For many Jewish Christians of the first century, living in the light of the gospel was challenging. Having accepted Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, they were regarded by still-skeptical family, friends and neighbors as dangerous, misguided and even disloyal to all that God had said earlier on. The letter to the Hebrews was written to show that you can't go back to an earlier stage of God's purposes but must press on eagerly to the one that is yet to come. In these studies by Tom Wright we find encouragement and assurance that pressing on, even in the face of such close and constant pressure to fall back, is its own reward.

Pell, Patty

Patty Pell is a regional training specialist for Rocky Mountain InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. She is pursuing an M.A. in biblical studies at Denver Seminary. She is the author of Esther (LifeGuide Bible Study) and the Small Group Leaders' Handbook.

Wright, N. T.

N. T. Wright is research professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He taught New Testament studies for twenty years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities, and was formerly the bishop of Durham and canon theologian of Westminster Abbey. A prolific writer of both scholarly and popular books, N. T. Wright has written over thirty books, including What Saint Paul Really Said, The Challenge of Jesus, The Meaning of Jesus, Jesus and the Victory of God and Paul and the Faithfulness of God. His N. T. Wright For Everyone Series includes commentaries covering the entire New Testament.