Sabbath

Part one is broken into 10 sections. 1. Origins - Views of human beginnings from Babylonian and Aztec myths as well as from the Bible and the Koran.  2. The Evolution Explanation - Darwin's theory of evolution challenges traditional view of origins.  3. Beyond Chance - A case against blind chance as a logical explanation of human origins.  4. Intelligent Designer - The Bible's portrayal of Creation and the Creator.  5. The Architecture of Time - The week and the Sabbath in the structure of human life.  6. Point of Contact - The weekly Sabbath in man's relationship with God.  7. A Day for All Mankind - The universal and perpetual purpose for the weekly day of rest.  8. Unholy Sabbath - National disaster strikes the "chosen people" due, in part, to their neglect of the Sabbath.  9. Sabbath Around the World - Somehow the concept of Sabbath extended into the culture and language of many peoples.  10. Reform - Revival of Sabbath observance among the Jews who returned from exile results in heroism and tragedy.

Part two is broken into 10 sections. 1. Religion in Rome - A summary view of Roman religions during the time of Jesus.  2. The Jewish Sabbath - Strict Sabbathkeeping marked the Jews as unique.  3. The Sabbath Reformer - The Bible protrays Jesus as a revolutionary Sabbathkeeper.  4. Prophecy - Jesus predicted that His followers would be still be keeping the Sabbath at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.  5. Christians and Jews - The two groups shared a view of a personal God and of the weekly Sabbath, but Christians found new meaning in the holy day.  6. The Christian Sabbath - Clear evidence for Christian observance of the seventh-day Sabbath in the first century AD.  7. Sundaykeepers - Second-century Christians in Alexandria and Rome begin observing the first day of the week instead of the Sabbath.  8. The Day of the Sun - Roman sun worship and its link to Christian Sunday observance.  9. Sunday Law - Emperor Constantine legalizes Sunday as the weekly day of rest in the Roman Empire.  10. The Sabbath Survives - Proof of seventh-day (Saturday) Sabbath observance into the middle of the fourth century.

Part three is broken into 11 sections. 1. Celtic Christianity - The religious background to the story of St. Patrick.  2. The Real Patrick - Once a slave in Ireland, Patrick responds to a divine call and returns to the Emerald Isle as a missionary.  3. Celtic Sabbath - Saturday observed as the Sabbath by Celtic Christians.  4. Margaret of Scotland - Margaret comes from England, marries King Malcolm, and attempts to reform Sunday observance in Scotland.  5. Assault on the Sabbath - The Church of Rome promotes the Sabbath (Saturday) fast as an expression of anti-Jewish sentiments.  6. Power Struggle - The "Sabbath fast" becomes a key issue in the rivalry between church leaders in Rome and Constantinople.  7. Deceptions - The "letter from heaven" threatens Sunday-breakers.  8. Fight for Truth - Resistance to church/state authority brings tragedy.  9. John Wycliffe: Champion of Conscience - An Oxford professor focuses new attention on the Bible as the supreme authority for Christian faith and practice.  10. The Lollards - Wycliffe's followers take his views throughout England and beyond.  11. The Church vs. the Bible - The church-state establishment opposes the spread of the Bible and the ideas of Wycliffe and the Lollards.

Part four is broken into 8 sections. 1. Russian Reformation - This Sabbathkeeping movement reached the highest levels of Russian society and led to fiery executions in Moscow's Red Square.  2. Sabbath vs. Sunday in Ethiopia - Jesuit missionaries succeeded in converting the Emperor to Roman Catholicism, but attempts to quash Sabbath observance resulted in civil war.  3. Inquisition - Civil and religious authorities united to root out "heresy."  4. Purging the Church in Spain - Ferdinand and Isabella, the "Catholic Monarchs," used the Spanish Inquisition to rid their church of Jewish heresies.  5. Portugal Exports the Inquisition - Inquisitors carried their campaign of religious persecution into the new territories of Portugal's expanding empire.  6. Authority: Sola Scriptura? - Protestant Reformers insisted on the authority of the sacred Scriptures, while Catholic leaders defended their church's stand on Tradition.  7. Anabaptists - Persecuted by Protestants and Catholics alike, these radical reformers stood for strict adherence to biblical teachings. Among them were new champions of the Sabbath.  8. The Seventh-day Men - While many Puritan preachers insisted on strict observance of Sunday, other prominent Englishmen called for a return to the Sabbath of the Ten Commandments.

Part five is broken into 14 sections.

1. Roger Williams and Religious Liberty - This nonconformist preacher established the Rhode Island colony on the foundation of freedom of conscience for everybody.

2. To the New World - A Sabbathkeeping Baptist couple emigrate from England to Rhode Island and help establish the first Seventh Day Baptist congregation in America.

3. A Song in the Wilderness - Conrad Beisel and his followers establish a Sabbathkeeping community on Pennsylvania's Cocalico Creek — the Ephrata Coister.

4. A Voice from Germany - Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf directs the Moravian mission to the North American Indians and inspires his community to keep the seventh-day Sabbath.

5. Advent Movement - A Seventh Day Baptist lady shares her Sabbath beliefs with her pastor, and this leads to the establishment of the Seventh-day Adventist church.

6. Kingdom of Heavenly Peace - 19th-century China is shaken by the Taiping Revolution, a huge peasant revolt that is shaped, in part, by bibical principles including observance of the seventh-day Sabbath.

7. Eskimo Prophet - In Alaska's Kobuk River valley a man named Maniilaq learns about "seventh-day resting" from one he calls "the Grandfather."

8. The Shining One - Deep in the South American rain forest Chief Owkwa learns about the Sabbath from a bright celestial visitor.

9. Africa - The Sabbath's deep cultural roots in various parts of this continent.

10. Saving Sunday - The secularization of Sunday in 19th-century America leads some political and religious leaders to promote laws that would protect Sunday as the national day of rest and worship.

11. Sabbath on Trial - People who observe Saturday rather than Sunday as their weekly day of worship sometimes face financial hardship and legal trouble because of their beliefs.

12. People of the Sabbath - Although still a small minority, seventh-day Sabbathkeepers are increasing in number around the world.

13. Challenges - Sabbathkeeping theologians respond to critics who contend that observing the seventh-day Sabbath is legalistic or irrelevant for Christians today.

14. Eternal Sabbath - Bible prophecy points to the Sabbath as part of God's plan for a perfect world in the eternal future.