Few treatments of the death of Jesus Christ have made a point of accounting for the gruesome, degrading, public manner of his death by crucifixion, a mode of execution so loathsome that the ancient Romans never spoke of it in polite society. Rutledge probes all the various themes and motifs used by the New Testament evangelists and apostolic writers to explain the meaning of the cross of Christ. She shows how each of the biblical themes contributes to the whole, with the Christus Victor motif and the concept of substitution sharing pride of place along with Irenaeus's recapitulation model.

NOW REVISED 30/11/2015. What and who is in this book? Nothing But, Facts, Proof, evidence, Peer Reviewed scientific papers & links to 100's of articles to the best researchers in the world. I have added research by General Ray Rogers, America's finest Scientist who was against the Shroud, until his new research converted him. A Jewish man who has now become the greatest expert on the Shroud of Turin: BARRIE SCHWORTZ of Shroud.com Raymond J. Schneider P.E., Ph.D. Associate Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Information Technology at Bridgewater College. RUSS BREAULT who has been researching and lecturing on the Shroud of Turin for over 25 years. His presentation makes use of over 150 superb images and unfolds like a CSI investigation. Mr. Breault delivers a dynamic, fast-paced experience. His highly acclaimed presentation is called THE MYSTERY OF THE SHROUD: A Multi-Media Encounter or simply...Shroud Encounter! Ancient languages translator and historian Mark Guscin, B.A. M.Phil., Expert on the ''SUDARIUM'' OF JESUS. (Face cloth). This book Includes research by Peter Schumacher on the VP-8 Image Analyzer. Joe Marino and Sue Benford, who made an amazing discovery by finding the corner from which the radiocarbon sample had been taken was in fact a re-woven, patched, or repaired corner. Plus info by Giorgio Bracaglia and César barta, www.holyshroudguild.org. The vital evidence, and detailed research by Dr. Nitowski, and by Kohlbeck from the Biblical Archeological Review Glass slides holding the tape Shroud samples given by Dr. Ray Rogers. Dr Richard Kent, well known TV presenter, researcher and author of www.freechristianteaching.org. Scientific Evidence of Jesus. A Quantum Hologram of Christ's Resurrection? By Chuck Missler Author, Dan Porter shroudstory.com. And the vast research by David Roberts Shroud researcher. Plus research by a group of 26 scientists who performed an in-depth examination, with the most advanced technology in human history. And of course our main and popular FREE film now made into a readable chapter. The Evidence and The True Face of The Shroud.

When world-class biblical scholar Bart Ehrman first began to study the texts of the Bible in their original languages he was startled to discover the multitude of mistakes and intentional alterations that had been made by earlier translators. In Misquoting Jesus, Ehrman tells the story behind the mistakes and changes that ancient scribes made to the New Testament and shows the great impact they had upon the Bible we use today. He frames his account with personal reflections on how his study of the Greek manuscripts made him abandon his once ultraconservative views of the Bible. Since the advent of the printing press and the accurate reproduction of texts, most people have assumed that when they read the New Testament they are reading an exact copy of Jesus's words or Saint Paul's writings. And yet, for almost fifteen hundred years these manuscripts were hand copied by scribes who were deeply influenced by the cultural, theological, and political disputes of their day. Both mistakes and intentional changes abound in the surviving manuscripts, making the original words difficult to reconstruct. For the first time, Ehrman reveals where and why these changes were made and how scholars go about reconstructing the original words of the New Testament as closely as possible. Ehrman makes the provocative case that many of our cherished biblical stories and widely held beliefs concerning the divinity of Jesus, the Trinity, and the divine origins of the Bible itself stem from both intentional and accidental alterations by scribes -- alterations that dramatically affected all subsequent versions of the Bible.

The publication of the King James version of the Bible, translated between 1603 and 1611, coincided with an extraordinary flowering of English literature and is universally acknowledged as the greatest influence on English-language literature in history. Now, world-class literary writers introduce the book of the King James Bible in a series of beautifully designed, small-format volumes. The introducers' passionate, provocative, and personal engagements with the spirituality and the language of the text make the Bible come alive as a stunning work of literature and remind us of its overwhelming contemporary relevance.

This ground-breaking work offers a unique apologetic argument for the validity of the Gospel accounts of Jesus' death and resurrection. Dr. Bergeron's medical expertise allows him to examine the medical aspects of Jesus' death and as well as the hallucination hypothesis which attempts to discount Jesus' resurrection. This book explores the following areas: ? Jesus' claim to be the son of God and the Messiah of Hebrew prophetic literature ? Evidence of the trustworthiness of the Gospel as reliable eyewitness testimony ? The social and political context leading up to Jesus' execution ? Roman crucifixion practices in public executions ? Physiological mechanisms that ultimately led to Jesus' death ? A medical analysis of hallucination hypotheses for the disciples' belief in Jesus' resurrection and the inability of hallucination to explain away the biblical accounts of Jesus' resurrection

The Roman practice of crucifixion was so abhorrent that even the Romans didn’t talk about it. Yet their government practiced crucifixion for centuries. What drew the crowds to the killing fields to watch people die such torturous deaths? What enabled those elite soldiers in the Roman killing squads to crucify their victims with the precision and skill of a hospital surgeon? These and many other questions are answered in this book. Of the thousands of people who fell victim to “the most pitiable of deaths,” one is much better known than all the others—Jesus of Nazareth. Most Christians know something of Jesus’ crucifixion because of the Gospel narratives, but to enhance our appreciation of the Savior’s death, we benefit by knowing more about Roman crucifixion. Roman Crucifixion and the Death of Jesus provides a deeper understanding of how, where, and why someone could be crucified and helps to inform us of Jesus’ crucifixion. Armed with a better grasp of Roman crucifixion, we can more fully appreciate Jesus’ pain, his purpose, and his prayers from Calvary’s cross.

Although the resurrection is the keystone dogma of Christian belief, and Sunday churchgoers rarely if ever think to question it, scholarly research shows with the utmost clarity that from a historical standpoint Jesus was not raised from the dead. In fact, it is almost universally recognized among scholars of New Testament textual criticism that the gospel narratives describing the resurrection appearances are not reliable eyewitness accounts, but expressions of faith written by the first Christian believers long after the death of Jesus.In this thorough exegesis of the primary texts dealing with the resurrection of Jesus, New Testament expert Gerd Lüdemann (University of Göttingen) presents compelling evidence that shows the resurrection was not a historical event and further argues that this development leaves little, if any, basis for Christian faith as presently defined.Beginning with Paul's testimony in 1 Cor. 15: 3-8, in which the apostle declares that Jesus has been raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, Lüdemann systematically evaluates every reference to Jesus' resurrection in the New Testament, as well as apocryphal literature. He examines the purpose of the text writers, the ways in which they reworked tradition, and the historical value of each account. Through this approach, he offers a reconstruction of the probable course of events as well as the circumstances surrounding Jesus' death on the cross, the burial of his body, his reported resurrection on the third day, and subsequent appearances to various disciples.Since the historical evidence leads to the firm conclusion that Jesus' body was not raised from the dead, Lüdemann argues that the origin of the Easter faith must be sought in the visionary experiences of Christianity's two leading apostles. From a modern perspective this leads to the inescapable conclusion that both primary witnesses to Jesus' resurrection, Peter and Paul, were victims of self-deception.In conclusion, he asks whether in light of the nonhistoricity of Jesus' resurrection, thinking people today can legitimately and in good conscience still call themselves Christians.Gerd Lüdemann is a professor of the history and literature of early Christianity at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Professor Lüdemann's published conclusions about Christianity aroused great controversy in his native Germany, where the Confederation of Protestant Churches in Lower Saxony demanded his immediate dismissal from the theological faculty of his university. Despite this threat to his academic freedom, he has retained his post at the university, although the chair he holds was renamed to disassociate him from the training program of German pastors. Lüdemann is also the author of Jesus After 2000 Years, Paul: The Founder of Christianity, and The Resurrection of Christ: A Historical Inquiry.

This historical primer on the death of Jesus examines the evidence of Jesus' crucifixion, explains how crucifixion worked in the Roman Empire, and explores how and why it was remembered by followers of Jesus.

Suggests that Jesus survived the crucifixion, went to Egypt, then settled in France • Reveals new discoveries that show the beginnings of Christianity in Egypt • Presents historical and archaeological research that proves a connection between Jerusalem, Egypt, and Rennes-le-Château in the south of France • Posits Rennes-le-Château as the actual location of Jesus Christ’s tomb, and that writings by him will be found there Jesus did not die on the cross. He survived and went to southern France with his wife, Mary. This possibility is proposed by Graham Simmans, who spent many years on a quest to find the real beginnings of Christianity. Simmans believes that the spread of Christianity beyond Jerusalem was tied to Jesus’s survival of the crucifixion and his subsequent emigration to Europe. Using Coptic and Jewish sources, including the Talmud, that allow a glimpse of the Christian philosophy espoused by Jesus, he contends that true Christianity was brought into France, Britain, and Spain from first century Egypt and Judea, not fourth- and fifth-century Rome. His investigation shows that after a time in Egypt, Jesus settled in Rennes-le-Château, a sophisticated and cosmopolitan center of spiritual diversity. It was a natural move for Jesus to settle in the Narbonne area of France--an area already heavily settled by Jewish and Gnostic groups. Here, safely outside the reach of the cultural dictatorship of the Roman Church, the Gnostic secrets he taught survived the centuries. Later, the Knights Templar centered their activity in the Languedoc region around Rennes-le-Château, where, within the Jewish communities, a well-connected and influential opposition to Rome already existed. This resistance to Rome gave rise to a religious culture that included elements of Gnostic, Pythagorean, and Kabbalistic teachings. Until the Crusades against the Cathar heretics reasserted the dominion of Rome, the culture that flourished around Rennes-le-Château embodied the true essence of Christ’s message.

A detailed analysis on Christ's death by a forensic pathologist and medical examiner, from the crown of thorns to the burial tomb, incorporates the latest scientific discoveries regarding the Shroud of Turin and its authenticity.