History & Culture

Explore the people, periods, institutions, conflicts, and changing political world of ancient Israel within the larger history of the biblical lands.

Explore customs, institutions, daily practices, material culture, religious practices, social conventions, and figures of speech that illuminate the world understood by biblical writers and their first readers.

Place Israel and Judah within the great powers that shaped biblical history, including Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, the Seleucids, the Hasmoneans, and Rome.

Meet important Jewish, Christian, and Roman writers whose works help illuminate the world of the New Testament and the rise of early Christianity.

Explore Jesus within His first-century setting: His life and journeys, non-biblical testimony, followers, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and the Jewish and Roman world in which He lived.

Follow the growth of Christianity from the apostolic age into the Roman world, including the development of the early Church and the opposition and persecution encountered by Christians.

Examine presentations that place the narratives of Genesis and Exodus within their ancient setting and consider the historical background surrounding the biblical record.

Continue with AVWJ's extensive historical video collections, including church history courses, documentary compendia, Jewish history, and Drive Thru History.

AVWJ also includes historical material that shows the continuing influence of biblical and Christian ideas beyond the ancient world.