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The Jesuits
by Gauvin Alexander Bailey John W. O'Malley T. Frank Kennedy Steven J. HarrisIn recent years scholars in a range of disciplines have begun to re-evaluate the history of the Society of Jesus. Approaching the subject with new questions and methods, they have reconsidered the importance of the Society in many sectors, including those related to the sciences and the arts. They have also looked at the Jesuits as emblematic of certain traits of early modern Europeans, especially as those Europeans interacted with 'the Other' in Asia and the Americas.Originating in an international conference held at Boston College in 1997, the thirty-five essays here reflect this new historiographical trend. Focusing on the Old Society- the Society before its suppression in 1773 by papal edict- they examine the worldwide Jesuit undertaking in such fields as music, art, architecture, devotional writing, mathematics, physics, astronomy, natural history, public performance, and education, and they give special attention to the Jesuits' interaction with non-European cultures, in North and South America, China, India, and the Philippines. A picture emerges not only of the individual Jesuit, who might be missionary, diplomat, architect, and playwright over the course of his life in the Society, but also of the immense and many-faceted Jesuit enterprise as forming a kind of 'cultural ecosystem'.The Jesuits of the Old Society liked to think they had a way of proceeding special to themselves. The question, Was there a Jesuit style, a Jesuit corporate culture? is the thread that runs through this interdisciplinary collection of studies.
The Jesuits: A History
by Markus FriedrichThe most comprehensive and up-to-date exploration of one of the most important religious orders in the modern worldSince its founding by Ignatius of Loyola in 1540, the Society of Jesus—more commonly known as the Jesuits—has played a critical role in the events of modern history. From the Counter-Reformation to the ascent of Francis I as the first Jesuit pope, The Jesuits presents an intimate look at one of the most important religious orders not only in the Catholic Church, but also the world. Markus Friedrich describes an organization that has deftly walked a tightrope between sacred and secular involvement and experienced difficulties during changing times, all while shaping cultural developments from pastoral care and spirituality to art, education, and science.Examining the Jesuits in the context of social, cultural, and world history, Friedrich sheds light on how the order shaped the culture of the Counter-Reformation and participated in the establishment of European empires, including missionary activity throughout Asia and in many parts of Africa in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He also explores the place of Jesuits in the New World and addresses the issue of Jesuit slaveholders. The Jesuits often tangled with the Roman Curia and the pope, resulting in their suppression in 1773, but the order returned in 1814 to rise again to a powerful position of influence. Friedrich demonstrates that the Jesuit fathers were not a monolithic group and he considers the distinctive spiritual legacy inherited by Pope Francis.With its global scope and meticulous attention to archival sources and previous scholarship, The Jesuits illustrates the heterogeneous, varied, and contradictory perspectives of this famed religious organization.
Jesuits: The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church
by Malachi MartinIn The Jesuits, Malachi Martin reveals for the first time the harrowing behind-the-scenes story of the "new" worldwide Society of Jesus. The leaders and the dupes; the blood and the pathos; the politics, the betrayals and the humiliations; the unheard-of alliances and compromises. The Jesuits tells a true story of today that is already changing the face of all our tomorrows.
Jesuits and Asian Goods in the Iberian Empires, 1580–1700 (Palgrave Studies in Comparative Global History)
by Pedro Omar Svriz-WuchererThis book analyzes the exchange relations between the colonies of the Iberian Empires, starting from two cities ports, Buenos Aires and Macau in the period 1580-1700. Agents, who were not professional traders such as the members of the Society of Jesus, and the circulation and consumption of Asian goods in the local populations of Buenos Aires and Macau, were analyzed. Both cases of study will show us how these non-state agents- the Jesuits- build their own networks and exchange channels to Chinese goods distribution (i.e silk, porcelain, musk, amber and others) between Asia and Latin American. This book intends to break with the local scheme of Jesuit studies in order to combine the local scale with analysis of inter-regional processes on a continental scale, from a comparative perspective.
The Jesuits and the Monarchy: Catholic Reform and Political Authority in France (1590-1615) (Catholic Christendom, 1300-1700)
by Eric NelsonThe first three decades of Bourbon rule in France coincided with a period of violent fragmentation followed by rapid renewal within the French Catholic community. In the early 1590s, when Henri IV - Protestant head of the Bourbon house - acceded to the throne, French Catholics were at war with each other as Leaguer and Navarrist factions fought both militarily and ideologically for control of Catholic France. However, by 1620 a partially reconciled French church was in the process of defining a distinctive reform movement as French Catholics, encouraged by their monarchs, sought to assimilate aspects of the international Catholic reformation with Gallican traditions to renew their church. By 1650 this French Catholic church, and its distinctive reform movement forged in the decades following the collapse of the Catholic League, had become one of the most influential movements in European Catholicism. This study reconsiders the forces behind these dramatic developments within the French church through the re-examination of a classic question in French history: Why was the Society of Jesus able to integrate successfully into the French church in the opening decades of the seventeenth-century, despite being expelled from much of the kingdom in 1594 for its alleged role in the attempted assassination of the king? The expulsion, recall and subsequent integration of the Society into the French church offers a unique window into the evolution of French Catholicism between 1590 and 1620. It provides new insight into how Henri IV re-established royal authority in the French Catholic church following the collapse of the Catholic League and how this development helped to heal the rifts in French Catholicism wrought by the Leaguer movement. It also explores in unprecedented detail how Henri played an important role in channelling religious energy in his kingdom towards forms of Catholic piety -exemplified by his new allies the Jesuits - which became the foundation of
Jesuits and the Politics of Religious Pluralism in Eighteenth-Century Transylvania: Culture, Politics and Religion, 1693–1773
by Paul ShoreThis book tells the story of the Jesuit mission to Cluj, Transylvania (now Romania) from 1693, when the Jesuits were allowed to return after almost a century of restricted activity in the region, until 1773, when the order was suppressed. During these eight decades the Jesuits created a complex, multi-faceted community whose impact reached throughout Transylvania and beyond into neighbouring regions. In addition to an ongoing missionary program in this predominantly non-Catholic region, the Jesuits established a cluster of schools and a university that trained the elite, introduced Baroque architecture, music and literature, and became the masters of extensive properties. The Jesuits' schools staged dramas in several languages, their printing press produced a wide range of publications, including a Hungarian 'ABC for Girls' and a catechism in Ukrainian, and Jesuit scientists, including Miksa Hell, later Court Astronomer in Vienna, conducted experiments and observations. Among the unique features of this study are the accounts of how Jesuits sought to impose social conformity on the ethnically and religiously diverse community, the Jesuits' project to develop a 'Uniate Church' that would retain the Eastern Rite while acknowledging the authority of Rome, and the story of the long-forgotten Jesuit 'brothers', who contributed their talents as craftsmen and artists to the Jesuit enterprise. A chapter is devoted to the ill-fated 1743 mission to Moldavia, in which Transylvanian Jesuits hoped to establish a missionary and educational outpost in this Ottoman-dominated principality. Special attention is given to Jesuit interactions with the many minority groups present in Cluj: Armenians, Jews, Roma (Gypsies), and German speaking 'Saxons', as well as encounters with ethnic Romanians, who made up the majority of the population of Transylvania and among whom the Uniate Church was promoted. Cluj, a city where the cultures of Eastern and Western Europe meet, represented the furthermost penetration into Orthodox Europe of the Baroque aesthetic and of the domination of the Habsburgs, supported and glorified by the Jesuits. The successes and failures of this religious order helped shape the history of the region for the next two centuries.
Jesuits at the Margins: Missions and Missionaries in the Marianas (1668-1769) (Routledge Studies in Cultural History #41)
by Alexandre Coello de la RosaIn the past decades historians have interpreted early modern Christian missions not simply as an adjunct to Western imperialism, but a privileged field for cross-cultural encounters. Placing the Jesuit missions into a global phenomenon that emphasizes economic and cultural relations between Europe and the East, this book analyzes the possibilities and limitations of the religious conversion in the Micronesian islands of Guåhan (or Guam) and the Northern Marianas. Frontiers are not rigid spatial lines separating culturally different groups of people, but rather active agents in the transformation of cultures. By bringing this local dimension to the fore, the book adheres to a process of missionary “glocalization” which allowed Chamorros to enter the international community as members of Spain’s regional empire and the global communion of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Jesuits' Estate Question, 1760-1888: A Study of the Background for the Agitation of 1889 (Canadian Studies in History and Government #11)
by Roy DaltonMore than a hundred years of trouble followed the land grant of half a million acres along the St. Lawrence River to the Jesuits. The history of this land is a turbulent one that involved every area of colonial settlement and finally threatened Confederation. In 1888 the Quebec legislature passed an "Act Respecting the Settlement of the Jesuits' Estates": the result was a storm of protest that came close to shattering the union of the provinces. At the time of this Act there was no balanced historical account of the Jesuits' estates. nor until this one has there been any subsequent study that has ever begun to explore their tangled history. Professor Dalton provides a badly needed investigation into this area of Canadian history: his work is unbiased and thorough and offers new material for a reappraisal of this century of our past. (Canadian Studies in History and Government, No. 11.)
The Jesuits in Syria: 1625-1683
by Mazin TadrosThis book examines cross-cultural encounters of the Jesuit missionary enterprise in early modern Southwest Asia. It analyzes the early mission to Syria, paying attention to the key interlocutors of the Jesuits and the many challenges they experienced in their exchanges with other Europeans, Ottoman officials, and Eastern Christians. It demonstrates that there was nominal Muslim-Christian dialogue and important relationships formed between the Jesuits and their Christian and Muslim hosts. The Jesuits in Syria shows that the Jesuits worked in a very complex environment, where competing factions of Europeans, European religious, Eastern Christians, Arab Muslims, Turkish officials, and Turkish Muslims, not to mention “renegades,” played important roles. The book examines missionary correspondence and other complementary sources. It also contrasts the way that the Jesuits wrote about their efforts internally with how they addressed the same topics in “public” documents, either printed or manuscript. It shows that the Jesuits described Islam and Syria in several ways, depending on the nature of the sources. For internal audiences, they wrote of their challenges with Franciscans, French, and Venetian consular figures, and Ottoman officials. For the broader public, whether in Jesuit colleges or in print, they harped on the problems posed by “schismatics” and Muslims. In this way, this volume enriches the story of the early modern Mediterranean.
Jesus
by Deepak ChopraThe New York Times bestselling author of Buddha captures the extraordinary life of Jesus in this surprising, soul-stirring, and page-turning novel. Uncovering the transformational "lost years" that are not recounted in the New Testament, Deepak Chopra has imagined Jesus's path to enlightenment moving from obscurity to revolutionary, from doubt to miracles, and then beyond as the role of the long-awaited Messiah. As a teenager, Jesus has premonitions of his destiny, and by the end, as he arrives to be baptized in the River Jordan, he has accepted his fate, which combines extremes of light and darkness. With his characteristic ability for imparting profound spiritual insights through the power of storytelling, Deepak Chopra's Jesus portrays the life of Christ as never before, ultimately leading us closer to understanding the nature of God and the soul. As the author shares, "I don't want the Jesus in this book to be worshiped, much less to push him forward as definitive. The events of the tale are pure fiction. But at a deeper level, the Jesus in this book feels real because we've gotten a glimpse into his mind. One flash of insight answers many prayers."
Jesus
by John Dominic CrossanThe Controversial, Bestselling Account of What We Can Know About the Life of Jesus
Jesus: One Hundred Years Before Christ - A Study In Creative Mythology
by Alvar EllegardThe starting point for the book is the following anomoly: If Jesus lived as has been supposed at the beginning of the 1st century AD, the only NT documents written by a near contemporary, the Epistles of St Paul, make no mention of him as an historical figure, neither do they record any of his sayings, but rather they talk of him as a vision or mystical experience of the risen Christ. Further, the same is true of the earliest Christian non-NT texts, such as the Epistles of St Clement, roughly contemporary with Paul. Furthermore, contemporary records of the region from non-Christian sources, such as those by the Jewish historian Josephus, fail to mention Jesus at all where we would expect them to; the mentions that there are have recently been shown to be later interpolations by medieval Christian apologists - the gospel accounts of Jesus and his millieu are inaccurate in all major respects e. g. the relative dates of Herod and Pilate, if contemporary Roman and Jewish historians, who had no theological axe to grind, are taken as measure. By comparative textual studies, the author shows that the gospel accounts of Jesus' life and sayings were written approximately 100 years after Jesus is supposed to have lived, and so 100 years later than alleged contemporaries such as Paul, Clement, Josephus etc.
Jesus: A Historical Portrait
by Daniel Harrington<p>Was Jesus a feminist? Who really killed Jesus? Did all those miracles actually happen? How do we know who Jesus is? How are we supposed to know what Jesus really said? How does Jesus' Judaism fit in with our salvation as Christians? <p>Questions about the life and times of Jesus Christ, one of the most written-about people of all time, continue to intrigue us two millennia after his death. Between the vagueness of the canonical Gospels and the sensational claims made in modern films and books, what is a Christian to believe about the only Son of God? <p>Employing a popular take on current New Testament scholarship, Jesuit scholar Father Daniel Harrington explores difficult as well as less complicated issues surrounding the life of Christ. By helping us to place Jesus in a historically accurate context, Father Harrington helps us to better understand the real Jesus, and ultimately, our salvation. <p>Fascinating sidebars and engaging questions for reflection and discussion make Jesus: A Historical Portrait a must-have book for the individual, small group or classroom.</p>
Jesus
by Paul JohnsonThe definitive life of Jesus from the bestselling author of A History of Christianity. Few figures have had such an influence on the world as Jesus of Nazareth. Paul Johnson's brilliant and powerful reading of Jesus' life at once captures his transfiguring message and his historical complexity. With a superb historian's command of his subject, a masterly writer's love of language, and a believer's passion, Johnson presents a lucid and deeply moving biography of a man whose life changed the course of history. Jesus offers readers a succinct yet lively account of the man who inspired one of the world's great religions and whose lessons still guide us today.
Jesus: A Beginner's Guide (Beginner's Guides)
by Anthony Le DonneJesus: A Beginner&’s Guide introduces Jesus, the man and his enduring legacy. Separating fact from fiction, Professor Le Donne places Jesus within the context of first-century Judaism, and explores the debate about his status as 'Son of God' among the early Christians. He then follows his legacy through medieval Europe, and compares the various cultural Jesuses in enlightenment and post-enlightenment thought.
Jesus: A Prophet of Islam
by Muhammad Ata' ur-RahimA history and synopsis of the life of the prophet Jesus in the Moslim books Quran and Hadith. The first part tells us the history and time Jesus was born into, that we know and don't know from the Bible, the second part tells us about some parts of the apocrypha left out of the Bible in 326 A.D. and Nicea, and the 3rd part tells us about the Hadith and Quran where we learn about the prophet Jesus and how the Moslims know him.
Jesus: Nativity - Passion - Resurrection (Scm Classics Ser.)
by Dr Geza VermesThe Nativity, Passion and Resurrection are the three defining episodes in the life of Jesus, forming the foundations of the Christian tradition. But what is the truth behind these epoch-making events?Geza Vermes is one of the world's most respected bibilical historians. Bringing together his three acclaimed works on the life of Jesus in one volume, this book examines the circumstances surrounding the miraculous birth of Jesus, from the prophetic star to Herod's murderous decree; looks afresh at the arrest, trial and execution of this Jewish charismatic; and finally analyses Jesus' crucifixion and the subsequent sightings of him by his disciples. Drawing on the New Testament, Jewish documents and sources from classical literature and history, these works separate myth from fact to penetrate the deeper meanings of the story of Christ.
Jesus: A Novel
by Walter Wangerin Jr.Walter Wangerin Jr. is know for his powerful storytelling in such books as The Book of the Dun Cow, The Book of God, and Paul: A Novel. Now he offers the most important story of the Christian faith—the life of Jesus presented in the author’s inimitable style. Rich in atmosphere and historical detail and as compelling as any contemporary fiction, this novel will move readers with its creative perspectives and deep insights.
Jesus after the Crucifixion: From Jerusalem to Rennes-le-Château
by Graham SimmansSuggests that Jesus survived the crucifixion, went to Egypt, then settled in France • Reveals new discoveries that show the beginnings of Christianity in Egypt • Presents historical and archaeological research that proves a connection between Jerusalem, Egypt, and Rennes-le-Château in the south of France • Posits Rennes-le-Château as the actual location of Jesus Christ’s tomb, and that writings by him will be found there Jesus did not die on the cross. He survived and went to southern France with his wife, Mary. This possibility is proposed by Graham Simmans, who spent many years on a quest to find the real beginnings of Christianity. Simmans believes that the spread of Christianity beyond Jerusalem was tied to Jesus’s survival of the crucifixion and his subsequent emigration to Europe. Using Coptic and Jewish sources, including the Talmud, that allow a glimpse of the Christian philosophy espoused by Jesus, he contends that true Christianity was brought into France, Britain, and Spain from first century Egypt and Judea, not fourth- and fifth-century Rome. His investigation shows that after a time in Egypt, Jesus settled in Rennes-le-Château, a sophisticated and cosmopolitan center of spiritual diversity. It was a natural move for Jesus to settle in the Narbonne area of France--an area already heavily settled by Jewish and Gnostic groups. Here, safely outside the reach of the cultural dictatorship of the Roman Church, the Gnostic secrets he taught survived the centuries. Later, the Knights Templar centered their activity in the Languedoc region around Rennes-le-Château, where, within the Jewish communities, a well-connected and influential opposition to Rome already existed. This resistance to Rome gave rise to a religious culture that included elements of Gnostic, Pythagorean, and Kabbalistic teachings. Until the Crusades against the Cathar heretics reasserted the dominion of Rome, the culture that flourished around Rennes-le-Château embodied the true essence of Christ’s message.
Jesus among the Jews: Representation and Thought (Routledge Jewish Studies Series)
by Neta StahlFor almost two thousand years, various images of Jesus accompanied Jewish thought and imagination: a flesh-and-blood Jew, a demon, a spoiled student, an idol, a brother, a (failed) Messiah, a nationalist rebel, a Greek god in Jewish garb, and more. This volume charts for the first time the different ways that Jesus has been represented and understood in Jewish culture and thought. Chapters from many of the leading scholars in the field cover the topic from a variety of disciplinary perspectives - Talmud, Midrash, Rabbinics, Kabbalah, Jewish Magic, Messianism, Hagiography, Modern Jewish Literature, Thought, Philosophy, and Art – to address the ways in which representations of Jesus contribute to and change Jewish self-understanding throughout the last two millennia. Beginning with the question of how we know that Jesus was a Jew, the book then moves through meticulous analyses of Jewish and Christian scripture and literature to provide a rounded and comprehensive analysis of Jesus in Jewish Culture. This multidisciplinary study will be of great interest not only to students of Jewish history and philosophy, but also to scholars of religious studies, Christianity, intellectual history, literature and cultural studies.
Jesus and Divine Christology
by Brant PitreDid Jesus see himself as divine? Since the beginning of the quest for the historical Jesus, scholars have dismissed the idea that Jesus could have identified himself as God. Such high Christology is frequently depicted as an invention of the councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon, centuries later. Yet recent research has shown that the earliest Jewish followers of Jesus already regarded him as divine. Brant Pitre tackles this paradox in his bold new monograph. Pitre challenges this widespread assumption and makes a robust case that Jesus did consider himself divine. Carefully explicating the Gospels in the context of Second Temple Judaism, Pitre shows how Jesus used riddles, questions, and scriptural allusions to reveal the apocalyptic secret of his divinity. Moreover, Pitre explains how Jesus acts as if he is divine in both the Synoptics and the Gospel of John. Carefully weighing the historical evidence, Pitre argues that the origins of early high Christology can be traced to the historical Jesus&’s words and actions. Jesus and Divine Christology sheds light on long-neglected yet key evidence that the historical Jesus saw himself as divine. Scholars and students of the New Testament—and anyone curious about the Jewish context of early Christianity—will find Pitre&’s argument a necessary and provocative corrective to a critically underexamined topic.
Jesus and His Promised Second Coming: Jewish Eschatology and Christian Origins
by Tucker S. FerdaIn this pioneering study of Scripture and reception history, Tucker S. Ferda shows that the hope for Jesus&’s second coming originated in his own message about the coming of the kingdom after a time of distress. Most historical Jesus scholars take for granted that Jesus&’s second coming was invented by his zealous early followers. In Jesus and His Promised Second Coming, Tucker S. Ferda challenges this critical consensus. Using innovative methodology, Ferda works backward through reception history to Paul and the Gospels to argue that the hope for the second coming originated in Jesus&’s own grappling with the prospect of death and his conviction that the kingdom was near; he expected a return that would coincide with the final judgment and the end of the age within the space of a generation. Ferda also makes a major contribution to the reception history of the Bible, shedding light on how Christians distinguished their faith from Judaism by deriding &“Jewish messianism&” as earthly minded and militaristic. In the early modern period, critics found an expedient way to distance Jesus from this caricature of &“Jewish messianism&”: they pinned the expectation for the second coming on Jesus&’s early followers. A new appreciation for the diversity of Judaism and messianism in the Second Temple period makes possible a fresh reconstruction of Jesus. Bold and historically astute, Jesus and His Promised Second Coming breathes new life into a long-stagnant conversation. It also offers readers fresh insight into the history of Jewish-Christian relations. Students and scholars of the New Testament will need to read and engage with Ferda&’s provocative argument.
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted A Faith And Fractured A Nation
by Kristin Kobes Du MezA scholar of American Christianity presents a seventy-five-year history of evangelicalism that identifies the forces that have turned Donald Trump into a hero of the Religious Right. How did a libertine who lacks even the most basic knowledge of the Christian faith win 81 percent of the white evangelical vote in 2016? And why have white evangelicals become a presidential reprobate’s staunchest supporters? These are among the questions acclaimed historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez asks in Jesus and John Wayne, which delves beyond facile headlines to explain how white evangelicals have brought us to our fractured political moment. Challenging the commonly held assumption that the “moral majority” backed Donald Trump for purely pragmatic reasons, Du Mez reveals that Donald Trump in fact represents the fulfillment, rather than the betrayal, of white evangelicals’ most deeply held values. Jesus and John Wayne is a sweeping account of the last seventy-five years of white evangelicalism, showing how American evangelicals have worked for decades to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism, or in the words of one modern chaplain, with “a spiritual badass.” As Du Mez explains, the key to understanding this transformation is to recognize the role of culture in modern American evangelicalism. Many of today’s evangelicals may not be theologically astute, but they know their VeggieTales, they’ve read John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart, and they learned about purity before they learned about sex—and they have a silver ring to prove it. Evangelical books, films, music, clothing, and merchandise shape the beliefs of millions. And evangelical popular culture is teeming with muscular heroes—mythical warriors and rugged soldiers, men like Oliver North, Ronald Reagan, Mel Gibson, and the Duck Dynasty clan, who assert white masculine power in defense of “Christian America.” Chief among these evangelical legends is John Wayne, an icon of a lost time when men were uncowed by political correctness, unafraid to tell it like it was, and did what needed to be done. Trump, in other words, is hardly the first flashy celebrity to capture evangelicals’ hearts and minds, nor is he the first strongman to promise evangelicals protection and power. Indeed, the values and viewpoints at the heart of white evangelicalism today—patriarchy, authoritarian rule, aggressive foreign policy, fear of Islam, ambivalence toward #MeToo, and opposition to Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community—are likely to persist long after Trump leaves office. A much-needed reexamination, Jesus and John Wayne explains why evangelicals have rallied behind the least-Christian president in American history and how they have transformed their faith in the process, with enduring consequences for all of us.
Jesus and Judaism
by E. P. SandersThis work takes up two related questions with regard to Jesus: his intention and his relationship to his contemporaries in Judaism. These questions immediately lead to two others: the reason for his death (did his intention involve an opposition to Judaism which led to death?) and the motivating force behind the rise of Christianity (did the split between the Christian movement and Judaism originate in opposition during Jesus' lifetime?).
Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Revealing the Jewish Roots of Christianity
by John BergsmaA major new work on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest sacred documents of Judaism, which reveals their surprising connections to early Christianity. “A luminous treatment of a fascinating subject! Highly recommended!”—Scott Hahn, author of The Fourth Cup From award-winning scholar John Bergsma comes an intriguing book that reveals new insights on the Essenes, a radical Jewish community predating Christianity, whose existence, beliefs, and practices are often overlooked in the annuls of history. Bergsma reveals how this Jewish sect directly influenced the beliefs, sacraments, and practices of early Christianity and offers new information on how Christians lived their lives, worshipped, and eventually went on to influence the Roman Empire and Western civilization. Looking to Hebrew scripture and Jewish tradition, Bergsma helps to further explain how a simple Jewish peasant could go on to inspire a religion and a philosophy that still resonates 2,000 years later. In this enriching and exciting exploration, Bergsma demonstrates how the Dead Sea Scrolls—the world's greatest modern archaeological discovery—can shed light on the Church as a sacred society that offered hope, redemption, and salvation to its member. Ultimately, these mysterious writings are a time machine that can transport us back to the ancient world, deepen our appreciation of Scripture, and strengthen our understanding of the Christian faith.“An accessible introduction . . . This is a handy entry point for readers unfamiliar with Essenes or those interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls.”—Publishers Weekly