The Triumph of Christianity
How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World
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Narrated by:
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George Newbern
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Bart D. Ehrman
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By:
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Bart D. Ehrman
About this listen
From the New York Times best-selling authority on early Christianity, the story of how Christianity grew from a religion of 20 or so peasants in rural Galilee to the dominant religion in the West in less than 400 years.
Christianity didn't have to become the dominant religion in the West. It easily could have remained a sect of Judaism fated to have the historical importance of the Sadducees or the Essenes. In The Triumph of Christianity, Bart Ehrman, a master explainer of Christian history, texts, and traditions, shows how a religion whose first believers were 20 or so illiterate day laborers in a remote part of the empire became the official religion of Rome, converting some 30 million people in just four centuries. The Triumph of Christianity combines deep knowledge and meticulous research in an eye-opening narrative that upends the way we think about the single most important cultural transformation our world has ever seen - one that revolutionized art, music, literature, philosophy, ethics, economics, and law.
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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.
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Who mixes fact with fiction?
- By 3allvalve on 12-28-17
By: Paul Pavao
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A.D. 381
- Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State
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- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In A.D. 381, Theodosius, emperor of the eastern Roman empire, issued a decree in which all his subjects were required to subscribe to a belief in the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This edict defined Christian orthodoxy and brought to an end a lively and wide-ranging debate about the nature of God; all other interpretations were now declared heretical.
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Dont pass it up
- By brett on 01-21-11
By: Charles Freeman
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Anti-Judaism
- The Western Tradition
- By: David Nirenberg
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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This incisive history upends the complacency that confines anti-Judaism to the ideological extremes in the Western tradition. With deep learning and elegance, David Nirenberg shows how foundational anti-Judaism is to the history of the West. Questions of how we are Jewish and, more critically, how and why we are not have been churning within the Western imagination throughout its history. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans; Christians and Muslims of every period; even the secularists of modernity have used Judaism in constructing their visions of the world.
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Great Book: Terrible Narrator
- By LB on 12-29-16
By: David Nirenberg
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When Christians Were Jews
- The First Generation
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- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
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In this electrifying social and intellectual history, Paula Fredriksen answers the question of how Jewish missionaries ended up inaugurating a movement that would grow into the gentile church by reconstructing the life of the earliest Jerusalem community. As her account arcs from this group’s hopeful celebration of Passover with Jesus, through their bitter controversies that fragmented the movement’s midcentury missions, to the city’s fiery end in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, she brings this vibrant apostolic community to life.
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nothing to see here, nothing to read here
- By Anonymous User on 12-10-18
By: Paula Fredriksen
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Reformations
- The Early Modern World, 1450-1650
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Carlos Eire, popular professor and gifted writer, chronicles the 200-year era of the Renaissance and Reformation with particular attention to issues that persist as concerns in the present day. Eire connects the Protestant and Catholic Reformations in new and profound ways, and he demonstrates convincingly that this crucial turning point in history not only affected people long gone but continues to shape our world and define who we are today.
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Catholics don’t believe in “Works Righteousness”
- By Liam Cruz Kelly on 02-23-19
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How God Became God
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This epic, thrilling journey through Bible scholarship and ancient religion shows how much of Scripture is historically false - yet the ancient writings also resound with theologies that crisscrossed the primeval world and that direct us today toward a deep, authentic inner experience of the truly sacred.
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Just Okay.
- By Thom on 10-28-21
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Strange Gods
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- Length: 19 hrs and 33 mins
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In this original and riveting exploration, Susan Jacoby argues that conversion - especially in the free American "religious marketplace" - is too often viewed only within the conventional and simplistic narrative of personal reinvention and divine grace. Instead, the author places conversions within a secular social context that has, at various times, included the force of a unified church and state, desire for upward economic mobility, and interreligious marriage.
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Our own fabrications
- By David E. Felker on 01-03-17
By: Susan Jacoby
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David Lynch
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- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
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At once a pop culture icon, cult figure, and film industry outsider, master filmmaker David Lynch and his work defy easy definition. Dredged from his subconscious mind, Lynch's work is primed to act on our own subconscious, combining heightened, contradictory emotions into something familiar but inscrutable. No less than his art, Lynch's life also evades simple categorization, encompassing pursuits as a musician, painter, photographer, carpenter, entrepreneur, and vocal proponent of Transcendental Meditation.
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Essential listening for Lunch fans
- By Michael P. Mesaros on 08-14-18
By: Dennis Lim
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Medieval Christianity
- A New History
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For many, the medieval world seems dark and foreign - a miraculous, brutal, and irrational time of superstition and strange relics. The pursuit of heretics, the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the domination of the "Holy Land" come to mind.
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New Standard Text for This Period
- By Bill Martin on 10-22-16
By: Kevin Madigan
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When the Church Was Young
- Voices of the Early Fathers
- By: Marcellino D'Ambrosio
- Narrated by: Marcellino D'Ambrosio
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
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Marcellino D'Ambrosio dusts off what might have been just dry theology to bring you the exciting stories of great heroes such as Ambrose, Augustine, Basil, Athanasius, John Chrysostom, and Jerome. These brilliant, embattled, and sometimes eccentric men defined the biblical canon, hammered out the Creed, and gave us our understanding of sacraments and salvation. It is they who preserved the rich legacy of the early Church for us.
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Masterful summary of the early Church Fathers
- By Mike C on 08-22-14
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Tried by Fire
- The Story of Christianity's First Thousand Years
- By: William J. Bennett
- Narrated by: Wayne Campbell
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Full of larger-than-life characters, stunning acts of bravery, and heart-rending sacrifice, Tried by Fire narrates the rise and expansion of Christianity from an obscure regional sect to the established faith of the world's greatest empire with influence extending from India to Ireland, Scandinavia to Ethiopia, and all points in between.
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Best history of Christianity I've read
- By JOHN F KANARY on 05-05-16
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Wishing for a bit more meat on the bones
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Understanding Manuscripts
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In times of questioning and despair, people often quote the Bible to provide answers. Surprisingly, though, the Bible does not have one answer but many "answers" that often contradict one another.
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Despite "Suffer the little children"
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Armageddon
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The best explanation I have heard in my 70 years on Revelations
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Lost Scriptures
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While most people think that the 27 books of the New Testament are the only sacred writings of the early Christians, this is not at all the case. A companion volume to Bart Ehrman's Lost Christianities, this book offers an anthology of up-to-date and easy-listening translations of many noncanonical writings from the first centuries after Christ - texts that have been for the most part lost or neglected for almost two millennia.
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Great book destroyed by horrific narration.
- By Stephen P Bielski on 05-31-21
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Heaven and Hell
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In this “eloquent understanding of how death is viewed through many spiritual traditions” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), Bart Ehrman recounts the long history of the afterlife, ranging from The Epic of Gilgamesh up to the writings of Augustine, focusing especially on the teachings of Jesus and his early followers. He discusses ancient guided tours of heaven and hell, in which a living person observes the sublime blessings of heaven for those who are saved and the horrifying torments of hell for those who are damned.
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It may not be what you expect
- By Library Bob on 05-25-20
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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The New Testament
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- Narrated by: Bart D. Ehrman
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
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Whether taken as a book of faith or a cultural artifact, the New Testament is among the most significant writings the world has ever known, its web of meaning relied upon by virtually every major writer in the last 2,000 years. Yet the New Testament is not only one of Western civilization’s most believed books, but also one of its most widely disputed, often maligned, and least clearly understood, with a vast number of people unaware of how it was written and transmitted.
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If you want a balanced overview this is not it
- By Amazon Customer on 02-27-16
By: Bart D. Ehrman, and others
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Did Jesus Exist?
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Large numbers of atheists, humanists, and conspiracy theorists are raising one of the most pressing questions in the history of religion: "Did Jesus exist at all?" Was he invented out of whole cloth for nefarious purposes by those seeking to control the masses? Or was Jesus such a shadowy figure - far removed from any credible historical evidence - that he bears no meaningful resemblance to the person described in the Bible?
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Vintage Ehrman
- By Jacobus on 07-17-12
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Jesus
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In this highly accessible discussion, Bart Ehrman examines the most recent textual and archaeological sources for the life of Jesus, along with the history of first-century Palestine, drawing a fascinating portrait of the man and his teachings. Ehrman shows us what historians have long known about the Gospels and the man who stands behind them. Through a careful evaluation of the New Testament (and other surviving sources, including the more recently discovered Gospels of Thomas and Peter), Ehrman proposes that Jesus can be best understood as an apocalyptic prophet.
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I must read for those whose wanting to expand their insight from a single perspective (devotional) to include historical
- By RGO on 11-25-19
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Journeys to Heaven and Hell
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From classics such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid to fifth-century Christian apocrypha, narratives that described guided tours of the afterlife played a major role in shaping ancient notions of morality and ethics. In this new account, acclaimed author Bart Ehrman contextualizes early Christian narratives of heaven and hell within the broader intellectual and cultural worlds from which they emerged.
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New Hits Here. Not Repackaged Hits.
- By Adam on 06-19-22
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The Triumph of Christianity
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Celebrated religious and social historian Rodney Stark traces the extraordinary rise of Christianity through its most pivotal and controversial moments to offer fresh perspective on the history of the world's largest religion.
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Balanced and unapologetic, excellent read
- By JARAM, CT on 08-04-20
By: Rodney Stark
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Forgery and Counterforgery
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- By: Bart D. Ehrman
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"Arguably the most distinctive feature of the early Christian literature," writes Bart Ehrman, "is the degree to which it was forged." The Homilies and Recognitions of Clement; Paul's letters to and from Seneca; Gospels by Peter, Thomas, and Philip; Jesus' correspondence with Abgar, letters by Peter and Paul in the New Testament - all forgeries. To cite just a few examples.
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Needs to learn to pronounce big words
- By Sharon G on 08-09-17
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot
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- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
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Lost for nearly 1,700 years, newly restored and authenticated, the Gospel of Judas presents a very different view of the relationship between Jesus and Judas. Rather than paint Judas as a traitor, it portrays him as acting at Jesus' request.
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Not Another One!
- By David on 04-12-07
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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The History and Archaeology of the Bible
- By: Jean-Pierre Isbouts, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Jean-Pierre Isbouts
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
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The findings of historians and archaeologists open a thrilling world of discovery as they bring their methods and insights to the iconic stories of the Bible. These 24 content-rich lessons take you on a multidimensional journey through the Bible, from Genesis to the Crucifixion, seen through the lens of the latest historical and archaeological research.
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More theological than historical
- By Erik on 05-29-21
By: Jean-Pierre Isbouts, and others
What listeners say about The Triumph of Christianity
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- Georgia Carter
- 03-14-18
Another Winner
Another great book on the history of Christianity. Ehrman's books are incredible. While this one is a little deeper and might take more than one read, I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about how Christianity grew and the background of the era it grew in.
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11 people found this helpful
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- Brock W
- 07-25-18
Worth the read
I was a Christian pastor and very interested in the topic of historical Christianity and textual criticism. Ever since Misquoting Jesus I have taken the time to review his material and compare with the personal research I have done.
As it pertains to The Triumph of Christianity, I had read through only once just to get a brief "lay of the land" so my observations are surface level without doing a critical review of the claims made. That being said, Dr. Ehrman did a great job of compiling the historical information together in a way that made sense to the reader. The cultural and religious divide between modern religion and ancient paganism [and even ancient Christianity for that matter] is such a large chasm that many people misunderstand or read into history their modern day paradigm and make judgments without that historical framework. I did enjoy the work put into making sure that historical and cultural framework was framed for this book.
At this point, the only criticism I have would be Dr. Ehrmans feigned neutrality which becomes apparent from the very beginning. What he considers reliable "historical" information and sources [be that biblical accounts or other historical sources] seem arbitrary. By way of example: Dr. Ehrman had recently posted a blog concerning the historical reliability of the book of Acts [dated 03-29-2016 "Is the book of acts historically reliable? Smoke and mirrors"] in this blog he makes the case that the book is not reliable. However, numerous times throughout this book, he will utilize the historical accounts found within the book of acts in order to support his arguments and make his case for the cultural influence of Christianity in the pagan world. This kind of cherry picking of what is/isn't historical data is concerning and leads me to believe the basis for those conclusions are at least in part dictated and filtered through Dr. Ehrmans presuppositions and skepticism.
This is a micro example, of what I believe is a macro issue in many of Dr. Ehrmans scholarship. That being said, everybody has bias and presuppositions and I am not going to hold that against him or any author.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and I think it would be a good introduction to anybody interested in the historical development of Christianity in the ancient world.
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- A Person With An Opinion
- 07-25-20
Excellent Book
Some books are hard to capture the depth of their nature. This book is definitely one that without reading you cannot appreciate the level of detail involved in Bart Ehrman’s discretion concerning the triumph of Christianity. This book was not written from a Christian perspective nor was it written from the perspective of an atheist. It was solely written from the perspective of a historian. Ehrman tries to look at the triumph of Christianity from the perspective of the people that lived during this period. It examine Christians from the perspective of the Romans that still worshipped the gods of Rome. He looks at the Romans’ religion through the eyes of modern day as he refers to them as pagans, but express that during the time of the Romans that they weren’t considered pagans as the gods of Rome were the ones that were considered established and the Christians were considered atheist for not believing in the gods of Rome. The Christian who would not worshipping the Roman gods brought the wrath of the Roman gods upon the republic. Earthquakes, crop failure, disease, drought, pestilence and any bad fortunes that beleaguered the Romans was blamed on the Christians. They were considered by the Romans heretics that were against religion and traitors that were against the state. The Christians tore down statues both religious and political, and erected crosses in their place. They were saw as rebelling against the republic when they refused to worship the emperor, who was considered a deity after death. They burned houses of worship of the Roman gods. The burn the republic’s buildings which had Roman deities inside them. They refused to pledge allegiance to Rome. They were accused of immoral sexual practices. They were accused of cannibalism and eating children. They were just immoral in the eyes of the Romans. They commenced their so-called atheist meetings in cemeteries in the shrouds of darkness hiding in secrecy, the conjurers of evil spirits. They stood against those who enforce the law, the Roman soldiers. The Christians were persecuted by those who upheld the law. They were executed by those who upheld the law. Out of persecution and an idea, they started a movement. As the movement grew, their power grew. Who is it that I’m talking about? The Christians of 300 A.D. and their movement to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. Rome was the republic. The Romans were those who upheld their law. The movement of Christianity has spread over the world while the republic of Rome has been gone for centuries with only the ruins of their civilization found in the rubble of the buildings. The author examines what he considered key points in the triumph of Christianity and viewed the conversion of Constantine as one of the most significate reasons that triumph. Constantine’s curiosity about Christianity and his role in defining how Christians and pagans would be treated in Rome was significate in the growth of Christianity as he put both on equal playing grounds stopping the percussion of Christians. Although he didn’t help in the conversion of many pagans to Christianity, only three thousand converted during his reign, his mercy help it take a foothold in Rome. Ehrman acknowledge that Constantine’s conversion was not a full acceptance of all things Christian but mainly an acceptance to the ideology of Christianity and the one all powerful god. He may not have stopped worshipping other gods as the author points out but did create a crevice for Christianity to flourish. Another of the most important reason that Ehrman saw for the triumph of Christianity involved the conversion of Paul and his mission. He reasoning behind this was Paul or Saul’s hatred of the Christians as he saw them as atheist and believed that they blasphemed against the true god of Israel. He considers his conversion so abrupt that those who knew him as the slayer of Christians saw him as a disciple of the Christian faith that they considered it miraculous and only the true god could have been responsible for such a conversion. He also discussed why Christianity succeeded and the benefits that it provided. He argued that it being the one and only religion that believers sought to destroy any other religions where the Roman culture that allowed many deities was more diverse and accepting of other religions and didn’t see Christianity as a threat and never trying to get rid of it which was different from other opinion that he had. He also talked about dead religion versus living religion. The Christians tore down statues and disassembled certain body part to prove that the gods of Rome where just stone objects no different than a bowl used for cooking. They removed their eyes so the gods couldn’t see. They remove the reproductive parts to prove they couldn’t reproduce. They remove their mouths to prove that they couldn’t speak. And the did all of this without any retaliation from the gods. They proved to the Romans that their gods were dead. Then they proved that the god of the Christians was alive through miracles of healing the sick, raising the dead, making bedbugs leave a bed, and many other type of such things. He also talked about because the Christians were the only ones interested in healing the sick the benefit of being a Christian was you had the first healthcare service according to the author. The also talked about the growth of the church. How martyrdom helped the spread of Christianity and fueled the Holy Wars. One of the biggest reasons that he sees that Christianity triumphed was it used the form of conversion over coercion to gain followers. At the end of the book, Ehrman considered the gains or losses through the triumph of Christianity. He didn’t see it historically favorable regardless of if Christianity was triumph or failed. This books was extremely interesting and one of the most non-bias books of this nature. I can barely do this book justice in the scope of what was in the book, but I would say it is a definite read for anyone Christian or not.
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- Mitchell Simmons
- 08-01-23
Great
A very insightful book that focuses on the growth of the Christian religion dueing the Roman Empire
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- T. R.
- 08-11-18
Excellent as always!
I find that Professor Ehrman does an excellent job with his intellectual honesty in a most difficult subject. If you are a conservative in your religious beliefs, you probably won't like him. He pushes against what some believe to be faith, the inerrancy of the Bible and its assumes historical stories that follow. It is not orthodox, yet it is important historical information. Well done!
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- foxyproxy
- 06-30-18
Excellent work!
In short, I've read all of ehrmans books and this, along with lost christianities, might just be his best. If you're a religious history nerd like me you're going to find many things to love here. I think his chapter on the evangelism of Paul might be my favorite here. Though the epic chronology of the rise of Christian persecution and ultimately pagan persecution within about 80 years, is something worth remembering.
If you enjoy this subject matter this is wrll written and well researched. Excellent work as always Bart. Lets do lunch sometime!
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- Morgan Ryzen
- 07-26-18
In Depth Indroduction to the First Centuries
As a overview of the first several centuries of Christianity it is very enlightening in showing how and why the religion grew. It does not defend Christianity in any way, just tells the story of it's rise over the religions and Gods of the early Roman empire. I would liked to have heard more about the Christian adoption of 'pagan' holidays, but most of those may have happened beyond the time frame of this book.
Don't look for any apologetics or defense of Christianity, it's not here - this is just a history of its early growth.
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- Thomas R. Payton
- 06-20-18
Highly recommend!
Easy to listen to and very comprehensive. Fascinating book. Ehrman's scholarship is among the best. He is also a gifted teacher.
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- fturrentf
- 01-29-20
bias with a side of history
good info but does present a biased view that aligns with the writers view.
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- Becket
- 04-23-22
Amazing
It’s an amazing book. All that I wanted to know about early Christianity and how it spread across Europe.
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