The Trinity was defined at the Council of Nicaea and the relationship of the human and divine natures of Christ was defined at Chalcedon. Very few questioned the Church's depictions of the nature of God. Two such mavericks, Michael Servetus (1509-1553) and Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), in spite of their Christian educations, rejected the Church's creedal understanding of God and the Trinity. Although they lived in two different ages- the Reformation and Enlightenment, and there is no evidence that Swedenborg ever read or even knew of Servetus- the two men came to remarkably similar conclusions about the nature of God. Each scholar stated that the Trinity does not rest in three Persons, but rather takes form in the single person of Jesus Christ, the visible God. Servetus was a superb scholar in his day. He mastered the Church Fathers and possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible. Servetus tragically perished in the flames at Geneva because of his beliefs. Swedenborg, likewise, was a well-known and respected scholar, philosopher, and anatomist. He dedicated the last thirty years of his life to biblical research, producing a series of some thirty volumes (in English) of theological writings. His work influenced many of the great thinkers and artists of the nineteenth century and continues to be read and studied in many parts of the world today.

The book Your Women Did Prophesy documents evidence for biblical and historical precedent for women's participation in preaching and prophesying ministries. It cites specifi c activities of women as recorded in the New Testament, apocryphal writings, and a selection of early church fathers that refer to the fi rst two centuries. The focus of the book is on the activity of women rather than on opinions expressed about the role of women. This book uses the historical critical method of interpretation applied to ancient primary sources. The attempt has been to view these sources in light of their contexts with comment from secondary sources. It refl ects upon preaching issues and practices of today as they grow out of the research. The fi ndings are of a rich heritage of women preachers within the Christian tradition. To date, the church has neglected this aspect of its history. To the extent that the church includes women in the foundation of the teaching and preaching ministries, the stronger and more balanced the structure of the church will be. Clergy and laywomen particularly benefi t from an inclusive church in that their own rootedness in the faith is strengthened by knowledge of these foremothers. The whole church will benefi t from this knowledge as it will begin to see itself as growing in wholeness as refl ected in creation (Gen. 1:27). The information contained in this book is suitable for studies in the local church. It is also useful for preaching, as it enlarges the church's concept of women in the scripture.

Sabbath worship as a communal event does not feature in the Hebrew Bible. In the context of the first century CE, according to Philo and Josephus, the sabbath gatherings took place only for the purpose of studying the law, and not for the liturgical recital of psalms or prayer. Classical authors depict Jews spending the sabbath at home. Jewish inscriptions provide no evidence of sabbath-worship in prayer-houses (proseuchai), while the Mishnah prescribes no special communal sabbath activities. The usual picture of Jews going on the sabbath to the synagogue to worship thus appears to be without foundation. It is even doubtful that there were synagogue buildings, for "synagogue" normally meant "community." The conclusion of this study, that there is no evidence that the sabbath was a day of communal Jewish worship before 200 CE, has far-reaching consequences for our understanding of early Jewish-Christian relationships. This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here for details.