This lavishly illustrated book describes in detail the history and culture, religion and traditions, as well as the political situation of Bethlehem today and the everyday lives of Palestinians at the end of the twentieth century.

History of Christmas from Bethlehem to today Bible readings, questions, recipes and activities Beautiful colour illustrations

Jesus Christ is arguably the most famous man who ever lived. His image adorns countless churches, icons, and paintings. He is the subject of millions of statues, sculptures, devotional objects and works of art. Everyone can conjure an image of Jesus: usually as a handsome, white man with flowing locks and pristine linen robes. But what did Jesus really look like? Is our popular image of Jesus overly westernized and untrue to historical reality? This question continues to fascinate. Leading Christian Origins scholar Joan E. Taylor surveys the historical evidence, and the prevalent image of Jesus in art and culture, to suggest an entirely different vision of this most famous of men. He may even have had short hair.

Perspective Criticism sets out a new and illuminating biblical methodology designed to help the reader of biblical narratives in which there is a character engaged in action but no explicit indication from the storyteller on how the action is to be evaluated. Gary Yamasaki argues that in these cases we are receiving cryptic guidance from the author through the narrative technique of point-of-view. In such cases the methodology of Perspective Criticism may be applied to reveal this abstruse guidance. Gary Yamasaki provides a series of frames of analysis within the theory of Perspective Criticism which may be applied to biblical stories: the spatial, psychological, informational, temporal, phraseological, and ideological perspectives. Because the majority of the point-of-view devices found in biblical narratives are also used in cinematic storytelling, the book includes accessible analyses of film scenes, providing pop-culture illustrations of the workings of the point-of-view perspective. Gary Yamasaki concludes by applying his method to two case studies: the New Testament story of Gamaliel, and the Old Testament story of Gideon. In his work Yamasaki creates a valuable foundation for the deeper understanding of biblical narrative, a gift to anyone who has struggled with the concealed messages that should be divined in biblical point-of-view narratives.

The story of Jesus dominates the history of the first century AD in the Near East, but what was happening elsewhere at this time? This book puts the life of Jesus and the events associated with him within a world context, not in terms of Jesus' world influence, which did not exist at this time, but purely as a means of interesting comparison.

Two thousand years ago in Bethlehem, midwife Rachel and her husband Obadiah are awakened in the middle of the night by a knock on their door. Although she has been summoned many times before, this delivery would forever change her life. Using the midwifery skills passed down for hundreds of years from the midwife of Tamar, the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, and others before her, Rachel is challenged to deliver this child in an unusual location. Later she learns from a group of shepherds that this child she has delivered is rumored to be the promised savior. Finally when threatened by those looking for the baby she is forced to make a life-altering decision. The Bethlehem Midwife shares the tale of the birth of Jesus through the eyes of a seasoned midwife as she risks everything in an attempt to keep the baby Jesus safe.

Tracing the possible origins of the Magi's star, the author uses an ancient Roman coin as a starting point to investigate the possibility that the legendary star may in fact have been an eclipse of Jupiter and the star Aries.