Who was Jesus?Historical sources portray a person who was complex, multi-layered, and often contradictory to the tidy portrait that much of modern Christianity paints him as. Even the gospel accounts render him as both judge and healer, teacher and temple, servant and savior.A Doubter's Guide to Jesus is a persuasive and often challenging investigation into the historical figure found in the earliest sources. These sources, which include references...

Is the world better off without Christianity?Combining narrative with keen critique of contemporary debates, author and historian John Dickson gives an honest account of 2,000 years of Christian history that helps us understand what Christianity is and what it's meant to be.To say that the Christian Church has an "image problem" doesn't quite capture it. From the Crusades and the Inquisition to the racism and abuse present in today's Church--both in Catholi...

A fresh approach to the hot-button topic of women in ministryBased on his study of a key word for “teaching” in the New Testament—an activity often thought to be prohibited to women—and on various other kinds of public speaking in which women in Scripture clearly participated, scholar John Dickson builds a case for women preachers.This expanded edition of Hearing Her Voice, published originally as a short ebook, presents an entirely new and convinc...

In this mystery by the acclaimed author of To Wake the Dead, an inheritance hangs in the balance in a case of stolen identities, imposters, and murder.Banished from the idyllic English countryside he once called home and en route to live with his cousin in America, Sir John Farnleigh, black sheep of the wealthy Farnleigh clan, nearly perished in the sinking of the Titanic. Though he survived the catastrophe, his ties with his family did not, and he...

What can we really know for sure about the past? Can anything from ancient history be regarded as ‘fact’? In particular, how seriously can we take the historical sources for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth? Did he really even live in first-century Galilee and Judaea, or is he a figure of legend?In this timely book, historian Dr John Dickson unpacks how the field of history works, giving readers the tools to evaluate for themselves what we can confidently say ...

What really happened back in the first century, in Jerusalem and around the Sea of Galilee, that changed the shape of world history? Who is this figure that emerges from history to have a profound impact on culture, ethics, politics, and philosophy? Join historian John Dickson on this journey through the life of Jesus. This book, which features a self-contained discussion guide for use with Life of Jesus DVD, will help you and your friends dig deeper into what is known about Jesus’ life an...

Mister Hamilton, John Dickson's first collection in eighteen years, is an appealing, questioning mix of elements. Over a base of South Island bedrock (granite, schist, greywacke), Dickson has peopled this quietly fiery collection with day-to-day working voices and narratives, sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, sometimes charged with a political consciousness and lyrical intensity. Shot-through with veins of jazz, rock and blues, quizzical religiosity and a streak of the absurd, th...

The Ten Commandments have influenced non-religious Western culture more than it might imagine. This guide to the famous rules does more than explain what they are or what they say, but why we need them.This moral code in the Old Testament of the Bible—from which sprang ideas of justice, compassion, human rights, and freedom—has had such a strong impact on our society that it seems to represent what most of us think of as basic ethical reasoning. Even atheists like ...

Paris, 1920s. A casino glittering with bad intentions. A wedding night that ends with a severed head on the floor — and a room nobody entered, nobody left.Detective Bencolin has seen a great deal. He has not seen this.There is a madman somewhere in the crowd. A woman who knows more than she says. A Russian with a perfect alibi and a monocle that never fogs. And a murder so impossible that the only honest answer is: it didn't happen.It happened....

A concise account of the whole biblical narrative and what it means—as well as the beliefs and lifestyle it inspires—for those observing Christianity from the outside, especially those who think there are good reasons not to believe.A Doubter's Guide to the Bible charts a biblical roadmap from the story of creation to the fulfillment of creation, answering many of the most frequently asked questions along the way:How can we read the creation ...

Humility, or holding power loosely for the sake of others, is sorely lacking in today’s world. Without it, many people fail to develop their true leadership potential and miss out on genuine fulfillment in their lives and their relationships. Humilitas: A Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership shows how the virtue of humility can turn your strengths into true greatness in all areas of life. Through the lessons of history, business, and the social sciences, author John Dickson shows that hu...

As the thick, autumnal fog chokes the capital, within the fire-lit lounge of London's notorious Brimstone Club a bizarre tale is being spun for Inspector Bencolin and his friend Jeff Marle. A member of the club has been sent a model of a tiny gallows, and the word is that the folkloric hangman Jack Ketch has been stalking the streets for victims by night. The threat of this supposed bogeyman becomes thrillingly real when that same night Bencolin and Marle are almost run down by a limousine...