Torah Club
Three Free Books!
Back in 1989, I was attending the University of Minnesota. For a few months, I took a room in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in a bedroom in my sister's house. Her husband Mike, a graduate of Bethel Seminary, was teaching me how to make a living in the same manner as other men with seminary educations--painting houses and apartments. Over lunch, we often talked theology. In one of those conversations, I asked, "What happened after the book of Acts? What happened to the Jewish believers?"
I was interested in those sorts of questions because I had doubts about whether or not Christianity as we knew it was actually in continuity with the Bible.
Later that evening, Mike put a small paperback version of Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History into my hands and said, "Keep it." It still had the price tag from the used bookstore down the street. I spent the next several evenings with Eusebius, learning the story of the writing of the gospels, the Jewish revolt, the fall of Jerusalem, the martyrdom of the apostles, the rise of various heresies, and the legends of the earliest days of the faith. I still have that heavily dog-eared and marked-up copy of Ecclesiastical History.
Eusebius was the bishop of Caesarea in the fourth century. He had access to a large library of early Christian documents in the Caesarea library. Many of those works are now lost. Drawing on those earlier works, Eusebius wrote a history of the Christian faith from the days of the Master up through the conversion of Constantine.
Eusebius opened a new world of information to me. He preserved stories about Thomas, Peter, James, John, and the whole gang. He picked up the story where the New Testament left off.
Eusebius, a fourth century Christian bishop, also introduced me to two first century Jews: Flavius Josephus and Philo of Alexandria. Josephus wrote history; Philo wrote philosophy and theology. Together, they provide a window into the days of the Master and the apostolic period. Philo tells the story of an abomination of desolation in the days of the apostles, and Josephus narrates the disastrous Jewish revolt, fall of Jerusalem, and painful aftermath.
This fall, I have the opportunity to assemble the book of Acts, Eusebius, Philo, Josephus and a host of early Jewish and Christian sources into one continuous, narrative commentary. I am embarking on a dream project: Torah Club Volume Six: Chronicles of the Apostles. Check it out here.
Here's the plan. Chronicles of the Apostles will provide Messianic Jewish commentary on the book of Acts, utilizing the Franz Delitzsch Hebrew translation and the previously untranslated commentaries of Rabbi Yechiel Tzvi Lichtenstein. We will supplement the narrative of the book of Acts with background material from Josephus, Philo, and rabbinic literature. After finishing the book of Acts, we will continue to learn the story of the apostles and the first believers with the help of Josephus, Eusebius, and a variety of early Jewish and Christian sources. We will follow the story up to 135 CE when Jerusalem fell in the second Jewish Revolt and the Jewish believers went into exile.
If you subscribe to Chronicles of the Apostles before September 30, 2011, we will send you a three-volume set of critical sources (a retail value of $79.85) as a free gift! (See details of offer here.) The Works of Josephus, The Works of Philo, and Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History are must-have essentials for the history of first-century Judaism and the apostles.
I hope you will join us this fall. Sign up today to take advantage of the gift offer. Remember, your Torah Club membership supports the ministry of First Fruits of Zion.
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Visitor Feedback:
Thank you Daniel, I have just received my free gift, what a beautiful gift!....Shalom
Phillip van Niekerk | September 13, 2011 8:44 PM
I just discovered your site...Am looking to sign up (subscribe) for Chronicles of the Apostles. Any chance there might be more of the free gift left? :)
***FFOZ's Response:*** I think there is. Call the office to find out for sure: 800-775-4807.
Rosalind Daily | November 3, 2011 7:01 AM
dear mr lancaster
i have a question concerning Eusebius wasn't he antisemitic as was Constantine.
His comments in his writings seem very derogatory about the Jews?
Thank you for your time and for your Galatians book it is a blessing to me
***FFOZ Response:*** His view of the Jews would have been very similar to the other Church Fathers of his day.
gail drake | November 8, 2011 6:46 AM