Ancient Religion History

A profound and moving journey into the heart of Christianity that explores the mysterious and often paradoxical lives and legacies of the Twelve Apostles—a book both for those of the faith and for others who seek to understand Christianity from the outside in.

Mysteries of the Ancient World examines some of the most bizarre, surprising and unexplained phenomena of the ancient world. Ranging from cold cases millennia in the making to the sudden, baffling disappearances of entire civilizations to the creation of mysterious monuments, it searches for the truth behind these remarkable stories. With a careful analysis of the various theories that have been used over the years to try and understand these curious occurrences, the author gets to the bottom of what really happened.

St. Paul is known throughout the world as the first Christian writer, authoring fourteen of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament. But as Karen Armstrong demonstrates in St. Paul: The Apostle We Love to Hate, he also exerted a more significant influence on the spread of Christianity throughout the world than any other figure in history.

For the curious minds wanting to uncover the secrets of ancient Greece, for the dreamers wishing to lose themselves in tales of valor, love, and betrayal, and for the scholars desiring a comprehensive yet engaging retelling of the world's most famous myths—this book is your beacon.

Ancient Mesopotamian religion continues to captivate people for many of the same reasons today's best known religions and their histories fascinate people. The religion practiced by the Ancient Mesopotamians provides a certain mix between the mundane and the surreal, and at the same time aspects of it are both familiar and bizarre to people today. Some find themselves drawn to it based on its preeminent position in religious history as the oldest documented religion in the world.

Why You Think the Way You Do traces the development of the worldviews that underpin the Western world. Professor and historian Glenn S. Sunshine demonstrates the decisive impact that the growth of Christianity had in transforming the outlook of pagan Roman culture into one that—based on biblical concepts of humanity and its relationship with God—established virtually all the positive aspects of Western civilization.

Jesus lived in a time of great tension and upheaval. It is estimated there were approximately 700,000 Jews then living in Israel under the Roman occupation. Discover the complexities of life in a tiny Nazereth village. Compelling narrative brings to light the rapidily developing cultures throughout the world. The World Jesus Knew immerses the modern listener in the worldwide drama of the first century and depicts an era of global conquest and domination.

Around 13,000 years ago, three things happened at once: (1) Global temperature suddenly stopped rising and plunged back to ice age-frigidity. (2) The Western Hemisphere’s largest mammals, including the horse, camel, woolly mammoth, saber-toothed cat, and dozens more, went extinct. And (3) the uniquely beautiful stonework of the early American Clovis people disappeared from the archeological record. For the past half-century, scientists have struggled to explain the three events. Were they independent of each other, or could they have had a common cause?

The Ancient Church Fathers reveals the disciples of the 12 apostles and what they taught, from their own writings. It documents that the same doctrine was faithfully transmitted to their descendants in the first few centuries. It also describes where, when, and by whom, the doctrines began to change.

Numbers is really a book about arrested progress. In a sense, it never should have happened. It took only 40 hours to get Israel out of Egypt - the Passover. But it took 40 years to get Egypt out of Israel.

The Council of Nicea was not clerics in a dark and ornate hall. It was brawls in churchyards; it was emperors and governors fighting to save the empire; it was political intrigue as the governments of church and state blended into a volatile stew. It was the way a fringe group of peace-loving communal worshipers of a crucified Palestinian prophet conquered the Roman Empire.

Richard Carrier, Ph.D., philosopher, historian, blogger, has published a number of papers in the field of ancient history and biblical studies. He has also written several books and chapters on diverse subjects, and has been blogging and speaking since 2006. He is known the world over for all the above. But here, together for the first time, are all of Dr. Carrier's peer reviewed academic journal articles in history through the year 2013, collected with his best magazine articles, research papers, and blog posts on the same subjects.

David, King of the Jews, possessed every flaw and failing of which a mortal is capable, yet men and women adored him, and God showered him with many blessings. A charismatic leader, exalted as "a man after God's own heart", he was also capable of deep cunning and bloodthirsty violence.

From the creative minds of the scholarly group behind the groundbreaking Jesus Seminar comes this provocative and eye-opening look at the roots of Christianity that offers a thoughtful reconsideration of the first two centuries of the Jesus movement, transforming our understanding of the religion and its early dissemination.

People all around the world have grappled with the story of Atlantis for millennia, and Visions of Atlantis attempts to sort fact from fiction, providing a unique and compelling glimpse into what might have been.

Step into the world that exists just beyond the realm of common knowledge, and emerge enlightened. If you are ready to embark on this thrilling journey, then listen to The History of Witchcraft now, and dive deep into the mystifying annals of witchcraft....

Maya Mythology: Discover the Fascinating Myths and Beliefs of an Ancient World Ball games in the underworld, gods struggling to create people, and a magical canoe that sails across the cosmos—Maya mythology is full of excitement and surprises! This book offers a fun and easy-to-read journey into the world of the Maya. Explore their fascinating stories, their beliefs about gods and the underworld, and how their calendar and cities reflected their sacred traditions. Packed with incredible facts and intriguing questions, this book is perfect for teenage readers curious about one of ...

In The Darkening Age, Catherine Nixey tells the little-known - and deeply shocking - story of how a militant religion deliberately tried to extinguish the teachings of the Classical world, ushering in unquestioning adherence to the 'one true faith'. The Roman Empire had been generous in embracing and absorbing new creeds. But with the coming of Christianity, everything changed. This new faith, despite preaching peace, was violent, ruthless and intolerant. And once it became the religion of empire, its zealous adherents set about the destruction of the old gods.

The first robot to walk the earth was a bronze giant called Talos. This wondrous machine was created not by MIT Robotics Lab, but by Hephaestus, the Greek god of invention, more than 2,500 years ago. In this groundbreaking account of the earliest expressions of the timeless impulse to create artificial life, Adrienne Mayor tells the fascinating story of how ancient Greek, Roman, Indian, and Chinese myths envisioned artificial life, automata, self-moving devices, and human enhancements - and how these visions relate to and reflect the ancient invention of real animated machines.

This volume contains a complete English translation of the famous Ethiopian work, The Kebra Nagast, i.e. the Glory of the Kings [of Ethiopia]. This work has been held in peculiar honour in Abyssinia for several centuries, and throughout that country it has been, and still is, venerated by the people as containing the final proof of their descent from the Hebrew Patriarchs, and of the kinship of their kings of the Solomonic line with Christ, the Son of God.