Download or read book Mystery of the Magi written by Dwight Longenecker and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-11-06 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The perfect Christmas gift for anyone interested in the historical background behind the birth of Jesus of Nazareth." — Robert J. Hutchinson, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Bible, The Dawn of Christianity, and Searching for Jesus. "Utterly refreshing and encouraging." — Eric Metaxas, New York Times bestselling author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and Martin Luther "The best book I know about the Magi." — Sir Colin John Humphreys, Ph.D., author of The Mystery of the Last Supper Modern biblical scholars tend to dismiss the Christmas story of the “wise men from the East” as pious legend. Matthew’s gospel offers few details, but imaginative Christians filled out the story early on, giving us the three kings guided by a magical star who join the adoring shepherds in every Christmas crèche. For many scholars, then, there is no reason to take the gospel story seriously. But are they right? Are the wise men no more than a poetic fancy? In an astonishing feat of detective work, Dwight Longenecker makes a powerful case that the visit of the Magi to Bethlehem really happened. Piecing together the evidence from biblical studies, history, archeology, and astronomy, he goes further, uncovering where they came from, why they came, and what might have happened to them after eluding the murderous King Herod. In the process, he provides a new and fascinating view of the time and place in which Jesus Christ chose to enter the world. The evidence is clear and compelling. The mysterious Magi from the East were in all likelihood astrologers and counselors from the court of the Nabatean king at Petra, where the Hebrew messianic prophecies were well known. The “star” that inspired their journey was a particular planetary alignment—confirmed by computer models—that in the astrological lore of the time portended the birth of a Jewish king. The visitors whose arrival troubled Herod “and all Jerusalem with him” may not have been the turbaned oriental kings of the Christmas carol, but they were real, and by demonstrating that the wise men were no fairy tale, Mystery of the Magi demands a new level of respect for the historical claims of the gospel.
Download or read book Revelation of the Magi written by Brent Landau and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2010-11-02 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Each Christmas, adults and children alike delight at the story of the kings from the East who followed the star to Bethlehem to offer gifts to the newborn Christ. While this familiar tale is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, another little-known version later emerged that claimed to be the eyewitness account of the wise men. This ancient manuscript has lain hidden for centuries in the vaults of the Vatican Library, but through the determined persistence of a young scholar, Brent Landau, this astonishing discovery has been translated into English for the very first time as the Revelation of the Magi. Everything we know about the wise men is based on only a few verses from the Bible. With the Revelation of the Magi, we can now read the story from the Magi's perspective. Readers will learn of the Magi's prophecies of God's incarnation from the beginning of time, their startling visitation in the form of a star, the teachings they receive from the baby Jesus, and the wise men's joyous return to their homeland to spread the good news. This ancient version of the Christmas story is guaranteed to astonish and delight. It will also raise larger questions of the significance and meaning of Christ's birth, and the mission to spread the good news to every corner of the globe. All the drama and intrigue of the brief description of Jesus's birth in the Bible is filled out in greater, more colorful detail, offering for the first time the complete story of these beloved characters.
Download or read book The Gospel According to Matthew written by and published by Canongate U.S.. This book was released on 1999 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The publication of the King James version of the Bible, translated between 1603 and 1611, coincided with an extraordinary flowering of English literature and is universally acknowledged as the greatest influence on English-language literature in history. Now, world-class literary writers introduce the book of the King James Bible in a series of beautifully designed, small-format volumes. The introducers' passionate, provocative, and personal engagements with the spirituality and the language of the text make the Bible come alive as a stunning work of literature and remind us of its overwhelming contemporary relevance.
Download or read book The Gift of the Magi written by O. Henry and published by Amila Jay. This book was released on 2021-12-22 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Gift of the Magi" is a short story by O. Henry first published in 1905. The story tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been popular for adaptation, especially for presentation at Christmas time.
Download or read book Rich Wounds written by David Mathis and published by The Good Book Company. This book was released on 2022-02-01 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Profound reflections on the cross that help you to meditate on and marvel at the sacrificial love of Jesus. This book can be used as a devotional, especially during Lent and Easter. These profound reflections on the cross from David Mathis, author of The Christmas We Didn’t Expect, will help you to meditate on and marvel at Jesus’ life, sacrificial death, and spectacular resurrection-enabling you to treasure anew who Jesus is and what he has done. Many of us are so familiar with the Easter story that it becomes easy to miss subtle details and difficult to really enjoy its meaning. This book will help you to pause and marvel at Jesus, whose now-glorified wounds are a sign of his unfailing love and the decisive victory that he has won: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) This book can be used as a devotional. The chapters on Holy Week make it especially helpful during the Lent season and at Easter.
Download or read book The Catholic Encyclopedia written by and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 946 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Bodies of Evidence written by Jane Draycott and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dedicating objects to the divine was a central component of both Greek and Roman religion. Some of the most conspicuous offerings were shaped like parts of the internal or external human body: so-called ?anatomical votives?. These archaeological artefacts capture the modern imagination, recalling vividly the physical and fragile bodies of the past whilst posing interpretative challenges in the present. This volume scrutinises this distinctive dedicatory phenomenon, bringing together for the first time a range of methodologically diverse approaches which challenge traditional assumptions and simple categorisations. The chapters presented here ask new questions about what constitutes an anatomical votive, how they were used and manipulated in cultural, cultic and curative contexts and the complex role of anatomical votives in negotiations between humans and gods, the body and its disparate parts, divine and medical healing, ancient assemblages and modern collections and collectors. In seeking to re-contextualise and re-conceptualise anatomical votives this volume uniquely juxtaposes the medical with the religious, the social with the conceptual, the idea of the body in fragments with the body whole and the museum with the sanctuary, crossing the boundaries between studies of ancient religion, medicine, the body and the reception of antiquity.
Download or read book A Darker Shade of Magic written by V. E. Schwab and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Darker Shade of Magic, from #1 New York Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand. After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure. Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive. "A Darker Shade of Magic has all the hallmarks of a classic work of fantasy. Schwab has given us a gem of a tale...This is a book to treasure."—Deborah Harkeness, New York Times bestselling author of the All Souls trilogy Shades of Magic series 1. A Darker Shade of Magic 2. A Gathering of Shadows 3. A Conjuring of Light At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Download or read book The Three Wise Men written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by . This book was released on 2016-12-09 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes Biblical and other accounts of the Magi *Includes a bibliography for further reading In almost every nativity scene today are shown three kings presenting gifts to the newborn baby Jesus, and though everyone is familiar with the Three Wise Men, they are also some of the most mysterious characters from the Bible. According to Scripture, they journeyed from an unnamed land to Bethlehem, bearing gifts for Jesus Christ, and then disappeared. They were the first Christian pilgrims, they later became the patron saints of travelers, and their image is on millions of Christmas cards. Nevertheless, over 2,000 years later, little is known of where they came from and where they went, and most of what people think they know about the Magi does not actually come from the Bible but from assorted myths that have emerged over the millennia. The Bible does not, in fact, say that the three men were kings - this was a detail added later. Most startling of all is that the Bible does not even say that there were three men. Moreover, it seems unlikely that the Magi were actually present on the night that Jesus was born. According to the Book of Luke, Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem 40 days after Jesus was born, which means they had remained in Bethlehem for some time after his birth: "And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord." In fact, in the course of describing the visit of the Magi, the Bible clearly notes there had been time enough for Joseph and Mary to find a house in Bethlehem: "On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route." These Magi were wealthy and well-educated. They likely came from Persia, but they had been ordered by King Herod to discover the location of Christ, purportedly so that Herod could pay homage to the child, but in all likelihood to murder the newborn threat to his power. Word quickly reached King Herod of the arrival of a new-born "King of the Jews," and since he was understandably unwilling to allow any threat to his own authority, Herod was determined to do away with this child. He sent soldiers to kill all of the boys that were up to two years old in and around Bethlehem - an event known as the "Massacre of the Innocents." It was a tragic event for many families in the city, but Jesus was evidently safe on his way to Egypt with his parents. So what exactly is known of these mysterious figures that lived in the time of Christ? There is still plenty of intrigue and mystery surrounding the Magi's story, but it's apparent they were inextricably linked to that of Herod the Great, who ruled over Judea when Jesus was born and who is to this day reviled as the evil king who tried to kill the Christ child during the slaughter of the innocents. Herod, the king that the Romans had placed on a throne he had no right to, was prone to violent rages and extreme paranoia. He had a fearsome reputation, having already killed his own wife, several sons, and hundreds of political opponents, and is said to have suffered from all kinds of ailments, including chronic kidney disease and gangrene. Yet there was another side to this brutal king; he was the greatest builder in the history of the land, and he left behind magnificent monuments that still dazzle the eye 2,000 years later. Who was Herod the Great - a murderous madman, a brilliant king, or both? The Three Wise Men: The History and Legacy of the Biblical Magi examines the known and unknown about some of the most important figures in the Bible. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Magi like never befor
Download or read book Black Saints in Early Modern Global Catholicism written by Erin Kathleen Rowe and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-12-12 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the untold story of how black saints - and the slaves who venerated them - transformed the early modern church. It speaks to race, the Atlantic slave trade, and global Christianity, and provides new ways of thinking about blackness, holiness, and cultural authority.
Download or read book The Story of the Other Wise Man written by Henry Van Dyke and published by . This book was released on 1896 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Unholy Night written by Seth Grahame-Smith and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2012-04-10 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of the New York Times bestselling Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, comes Unholy Night, the next evolution in dark historical revisionism. They're an iconic part of history's most celebrated birth. But what do we really know about the Three Kings of the Nativity, besides the fact that they followed a star to Bethlehem bearing strange gifts? The Bible has little to say about this enigmatic trio. But leave it to Seth Grahame-Smith, the brilliant and twisted mind behind Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to take a little mystery, bend a little history, and weave an epic tale. In Grahame-Smith's telling, the so-called "Three Wise Men" are infamous thieves, led by the dark, murderous Balthazar. After a daring escape from Herod's prison, they stumble upon the famous manger and its newborn king. The last thing Balthazar needs is to be slowed down by young Joseph, Mary and their infant. But when Herod's men begin to slaughter the first born in Judea, he has no choice but to help them escape to Egypt. It's the beginning of an adventure that will see them fight the last magical creatures of the Old Testament; cross paths with biblical figures like Pontius Pilate and John the Baptist; and finally deliver them to Egypt. It may just be the greatest story never told.
Download or read book Toward a Global Middle Ages written by Bryan C. Keene and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 2019-09-03 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This important and overdue book examines illuminated manuscripts and other book arts of the Global Middle Ages. Illuminated manuscripts and illustrated or decorated books—like today’s museums—preserve a rich array of information about how premodern peoples conceived of and perceived the world, its many cultures, and everyone’s place in it. Often a Eurocentric field of study, manuscripts are prisms through which we can glimpse the interconnected global history of humanity. Toward a Global Middle Ages is the first publication to examine decorated books produced across the globe during the period traditionally known as medieval. Through essays and case studies, the volume’s multidisciplinary contributors expand the historiography, chronology, and geography of manuscript studies to embrace a diversity of objects, individuals, narratives, and materials from Africa, Asia, Australasia, and the Americas—an approach that both engages with and contributes to the emerging field of scholarly inquiry known as the Global Middle Ages. Featuring more than 160 color illustrations, this wide-ranging and provocative collection is intended for all who are interested in engaging in a dialogue about how books and other textual objects contributed to world-making strategies from about 400 to 1600.
Download or read book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes written by Kenneth E. Bailey and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2009-08-20 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning with Jesus' birth, Ken Bailey leads you on a kaleidoscopic study of Jesus throughout the four Gospels, examining the life and ministry of Jesus with attention to the Lord's Prayer, the Beatitudes, Jesus' relationship to women, and especially Jesus' parables. The work dispels the obscurity of Western interpretations with a stark vision of Jesus in his original context.
Download or read book Votive Body Parts in Greek and Roman Religion written by Jessica Hughes and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-06 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines a type of object that was widespread and very popular in classical antiquity - votive offerings in the shape of parts of the human body. It collects examples from four principal areas and time periods: Classical Greece, pre-Roman Italy, Roman Gaul and Roman Asia Minor. It uses a compare-and-contrast methodology to highlight differences between these sets of votives, exploring the implications for our understandings of how beliefs about the body changed across classical antiquity. The book also looks at how far these ancient beliefs overlap with, or differ from, modern ideas about the body and its physical and conceptual boundaries. Central themes of the book include illness and healing, bodily fragmentation, human-animal hybridity, transmission and reception of traditions, and the mechanics of personal transformation in religious rituals.
Download or read book Born of a Woman written by John Shelby Spong and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-03-17 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Shelby Spong, bestselling author and Episcopal bishop of Newark, NJ, challenges the doctrine of the virgin birth, tracing its development in the early Christian church and revealing its legacy in our contemporary attitudes toward women and female sexuality.
Download or read book The Desire of Ages written by Ellen G. White and published by Bytes 4 the Heart. This book was released on 1898 with total page 886 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: