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Why did Jesus happen when he happened? Why the confluence of the Baptism movement of John and the Kingdom movement of Jesus? Why were the titles of Caesar Augustus-Divine, Son of God, God from God, Lord, Redeemer, Liberator, and Savior of the World-taken from a Roman emperor on the Palatine hill and given to a Jewish peasant on the Palestine plain?

What were the priorities of Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom? How was the status quo of Roman imperial theology subverted by this obscure Galilean whose message continues to indict empires today?

First Light is a 12-session DVD and web-based study of the historical Jesus and the kingdom of God with two of the world's leading Jesus scholars on location throughout Galilee and Jerusalem. It includes downloadable and printable leader and participant guides with weekly readings and discussion questions. Each session includes a 20-minute video segment and may be conducted in one hour or expanded to include a meal and personal sharing. The flexible DVD and resource materials can be used in a variety of class, retreat, and other formats. The themes for the twelve sessions are:
1. The Matrix of Jesus
2. The Advent of the Messiah
3. God's Great Cleanup
4. Collaborative Eschaton
5. The Lake as the World
6. Parables as Lures
7. Whose Empire?
8. Substitutionary Atonement
9. Demonstrations in Jerusalem
10.The Crown & the Crucifixion
11.Resurrection as Resistance
12.America as the New Rome