Bøger udgivet af Polebridge Press

In recent years, as there has been a fundamentalist resurgence in religion, it has at the same time increasingly come under attack from many quarters. In this wide-ranging book Nigel Leaves examines the main critics of religion: scientists, the new atheists, the spirituality revolution, and those who have done away with religion altogether. He does not confine himself solely to Christianity, but also discusses the attack on Islam from both within and outside its borders. Leaves proposes a unique theological response to the crises of belief. He wrestles religion from extremists and into the hands of reasonable and sane believers. He offers hope to the future direction of religion, because in the absence of a major theological revolution, religions will continue their further decline into either obscurity or fossilized fundamentalism. This is a ground-breaking book that not only analyses the current vibrant (and hostile) debate as to the value of religion today, but also offers a workable solution: religion must be rescued by good God-talk!

Rescues The Acts of John from a long history of censorship and extensive editing that sought to whitewash aspects of the text that had become uncomfortable for later generations of the church. This study edition features a detailed introduction that sorts out the complicated manuscript tradition together with cross references and notes on sources that enable in-depth study.

All of the essays except two were previouly published between 1981 and 2013.

Rediscovered in 1873, the Didache provides a glimpse of early Christian ritual and liturgy. This text, which dates to the late first or early second century, is the very first manual for Christian life. Here Clayton Jefford presents parallel translations of the original-language manuscripts - from Greek, Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic, and Georgian.

This introductory text takes a secular approach to New Testament study. The book begins with a discussion of the differences between analytical and traditional church approaches. It maintains that students can learn to work with both and not feel that they must sacrifice one for the other.

States that the doctrines of Incarnation and Trinity, which began as attempts to reflect the indwelling of God in human beings, were soon distorted to proclaim the reality of a sacred realm in the heavens. This title concludes that the most credible scenario for Christianity's future depends on accepting the Gaia concept as a powerful modern myth.

The event of Jesus' resurrection is like the event of creation: There were no eye-witnesses. So how does one make sense of the story of the resurrection - or rather stories, for not one but many reports survive from early Christianity? This work suggests that we must begin by erasing all Christian art about the resurrection from our memory.

Explores the problem of history in ""Acts"" by asking, and answering, the fundamental questions: Who wrote ""Acts""? Where was ""Acts"" written? When was ""Acts"" written? Why was ""Acts"" written? How was ""Acts"" written?

In this compelling study of the birth and infancy of Jesus, Robert Miller separates fact from fiction in the gospel narratives and relates them to stories about the miraculous births of Israelite heroes and of Greek and Roman sons of God. "Born Divine analyzes the Christian claim that the birth and childhood of Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. The historical and theological dimensions of the virgin birth tradition are discussed with honesty and insight. This wide-ranging book also presents additional infancy gospels from the second century through the Middle Ages.

Can the authentic words and deed of Jesus identified by the Jesus Seminar furnish a sufficient basis for a credible profile of the Jesus of history? That is the challenge faced by the contributors to this volume. Their efforts have resulted in a unique collection of studied impressions of Jesus. Here readers will see not Jesus the icon of myth and creed, but a provocative young man of first-century Palestine whose vision and determination to live the vision gave birth to a new form of faith and changed the course of history.

For decades scholars have argued that Jesus' teaching fostered inclusive communities and the full participation of women. Now Kathleen Corley challenges the assumption that Jesus himself fought patriarchal limitations on women. Rather the analysis of his authentic teaching suggests that while Jesus critiques class and slave/free distinctions in his culture, his critique did not extend to unequal gender distinctions. The presence of women among his disciples, she says, is explained on the basis of the presence of women among many Greco-Roman religions and philosophical groups, including the Judaism of Jesus' own day.

What happens to faith when the creeds and confessions can no longer be squared with historical and empirical evidence? This book features thirteen scholars who take up the challenge to speak candidly about how they negotiate the conflicting claims of faith and reason.

What prompted the anonymous author of Luke to edit his sources-Mark and Q-and retell the story of Jesus? Using the Scholars Version translation that is true to the everyday Greek of the gospel writers, Pervo explores the who, when, where, why, and how of the Gospel of Luke. Includes the Greek text, introduction, notes, and cross-references.

Using fresh translations and paraphrases to wrest some measure of relevance and contemporaneity from twenty-four important biblical passages, Harry Cook addresses two important questions: How did ordinary people of first-century CE Palestine read or, better yet, hear these important passages, and how can twenty-first-century English speakers in the western world best appropriate them for instruction, inspiration and understanding?

According to Lloyd Geering, the world we inhabit is largely a product of our own making. We supply its meaning. Thus "God," a central symbol of meaning, is entirely a human creation. In Tomorrow's God, Geering traces the collective "drift toward meaning" that gave rise to the various religions and explores the reasons they are now in decline. He argues that, for our own survival, we must consciously create new meaning for our lives and shows how the Christian tradition may lead toward a new world of meaning.

"Getting Oriented leads readers on an adventurous trek to discover and unlock the treasures of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Paul Alan Laughlin sketches out an alternative, enlightened version of the Christian faith that draws upon the mystical dynamic of those great Eastern religions. Paying special attention to new ways of viewing God, humanity, Jesus, and the Bible, he offers a unique, compelling, and refreshing vision of Christianity for the Third Millennium.

Who was the apostle Paul? That question has provided grist for the scholarly mill for millennia. This fifth volume of the Jesus Seminar Guides opens with summaries of the traditional understanding of Paul that examine its inconsistencies and contradictions and reveal its bankruptcy. The authors then move beyond that traditional framework to more radical approaches.