Part I: The Gospel that was part of Marcion's collection in the first half of the 2nd century is the oldest of all Gospels. The author presents a meticulous reconstruction and argues that all canonical Gospels are dependent on this Gospel. This sheds new light on the formation and tradition history of the gospels, contributes new insights on the history of the New Testament text and textual criticism, and has significant consequences for how to assess the formation of the canonical edition of the New Testament and the history of earliest Christianity in general. Part I contains the methodological foundation, substantiating the hypothesis that canonical Luke is a revised edition of this oldest Gospel. On this ground, a model of the Gospels' tradition history is developed. A detailed epilogue comments on recent research on and reconstructions of Marcion's Gospel and analyzes the methodological differences of these approaches. Part II: Reconstructing the text of Marcion's Gospel is essential for the two basic tasks of establishing this Gospel's priority over canonical Luke and understanding the formation process from this oldest Gospel to the canonical Four-Gospel book. Part. II offers a reconstruction of the oldest Gospel. Its text is established on the basis of evidence provided by the heresiological witnesses and the textual variants. A detailed commentary makes every single decision of the reconstruction transparent and carefully traces the steps of the tradition history for individual sayings and pericopes. The volume includes an English translation as well as an extensive list of the correspondences between the attestations for Marcion's Gospel and the variants of canonical Luke.

The earliest of the four Gospels, the book portrays Jesus as an enigmatic figure, struggling with enemies, his inner and external demons, and with his devoted but disconcerted disciples. Unlike other gospels, his parables are obscure, to be explained secretly to his followers. With an introduction by Nick Cave

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.

Written by an L. A. County homicide detective and former atheist, Cold-Case Christianity examines the claims of the New Testament using the skills and strategies of a hard-to-convince criminal investigator. Christianity could be defined as a “cold case”: it makes a claim about an event from the distant past for which there is little forensic evidence. In Cold-Case Christianity, J. Warner Wallace uses his nationally recognized skills as a homicide detective to look at the evidence and eyewitnesses behind Christian beliefs. Including gripping stories from his career and the visual techniques he developed in the courtroom, Wallace uses illustration to examine the powerful evidence that validates the claims of Christianity. A unique apologetic that speaks to readers’ intense interest in detective stories, Cold-Case Christianity inspires readers to have confidence in Christ as it prepares them to articulate the case for Christianity.

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

"Magisterial. . . . A learned, brilliant and enjoyable study."—Géza Vermès, Times Literary Supplement In this exciting book, Paula Fredriksen explains the variety of New Testament images of Jesus by exploring the ways that the new Christian communities interpreted his mission and message in light of the delay of the Kingdom he had preached. This edition includes an introduction reviews the most recent scholarship on Jesus and its implications for both history and theology. "Brilliant and lucidly written, full of original and fascinating insights."—Reginald H. Fuller, Journal of the American Academy of Religion "This is a first-rate work of a first-rate historian."—James D. Tabor, Journal of Religion "Fredriksen confronts her documents—principally the writings of the New Testament—as an archaeologist would an especially rich complex site. With great care she distinguishes the literary images from historical fact. As she does so, she explains the images of Jesus in terms of the strategies and purposes of the writers Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John."—Thomas D’Evelyn, Christian Science Monitor

This volume explores the creation of the collection now known as the New Testament. While it is generally accepted that it did not emerge as a collection prior to the late second century CE, a more controversial question is how it came to be. How did the writings that make up the New Testament—The Gospels, the so-called Praxapostolos (Acts and the canonical letters), the Epistles of Paul, and Revelation—make their way into the collection, and what do we know about their possible historical origins, and in turn the emergence of the New Testament itself? The New Testament as we know it first became recognisable in more detail in Irenaeus of Lyon towards the end of the second century CE. However, questions remain as to how and by whom was it redacted. Was it a slow, organic process in which texts written by different authors, members of different communities and in various places, grew together into one book? Or were certain writings compiled on the basis of an editorial decision by an individual or a group of editors, revised for this purpose and partly harmonised with each other? This volume sketches out the complex development of the New Testament, arguing that key second century scholars played an important role in the emergence of the canonical collection and putting forward the possible historical origins of the text’s composition. Christ’s Torah: The Making of the New Testament in the Second Century is of interest to students and scholars working on the New Testament and anyone with an interest in early Christianity more broadly.