Church History
Destroyer of the Gods Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World
Silly, stupid, irrational, simple. Wicked, hateful, obstinate, anti-social. Extravagant, perverse. The Roman world rendered harsh judgments upon early Christianity--including branding Christianity new. Novelty was no Roman religious virtue.
Nevertheless, as Larry W. Hurtado shows in Destroyer of the gods, Christianity thrived despite its new and distinctive features and opposition to them. Unlike nearly all other religious groups, Christianity utterly rejected the traditional gods of the Roman world. Christianity also offered a new and different kind of religious identity, one not based on ethnicity. Christianity was distinctively a bookish religion, with the production, copying, distribution, and reading of texts as central to its faith, even preferring a distinctive book-form, the codex. Christianity insisted that its adherents behave differently: unlike the simple ritual observances characteristic of the pagan religious environment, embracing Christian faith meant a behavioral transformation, with particular and novel ethical demands for men. Unquestionably, to the Roman world, Christianity was both new and different, and, to a good many, it threatened social and religious conventions of the day.
In the rejection of the gods and in the centrality of texts, early Christianity obviously reflected commitments inherited from its Jewish origins. But these particular features were no longer identified with Jewish ethnicity and early Christianity quickly became aggressively trans-ethnic--a novel kind of religious movement. Its ethical teaching, too, bore some resemblance to the philosophers of the day, yet in contrast with these great teachers and their small circles of dedicated students, early Christianity laid its hard demands upon all adherents from the moment of conversion, producing a novel social project.
Christianity's novelty was no badge of honor. Called atheists and suspected of political subversion, Christians earned Roman disdain and suspicion in equal amounts. Yet, as Destroyer of the gods demonstrates, in an irony of history the very features of early Christianity that rendered it distinctive and objectionable in Roman eyes have now become so commonplace in Western culture as to go unnoticed. Christianity helped destroy one world and create another.
--Najeeb Haddad "Catholic Biblical Quarterly"- Please log in to review this product
Story of Christianity Volume 2 the Reformation to the Present Day 2nd Edition
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American Evangelical Christianity an Introduction NR
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Americas Religious History Faith Politics & the Shaping of a Nation
In the post-9/11 world, it is not difficult to see how important religion remains in America and around the globe. An older generation of scholars expected that America and the rest of the Western world was headed inexorably toward secularization and the end of religion. America is undoubtedly secular in many ways, and our constitutional order requires a clear distinction between faith communities and government. Yet from the colonial era to the present, American men and women have been, and have remained, a pervasively religious people.
In America's Religious History, leading historian Thomas S. Kidd traces the theological and ethnic diversity and enduring strength of American religion, with special attention to Christianity and evangelical faith. Interweaving religious history and key events from the larger narrative of American history, the book considers how faith commitments and categories have shaped the nation.
Written with the student in mind, America's Religious History offers an up-to-date, narrative introduction useful for undergraduate and graduate-level courses on American religion. General readers wanting to better understand the religious background of American life and politics will also enjoy its engaging and insightful overview.
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APOSTLES CREED FOR TODAY
This volume in the popular For Today series, written by the highly respected theologian and author Justo González, explains the familiar Apostles' Creed in easy, accessible language. González explores not only what the Creed meant in the early centuries but also its ongoing importance and relevance for Christian faith and practice today.
The For Today series was designed to provide reliable and accessible resources for the study and real life application of important biblical texts, theological documents, and Christian practices. The emphasis of the series is not only on the realization and appreciation of what these subjects have meant in the past, but also on their value in the present--"for today." Thought-provoking questions are included at the end of each chapter, making the books ideal for personal study and group use.
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Baptist Theology A Four-Century Study
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Beauty & Glory of the Reformation
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BLESSED ONE
Despite her prominence in the Christian narrative, Mary has largely been neglected within the Protestant church. Recent interest in such issues as feminism, spirituality, parenting, and ecumenism, however, force a serious reexamination of Mary's place in Protestant faith. In Blessed One, widely respected Protestant scholars seek to answer three basic questions: who is Mary? how does Mary's story intersect with contemporary life? and what does Mary teach us about God? This thoughtful and highly accessible book will be of great interest to all engaged in the debates of the contemporary church, Protestants and Roman Catholics alike.
Contributors include Nancy Duff, Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Joel Green, E. Elizabeth Johnson, Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, Nora Lozano-Diaz, Daniel Migliore, Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Cynthia Rigby, and Katherine Sakenfeld.
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BONDAGE & LIBERATION OF THE WILL
This volume provides Calvin's fullest treatment of the relationship between the grace of God and the free will of humans. It offers insight into Calvin's interpretations of the church fathers, especially Augustine, on the topics of grace and free will and contains Calvin's answer to Pighius's objection that preaching is unnecessary if salvation is by grace alone. This important work, edited by renowned scholar A. N. S. Lane, contains material not found elsewhere in Calvin's writings and will be required reading for students of Calvin and the Protestant Reformation.
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Book Forged in Hell Spinozas Scandalous Treatise & the Birth of the Secular Age
The story of one of the most important--and incendiary--books in Western history
When it appeared in 1670, Baruch Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise was denounced as the most dangerous book ever published--godless, full of abominations, a book forged in hell . . . by the devil himself. Religious and secular authorities saw it as a threat to faith, social and political harmony, and everyday morality, and its author was almost universally regarded as a religious subversive and political radical who sought to spread atheism throughout Europe. Yet Spinoza's book has contributed as much as the Declaration of Independence or Thomas Paine's Common Sense to modern liberal, secular, and democratic thinking. In A Book Forged in Hell, Steven Nadler tells the fascinating story of this extraordinary book: its radical claims and their background in the philosophical, religious, and political tensions of the Dutch Golden Age, as well as the vitriolic reaction these ideas inspired. It is not hard to see why Spinoza's Treatise was so important or so controversial, or why the uproar it caused is one of the most significant events in European intellectual history. In the book, Spinoza became the first to argue that the Bible is not literally the word of God but rather a work of human literature; that true religion has nothing to do with theology, liturgical ceremonies, or sectarian dogma; and that religious authorities should have no role in governing a modern state. He also denied the reality of miracles and divine providence, reinterpreted the nature of prophecy, and made an eloquent plea for toleration and democracy. A vivid story of incendiary ideas and vicious backlash, A Book Forged in Hell will interest anyone who is curious about the origin of some of our most cherished modern beliefs.- Please log in to review this product
Building a Bridge to the 18th Century How the Past Can Improve Our Future
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CATCH THE VISION
It is instructive to trace the various strands which were woven together in the providence of God to bring about the recovery. In most cases it was the discovery of some treasure of Christian literature from a spiritually-favoured age that set the person on the course he took. We find in the unfolding of history how the flame that burned in the heart of a man of God at one time is years later re-kindled in another as happened in the case of George Whitefield.
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