The Heretic's Gospel - Book One tells the story of a young Jewish carpenter, from his birth in a humble cave in Bethlehem, through his childhood, his reluctant betrothal, his baptism by the famous John the Baptist, and to his own preeminence as the "Great Healer of Upper Galilee." Based on literally thousands of hours of archaeological and historical research, the past will come alive again as you look at Life in First Century Israel through the eyes of the man who comes to be known to the world as Jesus Christ.

Since what Christian doctrine denies can be as important as what it affirms, it is important to understand teachings about Jesus that the early church rejected. Historians now acknowledge that proponents of alternative teachings were not so much malicious malcontents as they were misguided or even misunderstood. Here a recognized expert in early Christian theology teaches orthodox Christology by explaining the false starts (heresies), making the history of theology relevant for today's church. This engaging introduction to the christological heresies is suitable for beginning students. In addition, pastors and laypeople will find it useful for apologetic purposes.

Follow the further adventures of the very remarkable Yeshua bar Yosef, feminist, humanist, romantic and idealist, as he falls in love with Mary of Migdal Nunaiya, travels from Israel to Phoenicia and beyond, is denounced, defrocked and disgraced as a pretended Man in White and, through no fault of his own, becomes known as the Messiah, Jesus bar Abbas, the leader of the Rebel Alliance, the next King of a United Israel, the Son of Man, the Son of God, and the greatest thing since challah bread.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.

In a speech before Zurich's city council in 1553, Heinrich Bullinger declared that "the crown of England has entirely the teaching and faith that we also have." These words suggest a more direct and abiding relationship between the English and Zurich Reformations than has been recognized by previous historians. This book deepens our understanding of Swiss and English Protestantism, while simultaneously shedding light on the interactive practices of early modern cultural and intellectual communities and the history of the book. Three aspects of Zurich theology and practice attracted English evangelicals to Zurich's tradition of Reformed Protestantism: rejection of the material aspects of Catholic piety, a strong anti-Anabaptist tradition, and stress on the unity of the religious and secular spheres under the authority of the civil magistrate. Dr Euler illustrates how English reformers adopted these ideas and applied them in England, allowing reformers like Bullinger to point to England as a potential ally and model of success for the Zurich tradition. Carrie Euler received her Ph. D. from Johns Hopkins University in 2004. She has published several articles on the Zurich and English Reformations in various volumes and journals, including the Sixteenth Century Journal. She is currently Assistant Professor of History at Central Michigan University.

This book shows how Irenaeus creatively selects and develops distinctive Matthean material, within his interpretive networks of other biblical texts in order to verbally and conceptually oppose the theses of the heretics and provide helpful language for his expression of the church's faith. He is attracted to this Matthean material not because it holds an extraordinary place in the canon, but because in his view each gospel makes a distinctive, but equal contribution to the church's canon and polemic. Irenaeus sees some of Matthew's distinctive contributions in terms of language which emphasizes Christ's humanity and virgin birth, explains the theological and economical unity of the two covenants, and opposes the heretics' cosmological, anthropological, Christological, theological, and economical dualism. Although the bishop works within the framework of the church's tradition, the interpretive inter-textual networks he builds, his magnification of particular terms, and his polemic against dualism demonstrate his creative, anti-heretic innovation. Rarely, does he ever merely repeat the thought of a predecessor. Irenaeus exegetes Matthew for the church within a particular milieu, using a methodology of inter-textual connection common to his milieu, and developing theological language which counters the heretics of his milieu.

A unique resource: from the Reformation to PietismThis unique collection of excerpts from Lutheran historical and theological documents - many translated here for the first time - presents readers with a full picture of how the Lutheran movement developed in its thought and practice. The volume proceeds chronologically from Luther's lifetime to the beginnings of the Enlightenment. Each chapter begins with a summary essay and proceeds thematically.Covering not only theology but also church life, popular piety, and influential historical events, the more than 200 primary documents excerpted here show not only the evolution and development of Lutheran doctrine but also its devotional writings, hymns, liturgical texts, letters and diaries, satire, political documents, woodcuts, and pamphlet literature. Lund's judicious selection, careful translation, and helpful introductions acquaint readers with the turbulence and fervor of this revolutionary Christian movement, its struggles for survival and consolidation, its flowering in the age of orthodoxy and pietism, always with an eye to how it affected and was experienced by ordinary people.

The book deals with thinkers and movements that were embraced by many second-century religious seekers but which are now largely forgotten or known only as "heretics": Basilides, Sethianism, Valentinus' school, Marcion, Tatian, Bardaisan, Montanists, Cerinthus, Ebionites, Nazarenes, Jewish-Christianity of the "Pseudo-Clementines," and Elchasites.