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

How are miracles different from magic? What role does medicine play in magic? Find out here. The Bible is a book of faith, telling the story of how God acted in history to protect and save humankind. Miracles are an important part of that story. Read More

Archaeological finds have helped scholars understand the world in biblical times. Learn about how archaeology came about and why it is important to biblical scholarship. Serious study of the remains of the ancient Near East began around 1800 when Napoleon invaded Egypt, taking with him artists and scholars to study… Read More

When the Jews returned to their homeland after the exile things changed. Find out about the factors that influenced the Jews after they returned to Judea. In Babylon  The Bible provides little information about the years in the sixth century B.C. when many of the Israelite people lived in exile… Read More