Wars, injustices and neighborhood bullies fill the world with violence. Read how Christians should respond to violence in the world. Ten-year-old Mark came home from school complaining about the village bully who was hassling him every day on the school bus. When his father asked him what he was… Read More

What is the Gospel of Judas and why is it important in understanding the early church? Read more to find out. An interview with Professor Charles W. Hedrick on the discovery of the gnostic Gospel of Judas, the translation of which was first published in 2006. Read More

The Four-Source Theory suggests that the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, came from four different stories. Learn about the strengths and weaknesses of this theory. By Linda A. Dietch PhD Candidate, Drew University, Madison, NJ Those who read the Bible are sometimes struck by discrepancies… Read More

Divorce affects millions of individuals. Read more to see what the Bible says about divorce and learn how Christians can approach the issue today. In an age when marriage, once considered the bedrock of society, has tumbled from its position of moral prominence, and the divorce rate (among Christians… Read More

They weren’t priests, but they weren’t commoners. So who were the Pharisees and what was their role in Jewish life? Find out here. By Jesus’ day, it was common for Jewish people to meet in private homes for worship and to study the Scriptures. This practice… Read More

They were the rebels of Palestine. Read about who they were and what they believed in. The Maccabees, as discussed earlier, insisted that the Jewish people have their own king. They were defeated when the Romans took over the land in 63 B.C. Later attempts to win freedom and… Read More

In ancient Rome, social class was everything. It determined a person’s rights, privileges and opportunities. The Roman Empire had a class structure based on wealth, birth, and citizenship. At the very top of Roman society was the emperor, who was considered the empire’s “first citizen.” Some emperors even… Read More

Two things never change – death and taxes. The Roman Empire was not an exception. Read about what taxes financed and who collected taxes in the Roman Empire. Though many peoples and cultures contributed to the cultural life in Palestine in Jesus’ day, the Romans were by far… Read More

The Roman Empire used local rulers to maintain order in the regions they conquered. Find out who these leaders were and what authority they had. Roman policy was to respect local customs and the laws of the peoples they ruled. They let local people form councils to control local… Read More

Everything in changes. In the years before Roman rule, Palestine changed frequently. Find out what these changes were and how they affected New Testament society. The centuries leading up to Jesus’ birth were not politically stable in the area known as Palestine. The Jewish people who returned to Judah… Read More