Early Religions

What do we call each other? It’s a deceptively simple question, because how we refer to one another is how we understand our relationships. Not recognizing the power of our words makes it harder for us to trust and serve one another―to love one another. In More than Christians, Norman Hubbard explores how the early church used common words in uncommon ways to make sense of their relationships with God and with one another. His research and contextualization of the cultural background to the New Testament is as practical for today as it is urgent.

The belief that Native Americans might belong to the fabled “lost tribes of Israel” - Israelites driven from their homeland around 740 BCE - took hold among Anglo-Americans and Indigenous peoples in the United States during its first half century. In Lost Tribes Found, Matthew W. Dougherty explores what this idea can tell us about religious nationalism in early America.

A central figure in Christian tradition, Mary of Nazareth is both pivotal in theologies of the incarnation and a source of theological controversy. In this volume, bible scholar and priest Christopher Bryan examines the role of Mary in the theology of the first generations of Christians. Considering every reference to Mary in the New Testament in the order that the biblical texts were written, Mary of Nazareth situates biblical texts' treatment of Mary within first-century culture and examines changing theologies of Mary and the incarnation among the earliest generations of Christians

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From her own experiences - her struggles and victories on the way to peace - Eugenia Price offers in this book a step-by-step guide for all who seek a new, happy, and complete life. This thrilling and inspiring chronicle of spiritual adventure lifts the heart and head of the listener, as the widely respected Christian author and speaker lets Christ speak through her to those who long to follow him as Lord of their lives.

Your dreams can provide inner guidance filled with life-saving information. Since ancient Egypt and Greece, people have relied on the art of dreaming to diagnose illness and get answers to personal life challenges. Now, dreams are making a grand reappearance in the medical arena as recent scientific research and medical pathology reports validate the diagnostic abilities of precognitive dreams. Are we stepping back into the future as modern medical tests show dreams can be early warning signs of cancer and other diseases?

Putting Joy into Practice: Seven Ways to Lift Your Spirit from the Early Church is an invitation to a life of joy. Phoebe Farag Mikhail explains what joy is and how to experience it through seven spiritual practices that cultivate our inner lives and connect us to our communities. These seven practices, which include giving thanks, hospitality, praise, and more, take us on a journey that leads to joy through the giving and receiving of sacrificial love.

Leighton Pullan’s classic book, Early Christian Doctrine, chronicles the earliest history of Christianity to the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451. This work deals with the development of theological thought regarding the Trinity, atonement, and the sacraments. It provides insight on the history of the Church and its doctrines.

In this comprehensive survey, Williams offers concise descriptions of the background, beliefs, practices, and leaders of America's most influential and distinctive religious movements and denominations.

The Religions Book clearly explains the key concepts behind the earliest religious beliefs right up to the world's newest faiths, getting to the heart of what it means to believe with jargon-free descriptions that encapsulate every aspect of religious thinking. Examine major historical developments and ideas with a universal timeline, providing a global perspective on the origins and major events that have contributed to the growth and spread of religion and spirituality.

In many respects, the early Christians were more inclusive of women in their institutional affairs than other sects. This may be due to the fact that women were numbered among the earliest disciples of Jesus. These women had a voice, and they could open an independent inquiry into many aspects of religion and religious laws.

That Jesus of Nazareth was crucified is the closest to a historical fact anyone can say about him. Biblical scholars have spent centuries debating the details of what Jesus did and said, but this crude fact—that Jesus suffered capital punishment at the hands of the Roman authority by crucifixion—is accepted by the overwhelming majority of scholars. That there once was a cross where Jesus suffered and died is, therefore, the sequential logical affirmation.

Early Christians were called "heretics" and "atheists" when they denied the gods of Rome, in particular the divinity of the emperor and the statism he embodied in his personality cult. These Christians knew that Jesus Christ, not the state, was their Lord and that this faith required a different kind of relationship to the state than the state demanded. Because Jesus Christ was their acknowledged sovereign, they consciously denied such esteem to all other claimants. Today, the church must take a similar stand before the modern state.

Few Biblical figures are as intriguing and mysterious as Enoch. He is mentioned only a few times in the canonical Hebrew Bible, but the impact of his story went on to affect the theology of many books written during the Second Temple Era. It also set the foundation for the development of many of the ideas found in the early Christian movement. Enoch’s importance continued beyond the destruction of the Temple and survived in a new form in later rabbinic tradition. Discover the mystery of Enoch, and the fascinating impact it had on the development of Judaism and Christianity.

In Faithful Witness, Phil Baker explains the theology of martyrdom that developed over the first 300 years of Christianity, and why that theology proved so powerful in the early years of the faith. Why did they choose faithfulness over fear? Why did they choose dying over killing? Why did they choose self-sacrifice over revenge? Why did they have such peace and joy in the midst of unimaginable torture? By AD 313, why had roughly 10 percent of the Roman Empire’s population embraced Christianity, when it was both illegal and incredibly dangerous to do so?

The pope, the bishop of Rome, claims spiritual authority over more than a billion Catholics worldwide. He also exercises temporal authority over a tiny enclave of Rome consisting of the Vatican Palace, Saint Peter’s Basilica, and 44 hectares with the ancient Leonine Walls. As sovereign of the Vatican City States, he has around 1,000 subjects, mostly clerics.

Today, we live in a world that is asking, “Can God?” Do we believe miracles and promises from God are for another age? Hebrews tells us plainly that God is the same today as he was yesterday. The story of Mike Martin and Vivian is the story of miracles, of prayers answers, of mountains moved. It is the story that could have only been realized By Faith and nothing else. It is the testament that God is at work today and that the miraculous can happen each and every day if we are willing to see it.

Cyprus is known for its beautiful beaches, spectacular sunsets, and wonderful climate. Vacationers by the thousands come here each year to enjoy this island of adventure and frolic. Cyprus has always been recognized for its beauty and mild climate, as well as its strategic location. Through the centuries each competing culture has left its mark on the culture we have come to know as "Cypriot." Each invading ethnic group left archaeological monuments and a rich history, and an identity that has been linked together into a mosaic of sight, sound, language, religion, and culinary delights. In ...

Practice important early learning skills while listening to eight favorite Bible stories in the Adventure Bible Read Through the Bible. Combining the beloved Adventure Bible with the proven I Can Read format, this Level 2 I Can Read collection combines engaging stories and longer sentences, perfect for building confidence and developing early reading and listening comprehension skills.

Ancient Mesopotamian religion continues to captivate people for many of the same reasons today's best known religions and their histories fascinate people. The religion practiced by the Ancient Mesopotamians provides a certain mix between the mundane and the surreal, and at the same time aspects of it are both familiar and bizarre to people today. Some find themselves drawn to it based on its preeminent position in religious history as the oldest documented religion in the world.