The Rise and Fall of the Christian Myth

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Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300227892
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (2 download)

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Book Synopsis The Rise and Fall of the Christian Myth by : Burton L. Mack

Download or read book The Rise and Fall of the Christian Myth written by Burton L. Mack and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-07 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the culmination of a lifelong scholarly inquiry into Christian history, religion as a social institution, and the role of myth in the history of religions. Mack shows that religions are essentially mythological and that Christianity in particular has been an ever-changing mythological engine of social formation, from Roman times to its distinct American expression in our time. The author traces the cultural influence of the Christian myth that has persisted for sixteen hundred years but now should be much less consequential in our social and cultural life, since it runs counter to our democratic ideals. We stand at a critical impasse: badly splintered by conflicting groups pursuing their own social interests, a binding common myth needs to be established by renewing a truly cohesive national and international story rooted in our democratic and egalitarian origins, committed to freedom, equality, and vital human values.

Christian Beginnings

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Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300195311
Total Pages : 367 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (1 download)

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Book Synopsis Christian Beginnings by : Geza Vermes

Download or read book Christian Beginnings written by Geza Vermes and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-26 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIV The creation of the Christian Church is one of the most important stories in the development of the world's history, but also one of the most enigmatic and little understood, shrouded in mystery and misunderstanding. Through a forensic, brilliant reexamination of all the key surviving texts of early Christianity, Geza Vermes illuminates the origins of a faith and traces the evolution of the figure of Jesus from the man he was—a prophet recognizable as the successor to other Jewish holy men of the Old Testament—to what he came to represent: a mysterious, otherworldly being at the heart of a major new religion. As Jesus's teachings spread across the eastern Mediterranean, hammered into place by Paul, John, and their successors, they were transformed in the space of three centuries into a centralized, state-backed creed worlds away from its humble origins. Christian Beginnings tells the captivating story of how a man came to be hailed as the Son consubstantial with God, and of how a revolutionary, anticonformist Jewish subsect became the official state religion of the Roman Empire. /div

The Myth of Christian Beginnings

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Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1725225883
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (252 download)

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Book Synopsis The Myth of Christian Beginnings by : Robert L. Wilken

Download or read book The Myth of Christian Beginnings written by Robert L. Wilken and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2009-05-04 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this challenging and vividly written book Dr. Wilken shows that there never was a golden age in the Christian past. Christian hope did not come to fulfillment in the age of apostles, nor in the time of Constantine, nor in the Middle Ages, nor during the Reformation, nor in the revivals of the 19th century, nor in the movements of renewal in our own time. The history of Christianity is a story of imperfection and fragmentation, but also a history of hoping and striving for an end that cannot be seen yet bears on the present. With lively examples from the Christian past Wilken shows that change has been an abiding feature of Christian tradition. Often those who proposed new ways of thinking and acted in unexpected ways turned out to be more faithful than those who repeated the old formulas. As much as the past may give specificity and concreteness to renewal in the present Christian hope is set on things that are yet to be.

America's Christian History

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Publisher : American Vision
ISBN 13 : 0915815710
Total Pages : 278 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (158 download)

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Book Synopsis America's Christian History by : Gary DeMar

Download or read book America's Christian History written by Gary DeMar and published by American Vision. This book was released on 2005 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "From the founding of the colonies to the declaration of the Supreme Court, America's heritage is built upon the principles of the Christian religion. And yet the secularists are dismantling this foundation brick by brick, attempting to deny the very core of our national life. Gary DeMar presents well-documented facts which will change your perspective about what it means to be a Christian in America; the truth about America's Christian past as it relates to supreme court justices, and presidents; the Christian character of colonial charters, state constitutions, and the US Constitution; the Christian foundation of colleges, the Christian character of Washington, D.C.; the origin of Thanksgiving and so much more."--Publisher's description

The Myth of Persecution

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Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0062104543
Total Pages : 247 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (621 download)

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Book Synopsis The Myth of Persecution by : Candida Moss

Download or read book The Myth of Persecution written by Candida Moss and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An expert on early Christianity reveals how the early church invented stories of Christian martyrs—and how this persecution myth persists today. According to church tradition and popular belief, early Christians were systematically persecuted by a brutal Roman Empire intent on their destruction. As the story goes, vast numbers of believers were thrown to the lions, tortured, or burned alive because they refused to renounce Christ. But as Candida Moss reveals in The Myth of Persecution, the “Age of Martyrs” is a fiction. There was no sustained 300-year-long effort by the Romans to persecute Christians. Instead, these stories were pious exaggerations; highly stylized rewritings of Jewish, Greek, and Roman noble death traditions; and even forgeries designed to marginalize heretics, inspire the faithful, and fund churches. The traditional story of persecution is still invoked by church leaders, politicians, and media pundits who insist that Christians were—and always will be—persecuted by a hostile, secular world. While violence against Christians does occur in select parts of the world today, the rhetoric of persecution is both misleading and rooted in an inaccurate history of the early church. By shedding light on the historical record, Moss urges modern Christians to abandon the conspiratorial assumption that the world is out to get them.

Remembering the Christian Past

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Publisher : Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9780802808806
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (88 download)

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Book Synopsis Remembering the Christian Past by : Robert Louis Wilken

Download or read book Remembering the Christian Past written by Robert Louis Wilken and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 1995 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable. Prompting readers to reacquaint themselves with forgotten aspects of Christian tradition, this collection of essays points out the importance of remembering the enduring truths of the faith. Robert Wilken touches on a host of topics that are still pertinent today: the role of commitment in the study of religion, religious pluralism, Christian apologetics, the biblical roots of the doctrine of the Trinity, the spiritual interpretation of the Bible, the importance of examples for living a virtuous life, and the place of the passions in our relation to God.

The Founding Myth

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Publisher : Sterling
ISBN 13 : 9781454943914
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (439 download)

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Book Synopsis The Founding Myth by : Andrew L. Seidel

Download or read book The Founding Myth written by Andrew L. Seidel and published by Sterling. This book was released on 2021-10-12 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Was America founded on Judeo-Christian principles? Are the Ten Commandments the basis for American law? In the paperback edition of this critically acclaimed book, a constitutional attorney settles the debate about religion's role in America's founding. In today's contentious political climate, understanding religion's role in American government is more important than ever. Christian nationalists assert that our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and advocate an agenda based on this popular historical claim. But is this belief true? The Founding Myth answers the question once and for all. Andrew L. Seidel builds his case by comparing the Ten Commandments to the Constitution and contrasting biblical doctrine with America's founding philosophy, showing that the Declaration of Independence contradicts the Bible. Thoroughly researched, this persuasively argued and fascinating book proves that America was not built on the Bible and that Christian nationalism is un-American. Includes a new epilogue reflecting on the role Christian nationalism played in fomenting the January 6, 2021, insurrection in DC and the warnings the nation missed.

History of Christianity

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1451688512
Total Pages : 816 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (516 download)

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Book Synopsis History of Christianity by : Paul Johnson

Download or read book History of Christianity written by Paul Johnson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-03-27 with total page 816 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1976, Paul Johnson’s exceptional study of Christianity has been loved and widely hailed for its intensive research, writing, and magnitude—“a tour de force, one of the most ambitious surveys of the history of Christianity ever attempted and perhaps the most radical” (New York Review of Books). In a highly readable companion to books on faith and history, the scholar and author Johnson has illuminated the Christian world and its fascinating history in a way that no other has. Johnson takes off in the year AD 49 with his namesake the apostle Paul. Thus beginning an ambitious quest to paint the centuries since the founding of a little-known ‘Jesus Sect’, A History of Christianity explores to a great degree the evolution of the Western world. With an unbiased and overall optimistic tone, Johnson traces the fantastic scope of the consequent sects of Christianity and the people who followed them. Information drawn from extensive and varied sources from around the world makes this history as credible as it is reliable. Invaluable understanding of the framework of modern Christianity—and its trials and tribulations throughout history—has never before been contained in such a captivating work.

A History of Christianity

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Publisher : Penguin UK
ISBN 13 : 0141021896
Total Pages : 1065 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (41 download)

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Book Synopsis A History of Christianity by : Diarmaid MacCulloch

Download or read book A History of Christianity written by Diarmaid MacCulloch and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2010 with total page 1065 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From a prize-winning author, this book charts the course of Christianity from ancient history onwards.

Hymns and the Christian Myth

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Publisher : UBC Press
ISBN 13 : 0774844906
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (748 download)

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Book Synopsis Hymns and the Christian Myth by : Lionel Adey

Download or read book Hymns and the Christian Myth written by Lionel Adey and published by UBC Press. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From its beginnings in the Bible, Christian hymnology has fulfilled three functions -- praise, recital and teaching of the Myth, and collective and personal adoration as well as the foundation and worship of the church. In Hymns and the Christian Myth, Lionel Adey demonstrates that over the centuries shifts emphasizing particular elements of the Christian faith accord with the interests and concerns of the times in which the hymns were composed.

The Two Cities: A History of Christian Politics

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Publisher : Emmaus Road Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1645851249
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (458 download)

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Book Synopsis The Two Cities: A History of Christian Politics by : Andrew Willard Jones

Download or read book The Two Cities: A History of Christian Politics written by Andrew Willard Jones and published by Emmaus Road Publishing. This book was released on 2021-06-24 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The prevailing narrative of human history, given to us as children and reinforced constantly through our culture, is the plot of progress. As the narrative goes, we progressed from tyranny to freedom, from superstition to science, from poverty to wealth, from darkness to enlightenment. This is modernity’s origin myth. Out of it, a consensus has emerged: part of human progress is the overcoming of religion, in particular Christianity, and that the world itself is fundamentally secular. In The Two Cities: A History of Christian Politics, Andrew Willard Jones rewrites the political history of the West with a new plot, a plot in which Christianity is true, in which human history is Church history. The Two Cities moves through the rise and fall of empires; cycles of corruption and reform; the rise and fall of Christendom; the emergence of new political forms, such as the modern state, and new political ideologies, such as liberalism and socialism; through the horrible destruction of modern warfare; and on to the plight of contemporary Christians. These movements of history are all considered in light of their orientation toward or away from God. The Two Cities advances a theory of Christian politics that is both an explanation of secular politics and a proposal for Christians seeking to navigate today’s most urgent political questions.

Did America Have a Christian Founding?

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Publisher : HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN 13 : 1400211115
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (2 download)

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Book Synopsis Did America Have a Christian Founding? by : Mark David Hall

Download or read book Did America Have a Christian Founding? written by Mark David Hall and published by HarperChristian + ORM. This book was released on 2019-10-29 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A distinguished professor debunks the assertion that America's Founders were deists who desired the strict separation of church and state and instead shows that their political ideas were profoundly influenced by their Christian convictions. In 2010, David Mark Hall gave a lecture at the Heritage Foundation entitled "Did America Have a Christian Founding?" His balanced and thoughtful approach to this controversial question caused a sensation. C-SPAN televised his talk, and an essay based on it has been downloaded more than 300,000 times. In this book, Hall expands upon this essay, making the airtight case that America's Founders were not deists. He explains why and how the Founders' views are absolutely relevant today, showing that they did not create a "godless" Constitution; that even Jefferson and Madison did not want a high wall separating church and state; that most Founders believed the government should encourage Christianity; and that they embraced a robust understanding of religious liberty for biblical and theological reasons. This compelling and utterly persuasive book will convince skeptics and equip believers and conservatives to defend the idea that Christian thought was crucial to the nation's founding--and that this benefits all of us, whatever our faith (or lack of faith).

The Making of Christian Myths in the Periphery of Latin Christendom (c. 1000-1300)

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Publisher : Museum Tusculanum Press
ISBN 13 : 9788763504072
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (4 download)

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Book Synopsis The Making of Christian Myths in the Periphery of Latin Christendom (c. 1000-1300) by : Lars Boje Mortensen

Download or read book The Making of Christian Myths in the Periphery of Latin Christendom (c. 1000-1300) written by Lars Boje Mortensen and published by Museum Tusculanum Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mythology is usually reserved for non-Christian religions. However, the adoption of Christianity in Northern and East-Central Europe between c. 1000 and 1300 can be adequately described as a myth-making process: local saints were added to the Christian pantheon in all regions entering Latin Europe. The present collection explores the links between local sanctity and the making of national myths in medieval historical writing. By bringing together specialists in history and literature of the European periphery in question, the case is made that the writing of history and saints lives from this pioneering period should been analysed together as mainly successful attempts at creating cultural foundation myths.

Inventing a Christian America

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190675225
Total Pages : 311 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (96 download)

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Book Synopsis Inventing a Christian America by : Steven K. Green

Download or read book Inventing a Christian America written by Steven K. Green and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-05 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Steven K. Green explores the historical record that supports the popular belief about the nation's religious origins, seeking to explain how the ideas of America's religious founding and its status as a Christian nation became a leading narrative about the nation's collective identity.

Who Wrote the New Testament?

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Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 9780060655181
Total Pages : 346 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (551 download)

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Book Synopsis Who Wrote the New Testament? by : Burton L. Mack

Download or read book Who Wrote the New Testament? written by Burton L. Mack and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 1996-08-02 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Making of the Christian Myth Commencing in mid February 2004, SBS TV (Australia) will run a two–part documentary based on this title. In this groundbreaking and controversial book, Burton Mack brilliantly exposes how the Gospels are fictional mythologies created by different communities for various purposes and are only distantly related to the actual historical Jesus. Mack‘s innovative scholarship which boldly challenges traditional Christian understanding‘ will change the way you approach the New Testament and think about how Christianity arose. The clarity of Mack‘s prose and the intelligent pursuit of his subject make compelling reading. Mack‘s investigation of the various groups and strands of the early Christian community out of which were generated the texts of Christianity‘s first anthology of religious literature and makes sense of a topic that has been confusing.

A History of the Bible

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0143111205
Total Pages : 642 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (431 download)

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Book Synopsis A History of the Bible by : John Barton

Download or read book A History of the Bible written by John Barton and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 642 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A literary history of our most influential book of all time, by an Oxford scholar and Anglican priest In our culture, the Bible is monolithic: It is a collection of books that has been unchanged and unchallenged since the earliest days of the Christian church. The idea of the Bible as "Holy Scripture," a non-negotiable authority straight from God, has prevailed in Western society for some time. And while it provides a firm foundation for centuries of Christian teaching, it denies the depth, variety, and richness of this fascinating text. In A History of the Bible, John Barton argues that the Bible is not a prescription to a complete, fixed religious system, but rather a product of a long and intriguing process, which has inspired Judaism and Christianity, but still does not describe the whole of either religion. Barton shows how the Bible is indeed an important source of religious insight for Jews and Christians alike, yet argues that it must be read in its historical context--from its beginnings in myth and folklore to its many interpretations throughout the centuries. It is a book full of narratives, laws, proverbs, prophecies, poems, and letters, each with their own character and origin stories. Barton explains how and by whom these disparate pieces were written, how they were canonized (and which ones weren't), and how they were assembled, disseminated, and interpreted around the world--and, importantly, to what effect. Ultimately, A History of the Bible argues that a thorough understanding of the history and context of its writing encourages religious communities to move away from the Bible's literal wording--which is impossible to determine--and focus instead on the broader meanings of scripture.

Christians and the Holy Places

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780198147855
Total Pages : 414 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (478 download)

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Book Synopsis Christians and the Holy Places by : Joan E. Taylor

Download or read book Christians and the Holy Places written by Joan E. Taylor and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a detailed examination of the literature and archaeology pertaining to specific sites (in Palestine, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Memre, Nazareth, Capernaum, and elsewhere) and the region in general. Taylor contends that the origins of these holy places and the phenomenon of Christian pilgrimage can be traced to the emperor Constantine, who ruled over the eastern Empire from 324. He contends that few places were actually genuine; the most important authentic site being the cave (not Garden) of Gethsemane, where Christ was probably arrested. Extensively illustrated, this lively new look at a topic previously shrouded in obscurity should interest students in scholars in a range of disciplines.