A fictional collection of the family stories of young Jesus.

In Jesus, the Early Years, author Ken Sutherland brings alive the chaotic world of the beginning of the Christian era. This fictional account explains how a carpenter's son acquired such an understanding of the Jewish scriptures. This narrative answers many of the questions surrounding the story of Jesus and his family. How did Mary and Joseph, raised about ninety miles apart, meet? How did Jesus receive his education? Where did he obtain access to scrolls? Where did he spend his childhood? Who were the Magi and what drove them to travel hundreds of miles across the desert to Bethlehem? Which city in the world had the largest population of Jews? Filled with both historical and fictional accounts to suggest answers to these and many more questions, Jesus, the Early Years describes the tumultuous and unstable world of the Middle East under Roman rule and how Jesus and his fellow Jews lived during that time.

Although the resurrection is the keystone dogma of Christian belief, and Sunday churchgoers rarely if ever think to question it, scholarly research shows with the utmost clarity that from a historical standpoint Jesus was not raised from the dead. In fact, it is almost universally recognized among scholars of New Testament textual criticism that the gospel narratives describing the resurrection appearances are not reliable eyewitness accounts, but expressions of faith written by the first Christian believers long after the death of Jesus.In this thorough exegesis of the primary texts dealing with the resurrection of Jesus, New Testament expert Gerd Lüdemann (University of Göttingen) presents compelling evidence that shows the resurrection was not a historical event and further argues that this development leaves little, if any, basis for Christian faith as presently defined.Beginning with Paul's testimony in 1 Cor. 15: 3-8, in which the apostle declares that Jesus has been raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, Lüdemann systematically evaluates every reference to Jesus' resurrection in the New Testament, as well as apocryphal literature. He examines the purpose of the text writers, the ways in which they reworked tradition, and the historical value of each account. Through this approach, he offers a reconstruction of the probable course of events as well as the circumstances surrounding Jesus' death on the cross, the burial of his body, his reported resurrection on the third day, and subsequent appearances to various disciples.Since the historical evidence leads to the firm conclusion that Jesus' body was not raised from the dead, Lüdemann argues that the origin of the Easter faith must be sought in the visionary experiences of Christianity's two leading apostles. From a modern perspective this leads to the inescapable conclusion that both primary witnesses to Jesus' resurrection, Peter and Paul, were victims of self-deception.In conclusion, he asks whether in light of the nonhistoricity of Jesus' resurrection, thinking people today can legitimately and in good conscience still call themselves Christians.Gerd Lüdemann is a professor of the history and literature of early Christianity at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Professor Lüdemann's published conclusions about Christianity aroused great controversy in his native Germany, where the Confederation of Protestant Churches in Lower Saxony demanded his immediate dismissal from the theological faculty of his university. Despite this threat to his academic freedom, he has retained his post at the university, although the chair he holds was renamed to disassociate him from the training program of German pastors. Lüdemann is also the author of Jesus After 2000 Years, Paul: The Founder of Christianity, and The Resurrection of Christ: A Historical Inquiry.

Hope and practical help for parents whose greatest longing is to shepherd their children into a vibrant faith in God. For Christian parents, there is no greater joy than seeing their children learn to walk with the Lord. And there is no greater fear than that their children will walk away from God. After serving together in pastoral ministry and raising their now-grown children, Phil and Diane Comer know those hopes and fears well. Like all new parents, they were intimidated and unsure about how to take on the task of spiritually training their young children. But now, with all four of their children grown and establishing their own households of faith, Phil and Diane have embarked on a quest to help the next generation of parents raise passionate Jesus followers. Drawing on years of pastoral counseling, teaching, leading, and decades of watching families from the perspective of pastors and leaders in ministry, Phil and Diane instruct, guide, encourage, and offer hope and practical help to Christian parents. Raising Passionate Jesus Followers is a manual full of practical, biblically based, and time-tested guidelines that parents will be able to turn to again and again through every stage of their children's development, including . . . Formulating a plan Laying the foundation, ages 0-5 Doing the framing, ages 6-12 Installing the functional systems, ages 13-17 Completing the finish work, ages 18-22 And keeping the front door open for your grown children

This compelling book presents ten parenting principles drawn from the words and actions of Jesus. Using modern-day examples, Dr. Whitehurst explores: • application of biblical principles to today's parenting challenges • modern parenting trends at odds with Jesus's teaching • parenting temptations and how to resist them • how to help children become receptive to Jesus's message • how parents can come to Jesus and find rest

Notovitch's biography of Saint Issa, in which he asserts that Jesus Christ spent many of his missing years traversing India, is presented here. A Crimean Jewish adventurer and explorer of India, Notovitch traveled widely across the East in the late nineteenth century. He claimed to have discovered a biographical document in Hemis Monastery - located in modern-day India - from which he created this book. The bold and fantastical claims about Christ attracted attention from scholars of Christianity and the popular media of the time. Spotting inconsistencies in Notovitch's account, it was only after being confronted with these that he apparently confessed to having fabricated the biography of Jesus Christ. For some years the entire matter was considered a hoax; until the Indian mystic Swami Abhedananda visited the Hemis Monastery where a monk confirmed that Notovitch had stayed some six weeks there, convalescing with a broken leg, whereupon he read the disputed documents concerning Christ.

Presented here are two volumes of apocryphal writings reflecting the life and time of the Old and New Testaments. Stories told by contemporary fiction writers of historical Bible times in fascinating and beautiful style.