Paul, along with Silas and Timothy, established the Philippian church on his second missionary journey (Acts 16:12-40). Apparently, most of the new converts were non-Jewish. The absence of a synagogue in the city (v. 13) indicated that few Jews lived in the area. In addition, the names of the Philippians mentioned in Paul’s letter to…
Historian Saul Friedlander is the author of Nazi Germany and the Jews: The Years of Persecution 1933-1939. In a phone conversation with my mom a few years ago, I told her that I was about to read this book. At one point she remarked that Holocaust deniers astonished her. How could people deny a historical…
Nehemiah, cupbearer to the Persian king Ar-ta-xerxes, received royal permission to take an extended leave and go to Jerusalem as its governor to rebuild the city’s broken walls. Nehemiah completed this project far more quickly than anyone thought possible. But Sanballat and Tobiah, enemies of the Jewish people, opposed the governor at every turn. One…