Helping kids fall in love with God and His Word as they study the Bible for themselves Now more than ever, kids need to know and explore their Bibles. Getting our kids engaged with Scripture early on is vital to their discipleship. In fact, research shows that Bible reading is the number one indicator for spiritual growth. Exploring the Earliest Gospel gives kids the chance and tools to know God through His Word. In this kids’ Bible study, Rebecca McLaughlin and her young theologian daughters Miranda (12) and Eliza (10) guide your kids through the book of Mark. This adult-child collaboration will help your kids see themselves not just as passive recipients of teaching from grown-ups, but active participants who can engage with the Bible for themselves. At its heart, Exploring the Earliest Gospel is a study of a person: Jesus. Through sixty-six days of fun and fast-paced study, your kids will get to understand more of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Mark’s Gospel was the first gospel to be written, and it’s based on the memories of Jesus’ disciple Peter. Since Peter was an act first, think later kind of guy, your kids will notice that Mark uses the word “immediately” a lot. This is an action-packed book! As your young disciples enter the stories that were written and meant for them, they will learn how to observe, interpret, and apply God’s Word to their lives. If you’re looking for a theologically rich, accessible bible study that helps your kids know and fall in love with Jesus and paves the way to a lifelong love of God and the Bible, give them Exploring the Earliest Gospel.

Mysteries of the Early Christ takes readers on a journey into the rarely explored realms of the Infancy Gospels, unveiling the apocryphal narratives that seek to illuminate the early years of Jesus Christ. From miraculous births to childhood wonders, these non-canonical texts reveal a compelling dimension of Christian tradition that has long remained at the peripheries of historical study. Andrew S. Lee delves into the origins, theological depth, and cultural impact of these mysterious texts, examining how they enriched early Christian communities' understanding of Christ and contributed to broader theological developments. By exploring the narratives of the Protoevangelium of James, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, and other apocryphal writings, Lee provides valuable insights into the ancient world's religious and cultural landscape. This book uncovers the significance of the Childhood Gospels in shaping early Christian beliefs, offering readers a fresh perspective on the faith's formative years. Through careful historical analysis and engaging storytelling, Mysteries of the Early Christ invites readers to reimagine the mysterious early life of Jesus and the role these narratives played in the evolution of Christian thought.

The story of the woman taken in adultery features a dramatic confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees over whether the adulteress should be stoned as the law commands. In response, Jesus famously states, “Let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” To Cast the First Stone traces the history of this provocative story from its first appearance to its enduring presence today. Likely added to the Gospel of John in the third century, the passage is often held up by modern critics as an example of textual corruption by early Christian scribes and editors, yet a judgment of corruption obscures the warm embrace the story actually received. Jennifer Knust and Tommy Wasserman trace the story’s incorporation into Gospel books, liturgical practices, storytelling, and art, overturning the mistaken perception that it was either peripheral or suppressed, even in the Greek East. The authors also explore the story’s many different meanings. Taken as an illustration of the expansiveness of Christ’s mercy, the purported superiority of Christians over Jews, the necessity of penance, and more, this vivid episode has invited any number of creative receptions. This history reveals as much about the changing priorities of audiences, scribes, editors, and scholars as it does about an “original” text of John. To Cast the First Stone calls attention to significant shifts in Christian book cultures and the enduring impact of oral tradition on the preservation—and destabilization—of scripture.

Christian Origins and the Establishment of the Early Jesus Movement explores the events, people, and writings surrounding the founding of the early Jesus movement in the mid to late first century. The essays are divided into four parts, focused upon the movement’s formation, the production of its early Gospels, description of the Jesus movement itself, and the Jewish mission and its literature. This collection of essays includes chapters by a global cast of scholars from a variety of methodological and critical viewpoints, and continues the important Early Christianity in its Hellenistic Context series.

Paul's relationship to Christianity-as a Pharisaic Jew whose moment of revelation on the road to Damascus has made him the most famous early Christian-is still a topic of great interest to scholars of early Christianity and Judaism. This collection of essays from world-renowned scholars examines how Christians of the first two centuries perceived Paul's Jewishness, and how they seized upon Paul's views on Judaism in order to advance their own claims about Christianity. The contributors offer a comprehensive examination of various early Christian views on Paul, in texts contained both in and outside of the New Testament, demonstrating how the reception of Paul's thought affected the formation of Judaism and Christianity into separate entities. Divided into five sections, the arguments focus upon Paul's reception in Ephesians, the other Deutero-Pauline Epistles, the Acts of the Apostles, Marcion of Synope and the reaction of Paul's opponents. Featuring essays from scholars including Judith Lieu, James H. Charlesworth and Harry O. Meier, this volume forms a perfect resource for scholars to reassess Paul's Jewishness and relationship with Judaism.

The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today’' context. To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today's world, each passage is treated in three sections: Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context. Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible. Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved. This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today's preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God's Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.

"The key to understanding the Gospels," says Father McKenzie, "is to read them carefully and inquisitively, then reread them, and reread them..." Perhaps never before has there been such a need for a mature Christian faith, based solidly on the scriptures, that will stand against the secularity of the times. And perhaps never before has the work of scripture scholars been so helpful in giving the ordinary reader an understanding of the scriptures that is pertinent to his or her life. McKenzie, without being polemical or technical, provides a brief and readable guide to the Gospels that will deepen and enrich Christian faith.

Editors Mark Harding and Alanna Nobbs have here brought together the internationally recognized scholarly excellence of Macquarie University faculty and associates to provide a major contribution to the study of the content and environment of the New Testament Gospels. Few books in current New Testament scholarship seriously tackle its social setting and textual tradition beyond a chapter or two. The Content and Setting of the Gospel Tradition integrates the texts with the literary, social, and historical context in which they were written.