. While some might be troubled by this, fearing that plurality equals incomprehensibility or unreliability, others take it as an invitation to do some rearranging for themselves, trying to make Jesus neater, more systematic and digestible.

After two millennia of spiritual devotion and more than two centuries of modern critical research, we still cannot fit Jesus into a box. He is destined to stretch our imaginations, confront our beliefs, and challenge our lifestyles for many years to come.

In A Doubter's Guide to Jesus readers will find themselves both disturbed and intrigued by the images of Jesus found in the first sources.

Two thousand years ago, under the cover of a dark night, a gray-haired Jewish Rabbi approached a much younger man to inquire about matter that were deeply troubling him. That conversation, between Nicodemus and Jesus of Nazareth, is the subject of this book. The author is concerned about millions of people who are in the same position today that Nicodemus found himself in-religious, but not redeemed by God. A careful and prayerful reading of this book can be used of God to open the eyes of many to see clearly that their religion is empty and vain, but salvation can and will be found in Jesus Christ alone.