This unique work is not a reference tool, but a teaching-learning guide to studying the Gospel According to St. Luke. The focus is on showing how rather than on telling what. Tables followed by leading questions and statements help both faculty and students to see how the evangelist adopted and adapted his sacred texts (as well as Jewish and Greco-Roman resources) in light of his convictions about and experience of Jesus. Noticing the dominance of words, themes, and patterns leads one to discover the primary concerns of the author and his readers. Observing how the Third Evangelist internally arranged his materials provides a clue as to the kind of work it is and how it was meant to function.

This unique work is a teaching-learning guide to help instructors and students to determine “What makes Matthew Matthew?” Displays followed by leading questions and statements help one to determine how the Evangelist adopted, adapted, and arranged his sources (both “sacred” and “secular”) in light of his convictions about and experience of Jesus. Comparing and contrasting the first Gospel with the other Synoptics (and occasionally with John) also contributes to identifying his concerns. Neither standalone nor comprehensive in its intention, method, or scope, this work of pedagogy is meant to be used (and not simply read) alongside—rather than instead—of standard tools such as introductions and commentaries. Although no knowledge of biblical languages is presupposed, references to Matthew’s own use of Greek—and the Greek of his Jewish Scriptures—also enrich this study.

In 1981 a beautiful lady appeared to six young people in the village of Medjugorje in what is now Bosnia-Herzegovina. She said, I have come to tell the world that God exists. He is the fullness of life, and to enjoy this fullness and peace, you must return to God. She told them that She was the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Queen of Peace. She has continued to appear since 1981 to give messages of peace, love and joy. She is confiding ten secrets to each visionary and promises to leave a visible sign at the place of the apparitions in Medjugorje. This time of grace is for conversion and deepening of faith. After the visible sign, those living will have little time for conversion. Many books have been written about Medjugorje, but this one, and Volume I and Volume II of this series, are different. They include not only information about Medjugorje and talks and interviews with the visionaries, but also heartfelt testimonies of people who have been healed and changed through Medjugorje, and advice, written from the heart by ordinary people, on how to live the messages. This book will truly touch your heart and lift your spirits.

"In the vein of The Engineer's Wife and Carolina Built, an inspiring novel based on the remarkable true story of Virginia's Black Wall Street and the indomitable Maggie Lena Walker, the daughter of a formerly enslaved woman who became the first Black woman to establish and preside over a bank in the United States"--