Romans and Christians AD 64 is an experiential learning module for use by youth ministers, campus ministers, and teachers of church history. It is designed to be used to present the subjects of martyrdom and persecution in the early church. It has been extensively play-tested and has proven very effective with junior-high and high-school students, and even with college-age students and older adults. This play-testing has determined that Romans and Christians AD 64 works best as an intergenerational learning experience or as "intergenerational catechesis." Romans and Christians AD 64 has three components. First, it provides a general introduction to the subjects of martyrdom and persecution in the early church, complete with specific analyses of several important ancient documents and lists of primary sources such as apologies, martyrologies, and exhortations to martyrdom. Second, after laying this historical groundwork, the module explains how to play a role-playing game that offers a chance to reenact the famous Neronic Persecution of AD 64. Third, a DVD (an audiovisual "rulebook") accompanies the game. The DVD explains the game using words and real game footage. This "experiment in experiential learning" allows participants to work through in an entertaining and memorable format the historical dynamics that the early church faced.

A lively and accessible guide to the rich literary, philosophical and artistic achievements of the notorious age of Nero.

This book offers an engrossing portrayal of the early years of the Christian movement from the perspective of the Romans.

"Fires of Rome" is the companion work to "Year of the Passover" and covers the early Christian era from the crucifixion of Jesus in A.D. 36 to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and beyond to the end of the revolt in A.D. 73. New Testament accounts of the crucifixion and early Christian events are examined against secular history written by accepted ancient Roman historians. "Fires of Rome" makes the case for a conspiracy against the Christians by the Jerusalem Second Temple High Priesthood which ultimately led to the persecutions in Rome, outwardly incited by Emperor Nero in A.D. 64. Earlier, in A.D. 62, the Jewish priests were responsible for the elimination of the Jerusalem Christian leadership, including James the Just, the brother of Jesus. Of necessity, "Fires of Rome" delves deeply into Roman history, with chapters on Roman Emperors Caius (Caligula), Claudius, and Nero, as well as chapters on the Jewish revolt of A.D. 66-73. "Fires of Rome" also profiles the powerful women of the early Christian era, including the infamous Herodias, Jewish Queen Bernice and her sister Drusilla, Agrippina the Younger, and others. Empress Poppea Sabina, the wife of Nero, is especially interesting, with her eclectic and semi-secret court of mystics, philosophers, and religious figures-which included historian Flavius Josephus and former Jerusalem Second Temple High Priest Ismael. Fires of Rome is a must read for every serious student of Christian history. Soft revision March 2013.

"Nero became Emperor in A.D 54. On the evening of July 18, 64 A. D., it seems that a lamp was left unextinguished in a stall still heaped with piles of combustible material. Whether this was accidental or deliberate we cannot now determine, and normally it would not have led to anything that would have attracted even local attention. But there was a gusty wind that night, and the flickering flame was fanned onto the flammable wares. The ensuing fire quickly spread. Before the onlookers could absorb what was happening one of the most catastrophic disasters ever to be endured by Rome was already underway. It was a disaster that brought death and misery to thousands. In Nero and the Great Fire of Rome, Anthony Barrett draws on new textual interpretations and the latest archaeological evidence, to tell the story of this pivotal moment in Rome's history and its lasting significance. Barrett argues that the Great Fire, which destroyed much of the city, changed the course of Roman History. The fire led to the collapse of Nero's regime, and his disorderly exit brought an end to Rome's first imperial dynasty, transforming from thereto, the way that emperors were selected. It also led to the first systematic persecution of the Christians, who were blamed for the blaze. Barrett provides the first comprehensive study of this dramatic event, which remains a fascination of the public imagination, and continues to be a persistent theme in the art and literature of popular culture today"--

Exhaustively annotated and illustrated, this explosive work of history unearths clues that finally demonstrate the truth about one of the world’s great religions: that it was born out of the conflict between the Romans and messianic Jews who fought a bitter war with each other during the 1st Century. The Romans employed a tactic they routinely used to conquer and absorb other nations: they grafted their imperial rule onto the religion of the conquered. After 30 years of research, authors James S. Valliant and C.W. Fahy present irrefutable archeological and textual evidence that proves Christianity was created by Roman Caesars in this book that breaks new ground in Christian scholarship and is destined to change the way the world looks at ancient religions forever. Inherited from a long-past era of tyranny, war and deliberate religious fraud, could Christianity have been created for an entirely different purpose than we have been lead to believe? Praised by scholars like Dead Sea Scrolls translator Robert Eisenman (James the Brother of Jesus), this exhaustive synthesis of historical detective work integrates all of the ancient sources about the earliest Christians and reveals new archeological evidence for the first time. And, despite the fable presented in current bestsellers like Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Jesus, the evidence presented in Creating Christ is irrefutable: Christianity was invented by Roman Emperors. I have rarely encountered a book so original, exciting, accessible and informed on subjects that are of obvious importance to the world and to which I have myself devoted such a large part of my scholarly career studying. In this book they have rendered a startling new understanding of Christianity with a controversial theory of its Roman provenance that is accessible to the layman in a very powerful way. In the process, they present new and comprehensive archeological and iconographic evidence, as well as utilizing the widest and most cutting edge work of other recent scholars, including myself. This is a work of outstanding and original scholarship. Its arguments are a brilliant, profound and thorough integration of the relevant evidence. When they are done, the conclusion is inescapable and obviously profound. Robert Eisenman, Author of James the Brother of Jesus and The New Testament Code "A fascinating and provocative investigative history of ideas, boldly exploring a problem that previous scholarship has not clearly or credibly addressed: how (and why!) the Flavian dynasty wove Christianity into the very fabric of Western civilization." -Mark Riebling, author of Church of Spies: The Pope's Secret War Against Hitler