What lies between the authoritative preeminence of the Mother Church of Jerusalem and the virtual extinction both of its life and apparently of all its local records? Dr. Brandon finds that the full significance of the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 has been strangely neglected amongst scholars. In this original and exhaustive study he shows that this catastrophic event was of profound importance not only for the development of early Christianity but possibly also for its very survival. Besides an ordered survey of other ancient historians, this book demonstrates an extensive study of New Testament origins, and many will find special interest in the light it throws upon the origin and purpose of canonical works. This book faces serious problems of New Testament study that have generally been too easily dismissed, and it makes a definite and original contribution towards their solution.

It's AD 70, and Jerusalem is falling to the Romans, its temple being destroyed. As Jews and Christians try to escape the city, we travel with some of them through an imagined week of flight and faith. In this imaginative and entertaining narrative, Ben Witherington leads us behind the veil of centuries to experience the historical and social realities of this epochal event.

It is fatal to show pity in a time of war. Led by the mighty Titus, the Roman army besieges Jerusalem. Arrows rain over the city day and night, and battering rams assault its defensive walls. Inside, the people curse their fate, resistant to the last but maddened by hunger. After days of rebellion, al last their city falls. The citizens plead for mercy - but as the Romans march on the Temple of Masada, the most sacred sanctuary of the Jewish people, flaming torches blaze above their heads . . .

In Christianity in the making, James D.G. Dunn examines in depth the major factors that shaped first-generation Christianity and beyond, exploring the parting of the ways between Christianity and Judaism, the Hellenization of Christianity, and responses to Gnosticism. He mines all the first- and second-century sources, including the New Testament Gospels, New Testament apocrypha, and such church fathers as Ignatius, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus, showing how the Jesus tradition and the figures of James, Paul, Peter, and John were still esteemed influences but were also the subject of intense controversy as the early church wrestled with its evolving identity.

Acts is the sequel to Luke's gospel and tells the story of Jesus's followers during the 30 years after his death. It describes how the 12 apostles, formerly Jesus's disciples, spread the message of Christianity throughout the Mediterranean against a background of persecution. With an introduction by P.D. James

In the nineteenth century, it was a common belief that Native Americans were the descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Ethan Smith wrote on this topic, and in so doing, challenged the dismissal of the Indigenous Americans by European settlers. Smith used biblical scripture, similarities in the Hebrew and Native American languages and their name for God, and other points of evidence to prove the connection between Israel and the First Nations. From there he showed how the reunited Hebrew tribes would be restored to Zion before the end of the world. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Smith's book is that it is said to have influenced the Book of Mormon, which was published about seven years after later. As a child, Smith moved away from religion after his parents died but found his way back before he turned 20 and worked in the ministry until his death. Smith wrote several books while serving in the ministry in which he explored prophecies and baptism, among other subjects. But this book remains one of the most controversial of all his publications.

This book is dealing with the relations between the Rabbinical Judaism and the Early Christianity. It studies the continuities and the mutations and clarifies the factors of influences and the polemics between these two traditions. Ce livre s'int resse aux relations entre le juda sme rabbinique et le christianisme primitif. Il tudie les continuit s et les ruptures et clarifie les facteurs d'influences et les pol miques entre les deux traditions.