Beginning with Jesus' birth, Ken Bailey leads you on a kaleidoscopic study of Jesus throughout the four Gospels, examining the life and ministry of Jesus with attention to the Lord's Prayer, the Beatitudes, Jesus' relationship to women, and especially Jesus' parables. The work dispels the obscurity of Western interpretations with a stark vision of Jesus in his original context.

In this groundbreaking study of Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, Kenneth Bailey examines the canonical letter through Paul's Jewish socio-cultural and rhetorical background and through the Mediterranean context of its Corinthian recipients.

In Jesus of Arabia, the Reverend Canon Andrew Thompson introduces an unfamiliar Jesus—Jesus in the context of his home in the Middle East. Whether readers believe Jesus to be a prophet or the messiah, Thompson enhances our understanding of his work and character by looking at his social context as a man and Middle Easterner. Jesus’s teachings take on new meaning as Thompson explores themes including family in Arabia, gender roles in the region, food culture, and more. Jesus of Arabia looks at the bridges between Islam and Christianity through the figure of Jesus and how the two communities may reflect each other despite their differences. Thompson draws on his experience as a priest in the Anglican Church and his many years living in the Middle East to analyze the often conflicting roles and loyalties concerning family, culture, and God. A timely and incisive work, Jesus of Arabia invites us to consider contemporary views of the Middle East and how a figure like Jesus might be received today.

Kenneth Bailey, with his celebrated insights into Middle Eastern culture, traces the theme of the good shepherd from its origins in Psalm 23 through the prophets and into the New Testament, observing how it changed, developed and was applied by the biblical writers over a thousand-year span.

Kenneth E. Bailey draws on his expertise in both the New Testament and Middle Eastern culture to interpret the parable of the prodigal son from a Middle Eastern perspective. When we approach it with the correct cultural lens, Bailey argues, the parable's true Christological character is revealed.

Methodology - Analysis of four parables - Exegesis of Luke.

Encounter Jesus Like Never Before through Eastern Eyes Throughout these pages, Ravi Zacharias and Abdu Murray invite readers to rediscover the cultural insights we often miss when we ignore the Eastern context of the Bible. They offer a refreshing picture of Jesus, one that appeals to Eastern readers and can penetrate the hearts and imaginations of postmodern Westerners. In Seeing Jesus from the East, Ravi Zacharias and Abdu Murray show us why a broader view of Jesus is needed - one that recognizes the uniquely Eastern ways of thinking and communicating found in the pages of the Bible. Zacharias and Murray capture a revitalized gospel message, presenting it through this Eastern lens and revealing its power afresh to Western hearts and minds. Incorporating story, vivid imagery, and the concepts of honor and shame, sacrifice, and rewards, Seeing Jesus from the East calls believers and skeptics, both Eastern and Western, to a fresh encounter with the living and boundless Jesus.

Jesus Christ is arguably the most famous man who ever lived. His image adorns countless churches, icons, and paintings. He is the subject of millions of statues, sculptures, devotional objects and works of art. Everyone can conjure an image of Jesus: usually as a handsome, white man with flowing locks and pristine linen robes. But what did Jesus really look like? Is our popular image of Jesus overly westernized and untrue to historical reality? This question continues to fascinate. Leading Christian Origins scholar Joan E. Taylor surveys the historical evidence, and the prevalent image of Jesus in art and culture, to suggest an entirely different vision of this most famous of men. He may even have had short hair.

Brandon O'Brien and Randy Richards shed light on the ways that Western readers often misunderstand the cultural dynamics of the Bible. Identifying nine areas where commonplaces of modern Western thought diverge with the text, the authors ask us to reconsider long-held opinions about our most beloved book.