Böcker av Paul L. Maier

"Vivid style and keen insights make this book a delight and a genuine educational experience."--Moody Magazine In this richly illustrated volume--formerly titled In the Fullness of Time--Paul Maier visits the origins of Christianity, taking the reader back to the first Christmas, the first Easter, and the first Christians. His impressive research and brilliant insights correlate history, archaeology, and the New Testament to bring alive the true drama of earliest Christianity. This skillful narrative sheds a brilliant new light on the life of Jesus and the adventures of the courageous men and women who carried His message throughout a hostile empire. A host of magnificent color and black-and-white photographs recreate the world, the mood, the people, and the events with an immediacy that sweeps readers into the exciting first years of Christianity. "The author is at home in the vast literature of his subject."--The New York Times Book Review "For the supremely pivotal event of the Resurrections, Paul Maier's book lends fresh and scholarly support.">"Fascinating. . . . Brings a new perspective to a story we have known all our lives."--Redbook "Fact-filled, interesting, and successful . . . splendid research. This is a beautiful book."--Christian Century

The events surrounding the birth of Jesus are told with remarkable simplicity in the Bible, but they have too often been obscured by myths, mistletoe, and consumerism. Now in paperback, The First Christmas separates fact from fiction, stripping away Yuletide folklore and questionable traditions to tell how it really was in the world of the Nativity. Delving into Jewish, Greek, Roman, and early Christian sources, Paul L. Maier uncovers fresh and fascinating insights into the true, yet unfamiliar, story of the first Christmas. A captivating combination of sacred and secular history, this informative and entertaining book answers many compelling questions, such as: Why did the Roman emperor Augustus order his famous census? What marriage customs applied to Mary and Joseph? When and where was Jesus born? Who were the Wise Men? What was the Star of Bethlehem? This beautifully illustrated gift book by a best-selling author and church history expert offers a glimpse at the real, historical drama of Christmas.

Can one man's madness destroy the faith for which so many would die? A madman who murders his way into power lusts for ever-greater glory and domination. A capital city awash with corruption, sensuality, and political intrigue is at the flash point. And caught between the crushing currents of history are a new but growing religious group known as the followers of The Way.Award-winning historian and best-selling author Paul L. Maier has created a compelling style of documentary fiction, using only known historical events and persons to bring to life first-century Rome in all its excess, treachery, and insanity. This is the Rome that the apostle Paul visits, where he's placed on trial, and which is forever changed by his testimony and witness. Maier takes readers into the courtroom of imperial justice and into the homes of the people struggling with the new faith they've encountered to answers questions such as: How did Christianity first reach Rome?Why did Paul have to wait two years for trial and was he condemned or set free?Why does the New Testament account in Acts end so abruptly? Who set fire to Rome and why did Nero persecute Christians so horribly?Following the family of Flavius Sabinus, mayor of Rome under Nero Maier captures all the drama and tension of the political conflicts that precede and follow the Great Fire of Rome, and the epic political and religious clashes of the world's capital. This is the sensational story of pagans at their worst--and Christians at their best. Readers won't want to put it down.

A man claiming to be Jesus is in Rome. Is it the beginning of the end?

When an ancient skeleton is discovered in Israel, will it shed new light on the life of Jesus or plunge the world into chaos?