Is Jesus the Founder of Christianity?
Christians have had a difficult time acknowledging that Jesus was a Jew, despite the obvious fact his mother was a Jewish woman. Therefore, he was a Jew. So, what’s the problem?
By Dr. B. Brandon Scott|2023-11-27T16:51:20-05:00November 29th, 2023|Tags: Christianity, Gospel of Matthew, Judaism, Paul, The Jewishness of Jesus|
Christians have had a difficult time acknowledging that Jesus was a Jew, despite the obvious fact his mother was a Jewish woman. Therefore, he was a Jew. So, what’s the problem?
By Dr. Marko Marina|2023-11-20T04:57:04-05:00October 18th, 2023|Tags: Christian Canon, Christian Heresies, Christianity, Gnosticism, Valentinus, Valentinus Series|
Modern scholarship has, therefore, painted a much more complex picture of early Christianity. It was a fluid world with different streams, communities, and leaders. And Valentinus was among them! (Part 1 of 4)
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2023-10-08T13:58:16-04:00September 26th, 2023|Tags: Christianity, Early Church, Gender Issues, Judaism, Women|
It is difficult to learn about the lives of Jewish and Christian women in antiquity because most of the written history was written by men who embodied the prevalent male-dominating attitudes of the era. Presenters: Dr. Sara Parks and Dr. Shirley Paulson
By Dr. Joshua Schachterle|2023-08-23T01:07:34-04:00August 23rd, 2023|Tags: Christianity, Didache, Hebrew Bible, Judaism, Religious Boundaries|
The author reveres Jesus as a servant of God, a prophet, and follows the Jewish law. It would seem that assumptions of many regarding the early separation of Judaism and Christianity may have been wrong.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2023-07-02T03:58:52-04:00July 5th, 2023|Tags: Christianity, Early Christian Communities, Eternal Life, Gnosticism, Manichaeism, Surprising Things about Jesus|
He (Mani) saw himself as not only teaching Christianity, but THE Christianity. So, what happened historically? You have competition. You have competition between the leaders who think they are the ones who are teaching the correct version. An interview with Dr. Jason BeDuhn
By Dr. Erin K. Vearncombe|2023-04-18T07:01:11-04:00April 19th, 2023|Tags: Christianity, Community, Martyr, Perpetua|
When Perpetua, like so many of the early martyrs in these ancient stories, declared, “I am Christian,” what she really declared was, “I belong to the party of the Christ.”
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2023-07-01T08:10:56-04:00September 7th, 2022|Tags: Christian Heresies, Christianity, Gnosticism, Manichaeism, Religious Boundaries|
Some scholars treat Manicaheism the same way Americans treat Asian-Americans. They’re from somewhere else. Guests, but not from here – they’re outsiders. An interview with Dr. Jae Han.
By Shirley Paulson, PhD|2022-02-01T17:34:06-05:00February 2nd, 2022|Tags: Christianity, Jesus, Noncanonical Texts, Secret Revelation of John, Thecla|
"This is the biggest thrust from After Jesus Before Christianity. How will we end up talking about those first two centuries, now that you’ve exposed that these words don’t work right?" An interview with Dr. Shirley Paulson.
By Dr. Hal Taussig|2021-09-20T17:23:33-04:00September 21st, 2021|Tags: Bible, Christianity, New Testament, Revelation|
But based on the two predominant views, the Revelation to John has never made sense to many—often most—Bible readers, much less to non-Christians.
By Dr. Hal Taussig|2021-03-15T17:16:16-04:00October 22nd, 2020|Tags: Christianity, Community, Extracanonical Texts, Religion|
How strong and vibrant Christianity will be during these next two decades depends primarily on how much creativity and vitality it can produce.