One of the temptations of the preacher is to make all conversations about grace too “nice”. But a true preacher of grace, like Carlos, knows that this does not help people grow in faith at all. In this book, Carlos continues his ambitious, multi-volume quest to make it possible to live the Christian faith authentically without either dumbing down our intelligence or forcing us into a Stockholm syndrome of speaking “well” while tamping down the realities through which we are really living. Hence, Carlos has put his nets deep into the life experiences of different groups of those who have lost, of those for whom the outrage of death is a constant reality, and who have had to learn a new language in order to speak at all. All this is in service of giving us a sense of how much of a shake-up truly theological faith in the resurrection is when it is discovered on the inside by those who have found themselves caught up in an an-archic uprising of hope. I learned much from this book. –James Alison, priest and theologian. Feast of St Dominic, 2024. The Resurrection as a Messianic Anticipation signals the road ahead for political and liberation theologies. We can and must place our hope in the resurrection even as the world around us continues to collapse, as the specter of global violence escalates, and as the body counts mount. This prescient, scholarly work faces directly the horrors of our time and uncovers a credible theological response among the survivors. It is a must-read. – Nancy Pineda-Madrid, Loyola Marymount University This powerful book calls us to rise up against death and senseless violence. It reclaims resurrection as a communal praxis of indomitable life. It cries out with the victims of history and remembers their radiant hopes of ecstatic transformation. It is revolutionary in the best sense of the word. – Andrew Prevot, author of The Mysticism of Ordinary Life: Theology, Philosophy and Feminism The first part of a trilogy on the idea of tradition, The Resurrection as a Messianic Anticipation, proposes a theology of new life from a postmodern and decolonial perspective. This investigation of the resurrection’s foundational event starts from the analysis of intersubjectivity in our times of extreme violence, based on the creative imagination deployed by the systemic victims. From this existential background, the author offers a creative reading of the Christian faith in the full life of the "Crucified One Awoke" dialoguing with the reason that arises from the social, cultural, and spiritual resistances that dismantle the violence produced by patriarchy, colonialism, and capitalism colluded with sacrificial religion. It will be followed by two volumes on the theology of tradition thought as a symbolic resistance and as a political sacramentality of the new world born from the reverse side of hegemonic history where it is possible to listen to the murmur of God thanks to the persons and communities that live the messianic times as a living tradition in constant transformation containing an ethical, political and spiritual task for all humanity. Carlos Mendoza-Álvarez OP is a Mexican theologian. He holds a doctorate in Fundamental Theology from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, where he also obtained his habilitation. His work proposes a Fundamental Theology where the Phenomenology of Subjectivity, Mimetic Theory, and Decolonial Thought converge in dialogue with Social Movements from the Global South. He is a full professor in the Theology Department at Boston College. He has published eight monographs, thirty chapters in collective works, and sixty articles in scientific journals. His books include a trilogy on the idea of revelation: Deus Liberans (Fribourg, 1996), Deus absconditus (Paris, 2011), and Deus ineffabilis (Barcelona, 2015).

An academic study that suggests the Old Testament was written to be read as a work that reveals direct messianic prophecies.

The Messianic promises find their fulfillment in the midst of dark times and schemes that we tend to ignore, but only against this dark side of Advent can the Light to shine the brightest.

In The Resurrection of the Messiah, Christopher Bryan combines literary, historical, and theological approaches in a study of the doctrine of the Resurrection. The book is divided into three parts. The first section provides a careful and sympathetic description of first-century Jewish and pagan opinions and beliefs about death and what might follow. This is followed by a presentation of a general account of early Christian claims about the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The second part of the book offers a detailed, full-length commentary on and exegesis of the main New Testament texts that speak of Jesus' death and resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15 and the narratives in the four canonical gospels. As a framework for this commentary, Bryan utilizes the pattern of apostolic preaching presented by Paul and then echoed by each of the four evangelists, namely the formula "Christ died, Christ was buried, Christ has been raised, Christ appeared." The final section of the book is spent discussing and evaluating various proposals that have been made by those attempting to explain the data in ways that differ from the traditional Christian explanation. Bryan also considers various theological and ethical implications of accepting the claim "Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead." Throughout his study, Bryan exhibits a willingness to face hard questions as well as an appropriate reverence for a faith that for almost two thousand years has enabled millions of people to lead lives of meaning and grace.

Explores ancient beliefs about life after death, highlighting the fact that the early Christians' belief about the afterlife belonged firmly on the Jewish spectrum, while introducing several new mutations and sharper definitions, forcing readers to view the Easter narratives not simply as rationalizations, but as accounts of two actual events: the empty tomb of Jesus and his "appearances." Simultaneous. Hardcover no longer available.

The Jews in the first century wondered: who would He resemble? Would He be a prophet like Moses? A priest like Melchizedek? A king like David? He would surprise them all, from the day He entered the Jordan River until He went through a metamorphosis on a high mountain. He would be tested in a harsh wilderness-and pass the test! He would deliver those tormented by demons and feed both a Jewish and a Gentile multitude, and yet be rejected by his neighbors. So here is His ministry, in the midst of an intensely Jewish world of Pharisees and Sadducees and Essenes, confounding them all because no man spoke quite like Him. Come and see Him also beside the lovely waters of the Sea of Galilee. You will never be the same if you behold His ministry in the light of the Scriptures that He so loved, lived, and fulfilled.

"Taking inspiration from a different interpretative tradition, the classic work of Raymond Brown on the birth and death of the Messiah, Francis Moloney has provided a comprehensive narrative reading of the resurrection stories of all four Gospels, in close association with their passion narratives, to which they are the stunning response. The book traces how the four eangelists' different telling of the resurrection stories has "narrated" the action of God for Jesus, and the action of God and Jesus for all Christians in and through the early Church's belief and experience of the resurrection of Jesus. The final chapter discusses what we can recover about the events of Easter day and, more importantly, what these events meant then, and continue to mean today." - back cover

This book is the go-to source for introductory information on Messianic Judaism. Editors David Rudolph and Joel Willitts have assembled a thorough examination of the ecclesial context and biblical foundations of the diverse Messianic Jewish movement. Unique among similar works in its Jew-Gentile partnership, this book brings together a team of respected Messianic Jewish and Gentile Christian scholars, including Mark Kinzer, Richard Bauckham, Markus Bockmuehl, Craig Keener, Darrell Bock, Scott Hafemann, Daniel Harrington, R. Kendall Soulen, Douglas Harink and others. Opening essays, written by Messianic Jewish scholars and synagogue leaders, provide a window into the on-the-ground reality of the Messianic Jewish community and reveal the challenges, questions and issues with which Messianic Jews grapple. The following predominantly Gentile Christian discussion explores a number of biblical and theological issues that inform our understanding of the Messianic Jewish ecclesial context. Here is a balanced and accessible introduction to the diverse Messianic Jewish movement that both Gentile Christian and Messianic Jewish readers will find informative and fascinating.

Ennis offers a comprehensive summary of the Creator's plan for humanity from creation to His established Kingdom on the earth. He provides a thorough teaching of the prophecies and their fulfillment of the first coming of the true Messiah.

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also." John 14:3 ESV Jesus Christ was very clear: One day He will return-and none of us knows when. Vocal fanatics claim to know the details of the Second Coming, causing many Christians to all but ignore the good news that Jesus is coming again. Yet God's own Word commands us to know the signs of the times, to remain watchful, and to be ready-whenever Christ comes. This book is a straightforward, in-depth exploration of the key biblical texts regarding the Second Coming; most notably, Christ's longest and most important eschatological message, the Olivet Discourse. As you study what the Word of God says about these matters, it will stir in your heart an earnest longing for Christ's return-as well as a certainty about how to live expectantly until He comes again.