The Apostle Paul, who wrote many of the books in the New Testament, was a fearless and revolutionary religious innovator. In a society where slaveholding was commonplace and women were little more than servants, he preached a groundbreaking equality founded on a new spiritual identity. In an imperial political system that demanded unquestioning allegiance, Paul told his readers they were citizens of heaven.Yet Paul diverged from many of Jesus’s own teachings about the world and God’s kingdom, and his writings have been used to justify slavery, defend violence toward women, and vilify followers of other religious paths.
With fresh translations from the original Greek and insightful yet unobtrusive commentary, Ron Miller guides you through the complexities of Paul’s writings. He explores Paul’s limitations and sometimes harmful legacy, but also highlights Paul’s deep connection with God’s Spirit. This connection led to Paul’s penetrating insights on how to live a life filled with spiritual vigor, experience profound joy even in the face of trouble, and understand the fundamental power of love to overcome any obstacle.
Whether you are familiar with Paul’s writings or have no previous knowledge of them, this SkyLight Illuminations volume will open a door to let you experience the power of Paul’s words for yourself.

Healing the Jewish-Christian Rift (Skylight Paths)

 

Judaism and Christianity have had a volatile relationship in their two-thousand-year history. Christian scholar Ron Miller and Jewish scholar Laura Bernstein explore the roots of anti-Semitism in Christian faith and scripture, probing interfaith dialogue to trace the Jewish-Christian schism to the first book of the New Testament.How did a Jewish teacher, healer, sage and mystic become the vehicle for so much hatred and harm directed against his own people?

Dialogue is demanding and difficult. It is often painful. It entails deep listening, letting others define themselves and being willing to confront and transform deep-rooted prejudices in ourselves. It requires the courage to re-envision absolutely everything we tend to cherish and protect, and to relinquish our entrenched vainglorious ego attachments, our inflated sense of I, me and mine. This challenge to grow beyond tribalism, to approach others in a fair and reasonable way, is an essential step in our human evolution.

from the Invitation to the Reader

Judaism and Christianity have had a volatile relationship in their two-thousand-year history. Anger, rivalry, insensitivity, bloodshed and murder have marred the special connection these two Abrahamic faiths share. In the last several decades, scholars, activists, laypeople and clergy have attempted to expose and eliminate the struggles between Jews and Christians.

This collaborative effort brings together the voices of Christian scholar Ron Miller and Jewish scholar Laura Bernstein to further explore the roots of anti-Semitism in Christian faith and scripture. In a probing interfaith dialogue, Miller and Bernstein trace the Jewish-Christian schism to its very source in the first book of the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew. Illuminating the often misunderstood context of Matthew's gospel a persecuted Christian minority writing some sixty years after Jesus's death this examination of a foundational Christian text discerns the ways in which the Jewishness of Jesus was forgotten and Jews and Judaism became Christianity's foil. More important, it takes a renewed look at Matthew with contemporary retellings that present a new and better future of conciliation and compassion between the two faith traditions.

Startling in its innovative approach … shatters the mold of most approaches to Gospel commentary. It imaginatively yokes together historical scholarship, literary freshness and commitment to interreligious dialogue all with a spiritual energy that is unnervingly evocative for our turbulent times.
Rev. Alan Race, editor in chief, Interreligious Insight: A Journal of Dialogue and Engagement

Excellent and insightful … a fresh and dynamic model for Jewish-Christian collaboration. This book is going to open minds and, more important, change hearts.
Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author of The Divine Feminine in Biblical Wisdom Literature: Selections Annotated and Explained

Offers us sensitive reflections on key religious texts that have produced pain and separation in the past, and shows us a way through these texts to a more wholesome and productive encounter between the two faith communities. A welcome addition to the dialogue on Christian-Jewish relations.
John T. Pawlikowski, OSM, PhD, director, Catholic-Jewish Studies Program Catholic Theological Union, Chicago; president, International Council of Christians and Jews

Hidden Gospel of Matthew: Annotated & Explained

The previously untold story of Matthew's Gospel brought to life for today's readers.

Matthew's Gospel stands as the first book of the Christian Testament, visible to all the world for almost two thousand years. But there is something hidden in Matthew's Gospel. The document was not written at one time by one person It is an edited document, bringing together different sources of tradition.

The Hidden Gospel of Matthew: Annotated and Explained takes readers deep into the text to find the words and events that have the strongest connection to the historical Jesus. Ron Miller reveals the underlying story of Matthew to readers, giving them a full appreciation of the book's message, uncovering a portrait of Jesus that at times resembles the gnostic Christ and sage teacher of the Gospel of Thomas more than it does traditional Christianity.

Gospel of Thomas: A Guidebook for Spiritual Practice

The Gospel of Thomasa book of sayings and wisdom of Jesus compiled as early or earlier than the New Testament gospels can transform your spiritual life.

In the decades since its discovery, the Gospel of Thomas has intrigued people of all faiths around the world. Shedding new light on the origins of Christianity, the Gospel of Thomas raises questions about whether the New Testament's version of Jesus's teachings is entirely accurate and complete. In the Gospel of Thomas we see Jesus as a wisdom-loving sage, sharing aphorisms about the value of the present and each person's role in the creation of the Kingdom of God here on earth. But these inspiring sayings can leave you wondering, "What next?"

Now you can learn how to start applying Jesus's wisdom to your own life and, in turn, to the world around you. This unique guidebook leads you through Thomas, offering practices that help you translate Jesus's wisdom into a more fulfilling, enriching daily life, including:

• Becoming a Spiritual Adult
• Sorting Out the Old and the New
• Being a Healing Presence
• Daring to Be a City on a Hill
• God's Reign Calls for Ready Hands
• Spirituality Is Not Skygazing
• And much more