Parable of the Messiah Scrolls

Document storage jar and a first century document

the parable of the The Messiah Scrolls

Note to my friends

How can we know God?
Through the Holy Spirit!

The Gospel in Christ Culture:
how resemblance and
stereotypes endanger
100% Christian community

Christ Culture and
Civil Community

Your work in this format?

Table of Contents

About the Authors

About the Parable
...if you’re Christian
...if you’re not Christian
...if you prefer not to state
...and Second Life

Project Strategy & Goals

Free preview
(registration required)

Join the discussion
(uses vBulletin; free to view,
registration required to post;
opening in early 2012)

Purchase the full online novel
for $27.50 (normally $55)
Pre-publication price in effect until
the hard copy ($55) is published
(expected 2013); a printed book
will be shipped free of charge to
each purchaser of the online edition.
If you are an independent
bookseller: we pay referral fees!

For information on the
Scrolls Patron program,
contact Tertius 29

Follow @MessiahScrolls

You are invited to preview the novel:

A story about how the New Testament could have been written and compiled: who helped the Gospel authors? who tried to kill them?

An imaginative picture of the missional communities of Christians in the first century

Possible answers to questions such as: how did the first Christians manage to spread the Word so quickly? how did female Christians and converts from other cultures participate?

A secure e-book with two streams of text, pop-up definitions, and an invitation to readers to submit annotations

To register and read several chapters for free, you must provide a valid e-mail address and a password. Once you log in, you can click either of the buttons on this page to resume reading where you left off. You are also invited to:

Read the mission statement
Join a discussion of issues in first century Christian community (visitors may read, posters must register, re-opening in early 2012)
Sign up to receive project updates
Follow the project on Twitter and Facebook
Attend a discussion in Second Life

The Annotated Parable of the Messiah Scrolls: a work of collaboration

Lay and academic scholars of this e-novel are invited to bring their own insights and expertise to bear in providing annotations to the published hard cover version of The Parable of the Messiah Scrolls – hopefully with the effect of encouraging Christians and non-Christians alike not only to read but also to engage with the underlying biblical beliefs and practices of the first century Christians. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the Word Implanted, which is able to save your souls. - James 1:21

If you would like to read and annotate the full novel, the pre-print-publication price of $27.50 entitles you to:

Secure online access to all chapters of the novel, including group annotations and reference material
A study guide
A printed copy shipped free in 2013

Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, please join me in editorial additions, in your annotations, in the discussion boards, in the preparation of public domain study materials, working in hope as we bring fresh images of the developing first century Christian communities into the modern day.

With gratitude for your interest,

Tertius 29