This has been offered to the reader as if to say that from the very outset, any study of Revelation that is done or offered without the direct application of Jesus' teaching, specifically His sermon on the Mount of Olives, is incomplete at best. The argument that God conclusively broadened His redemptive purpose beginning with the Jewish people then spread to all races, as promised in Matthew 28:19, rings true in Revelation when understood in the context of what Jesus taught. What's more, the development of temple-based worship into a simpler spiritual-based worship as expected in John 4:21-24 is equally difficult to ignore from what appears to have been fulfilled in the prophecy of Revelation as predicted by Jesus in His Mount of Olives sermon.

The life of Christ… …still holds mysteries. Would you like a deeper understanding? He was an Initiate. Thales of Argos’ journey is fascinating, for he takes us along his path through the tests of wisdom. With the Great Initiate, who was present for Christ’s Crucifixion and Resurrection, we witness the true mission of the Son of God. How many answers await? What are the innermost secrets of Mary? Eye-opening and heart-touching, The Mystery of Christ brings a fresh perspective, an uncommon insight, and spiritual depth to these dramatic events which occurred two thousand years ago. With the feel of a Hans Christian Anderson tome… …this book will leave you spellbound. You’ll love this fresh look at Christ because the numerous spiritual revelations will give you the depth of knowledge you’ve always wanted. “Few books have shaken me to the core as much as The Mystery of Christ. The descriptive language used is so powerful, so evocative, and so moving as to take it into the realms of pure poetry in literature. I cannot stress enough how powerful this book is.” — Grant Leishman, Readers' Favorite “The wise observations of Thales of Argos and his reflections on spiritual mysteries, past lives, and Christian connections to some of the greatest questions of the times creates a powerful account that should be considered a mainstay of any Christian literature, history, or spirituality collection.” — Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review Get it now.

In this book, Curtis Gruenler proposes that the concept of the enigmatic, latent in a wide range of medieval thinking about literature, can help us better understand in medieval terms much of the era’s most enduring literature, from the riddles of the Anglo-Saxon bishop Aldhelm to the great vernacular works of Dante, Chaucer, Julian of Norwich, and, above all, Langland’s Piers Plowman. Riddles, rhetoric, and theology—the three fields of meaning of aenigma in medieval Latin—map a way of thinking about reading and writing obscure literature that was widely shared across the Middle Ages. The poetics of enigma links inquiry about language by theologians with theologically ambitious literature. Each sense of enigma brings out an aspect of this poetics. The playfulness of riddling, both oral and literate, was joined to a Christian vision of literature by Aldhelm and the Old English riddles of the Exeter Book. Defined in rhetoric as an obscure allegory, enigma was condemned by classical authorities but resurrected under the influence of Augustine as an aid to contemplation. Its theological significance follows from a favorite biblical verse among medieval theologians, “We see now through a mirror in an enigma, then face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12). Along with other examples of the poetics of enigma, Piers Plowman can be seen as a culmination of centuries of reflection on the importance of obscure language for knowing and participating in endless mysteries of divinity and humanity and a bridge to the importance of the enigmatic in modern literature. This book will be especially useful for scholars and undergraduate students interested in medieval European literature, literary theory, and contemplative theology.

Built in the fifth century b.c., the Parthenon has been venerated for more than two millennia as the West’s ultimate paragon of beauty and proportion. Since the Enlightenment, it has also come to represent our political ideals, the lavish temple to the goddess Athena serving as the model for our most hallowed civic architecture. But how much do the values of those who built the Parthenon truly correspond with our own? And apart from the significance with which we have invested it, what exactly did this marvel of human hands mean to those who made it? In this revolutionary book, Joan Breton Connelly challenges our most basic assumptions about the Parthenon and the ancient Athenians. Beginning with the natural environment and its rich mythic associations, she re-creates the development of the Acropolis—the Sacred Rock at the heart of the city-state—from its prehistoric origins to its Periklean glory days as a constellation of temples among which the Parthenon stood supreme. In particular, she probes the Parthenon’s legendary frieze: the 525-foot-long relief sculpture that originally encircled the upper reaches before it was partially destroyed by Venetian cannon fire (in the seventeenth century) and most of what remained was shipped off to Britain (in the nineteenth century) among the Elgin marbles. The frieze’s vast enigmatic procession—a dazzling pageant of cavalrymen and elders, musicians and maidens—has for more than two hundred years been thought to represent a scene of annual civic celebration in the birthplace of democracy. But thanks to a once-lost play by Euripides (the discovery of which, in the wrappings of a Hellenistic Egyptian mummy, is only one of this book’s intriguing adventures), Connelly has uncovered a long-buried meaning, a story of human sacrifice set during the city’s mythic founding. In a society startlingly preoccupied with cult ritual, this story was at the core of what it meant to be Athenian. Connelly reveals a world that beggars our popular notions of Athens as a city of staid philosophers, rationalists, and rhetoricians, a world in which our modern secular conception of democracy would have been simply incomprehensible. The Parthenon’s full significance has been obscured until now owing in no small part, Connelly argues, to the frieze’s dismemberment. And so her investigation concludes with a call to reunite the pieces, in order that what is perhaps the greatest single work of art surviving from antiquity may be viewed more nearly as its makers intended. Marshalling a breathtaking range of textual and visual evidence, full of fresh insights woven into a thrilling narrative that brings the distant past to life, The Parthenon Enigma is sure to become a landmark in our understanding of the civilization from which we claim cultural descent.

A head-on confrontation with the dogma of biblical inerrancy, Holy Enigma! lays out its case in defense of God Almighty. A unique mix of humor, candor, and prayer exposes the most troublesome verses in the Holy Bible.

N. T. Wright has undertaken a tremendous task: to provide guides to all the books of the New Testament, and to include in them his own translation of the entire text. Each short passage is followed by a highly readable discussion, with background information, useful explanations and suggestions, and thoughts as to how the text can be relevant to our lives today. A glossary is included at the back of the book. The series is suitable for group study, personal study, or daily devotions.

As Dr. Wenham states early in his introduction, The story of Jesus' resurrection is told by five different writers, whose accounts differ from each other to an astonishing degree. Wenham begins by setting the scene of Jerusalem and its environs, going on to describe the main actors in the events with particular attention to Mary Magdalene and the five writers themselves, and then examining in detail all the biblical narratives from Good Friday through Easter Day to the Ascension. He concludes that the various accounts as they stand can be satisfactorily reconciled to provide a trustworthy record for the church. Valuable appendices elucidate Wenham's response to the technicalities of gospel criticism.