In recent decades, the church and academy have witnessed intense debates concerning the concept of penal substitution to describe Christ's atoning sacrifice. Some claim it promotes violence, glorifies suffering and death, and amounts to divine child abuse. Others argue it plays a pivotal role in cla[...]

This book addresses two central questions in current research on the Gospel of Thomas: what was its original language and which early Christian works influenced it? At present, theories of Thomas as a Semitic work abound. Simon Gathercole dismantles these approaches, arguing instead that Thomas is G[...]

In this challenging book, rising New Testament scholar Simon Gathercole contradicts a commonly held view among biblical scholars - that the "Gospel of John" is the only Gospel to give evidence for Jesus' heavenly identity and preexistence. "The Preexistent Son" demonstrates that Matthew, Mark, and L[...]