Uncover the mystery of angels and their roles in our lives! Angels have been present since the beginning of time, yet we’re filled with more intrigue and myth than with facts about these heavenly creatures. In this practical Q&A format, bestselling author and pastor Robert J. Morgan uncovers the mystery of angels—in the teachings of the Bible, in their role in relation to Christ, how they impact Christian beliefs, and in personal accounts of our present-day lives. This is an up close and revealing look at what angels do for us as they carry out their purpose in God’s overall plan for His kingdom. Trim size: 4.5 x 6.5

For 1,600 years its message lay hidden. When the bound papyrus pages of this lost gospel finally reached scholars who could unlock its meaning, they were astounded. Here was a gospel that had not been seen since the early days of Christianity, and which few experts had even thought existed–a gospel told from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, history’s ultimate traitor. And far from being a villain, the Judas that emerges in its pages is a hero. In this radical reinterpretation, Jesus asks Judas to betray him. In contrast to the New Testament Gospels, Judas Iscariot is presented as a role model for all those who wish to be disciples of Jesus and is the one apostle who truly understands Jesus. Discovered by farmers in the 1970s in Middle Egypt, the codex containing the gospel was bought and sold by antiquities traders, secreted away, and carried across three continents, all the while suffering damage that reduced much of it to fragments. In 2001, it finally found its way into the hands of a team of experts who would painstakingly reassemble and restore it. The Gospel of Judas has been translated from its original Coptic to clear prose, and is accompanied by commentary that explains its fascinating history in the context of the early Church, offering a whole new way of understanding the message of Jesus Christ.

In this provocative, intelligent, and highly original addition to the Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library, Susan R. Garrett argues that angel talk has never been merely about angels. Rather, from ancient times until the present, talk about angels has served as a vehicle for reflection on other fundamental life questions, including the nature of God's presence and intervention in the world, the existence and meaning of evil, and the fate of humans after death. In No Ordinary Angel, Garrett examines how biblical and other ancient authors addressed such questions through their portrayals of angels. She compares the ancient angel talk to popular depictions of angels today and considers how the ancient and modern portraits of angels relate to Christian claims about Jesus. No Ordinary Angel offers important insights into the development of angelology, the origins of Christology, and popular Western spirituality ranging from fundamentalist to New Age. In doing so, it provokes stimulating theological reflection on key existential questions.

A new translation and commentary on the extracanonical Coptic text that describes Judas’ special status among Jesus’ disciples Since its publication in 2006, The Gospel of Judas has generated remarkable interest and debate among scholars and general readers alike. In this Coptic text from the second century C.E., Jesus engages in a series of conversations with his disciples and with Judas, explaining the origin of the cosmos and its rulers, the existence of another holy race, and the coming end of the current world order. In this new translation and commentary, David Brakke addresses the major interpretive questions that have emerged since the text’s discovery, exploring the ways that The Gospel of Judas sheds light on the origins and development of gnostic mythology, debates over the Eucharist and communal authority, and Christian appropriation of Jewish apocalyptic eschatology. The translation reflects new analyses of the work’s genre and structure, and the commentary and notes provide thorough discussions of the text’s grammar and numerous lacunae and ambiguities.

"Appendix A" (p. [134]-187) contains the Coptic text of the Gospel of Judas as transcribed from the Codex Tchacos, with English translation on facing pages.

Arch-mediator between the divine and the mundane, the angel is an enduring figure in the Western world. It has been interpreted as an externalization of repressed fantasies, a projection of the self as other, and a metaphor for modern estrangement. This book is the first comparative study of sacred medieval images of angels and their cinematic treatment, including reference to both the medieval and modern imaginations. The text traces the traditional functions of angels and their reworking in film, then takes particular note of new icons like the female angel and others who become models for our connection with transcendence.

There is, perhaps, no phase of the Christian church more peculiar to it, nor one that more triumphantly demonstrates its perfect adaptation to human needs, than its possession of what are known as " spiritual gifts." The presence of these gifts in the church of apostolic times is universally conceded. They were not only recognized when they appeared, but they were expected. The leaders both instructed the churches as to the reception of these tokens of the divine presence and guidance, and gave needed advice as to the order and decorum that were to govern their manifestation. The exercise of the miraculous gifts was not intended in any way to supplant or even supersede the regular church officers. On the contrary, the gifts were designed to strengthen the hands of such officers, and to quicken the spiritual life of the church as a whole. They were gracious manifestations of the divine care, evidences that the Spirit was doing His office work in the church, and in times of doubt and uncertainty, or of impending crisis, a means for the direct communication of the divine will to the church...