The Religions Before Christ

The Religions Before Christ PDF Author: Edmond de Pressensé
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Christianity and other religions
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Christianity Before Christ

Christianity Before Christ PDF Author: John Jackson
Publisher: Echo Point Books & Media, LLC
ISBN: 9781635619263
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
In Christianity Before Christ, comparative religion scholar John G Jackson explores ancient traditions from many societies, asserting that Christianity is the recasting of beliefs which are older and pervasive through many cultures.

The Religions Before Christ

The Religions Before Christ PDF Author: Edmond de Pressensé
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Christianity and other religions
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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The Holy Spirit Before Christianity

The Holy Spirit Before Christianity PDF Author: John R. Levison
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781481310789
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
With his latest book, The Holy Spirit before Christianity, John R. Levison again changes the face and foundation of Christian belief in the Holy Spirit. The categories Christians have used, the boundaries they have created, the proprietary claims they have made--all of these evaporate, now that Levison has looked afresh at Scripture. In a study that is both poignant and provocative, Levison takes readers back five hundred years before Jesus, where he discovers history's first grasp of the Holy Spirit as a personal agent. The prophet Haggai and the author of Isaiah 56-66, in their search for ways to grapple with the tragic events of exile and to articulate hope for the future, took up old exodus traditions of divine agents--pillars of fire, an angel, God's own presence--and fused them with belief in God's Spirit. Since it was the Spirit of God who led Israel up from Egypt and formed them into a holy nation, now, the prophets assured their hearers, the Spirit of God would lead and renew those returning from exile. Taking this point of origin as our guide, Christian pneumatology--belief in the Holy Spirit--is less about an exclusively Christian experience or doctrine and more about the presence of God in the grand scheme of Israel's history, in which Christianity is ancient Israel's heir. This explosive observation traces the essence of Christian pneumatology deep into the heart of the Hebrew Scriptures. The implications are fierce: the priority of Israelite tradition at the headwaters of pneumatology means that Christians can no longer hold stubbornly to the Holy Spirit as an exclusively Christian belief. But the implications are hopeful as well, offering Christians a richer history, a renewed vocabulary, a shared path with Judaism, and the promise of a more expansive and authentic experience of the Holy Spirit.

The Pagan World

The Pagan World PDF Author: Hans-Friedrich Mueller
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781629978574
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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The Handbook of Religions in Ancient Europe

The Handbook of Religions in Ancient Europe PDF Author: Lisbeth Bredholt Christensen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317544536
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 471

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Book Description
"The Handbook of Religions in Ancient Europe" surveys the major religious currents of Europe before Christianity - the first continental religion with hegemonic ambition - wiped out most local religions. The evidence - whether archaeological or written - is notoriously difficult to interpret, and the variety of religions documented by the sources and the range of languages used are bewildering. The "Handbook" brings together leading authorities on pre-Christian religious history to provide a state-of-the-art survey. The first section of the book covers the Prehistoric period, from the Paleolithic to the Bronze Age. The second section covers the period since writing systems began. Ranging across the Mediterranean and Northern, Celtic and Slavic Europe, the essays assess the archaeological and textual evidence. Dispersed archaeological remains and biased outside sources constitute our main sources of information, so the complex task of interpreting these traces is explained for each case. The "Handbook" also aims to highlight the plurality of religion in ancient Europe: the many ways in which it is expressed, notably in discourse, action, organization, and material culture; how it is produced and maintained by different people with different interests; how communities always connect with or disassociate from adjunct communities and how their beliefs and rituals are shaped by these relationships. The "Handbook" will be invaluable to anyone interested in ancient History and also to scholars and students of Religion, Anthropology, Archaeology, and Classical Studies.

The Triumph of Christianity

The Triumph of Christianity PDF Author: Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1786073021
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
How did Christianity become the dominant religion in the West? In the early first century, a small group of peasants from the backwaters of the Roman Empire proclaimed that an executed enemy of the state was God’s messiah. Less than four hundred years later it had become the official religion of Rome with some thirty million followers. It could so easily have been a forgotten sect of Judaism. Through meticulous research, Bart Ehrman, an expert on Christian history, texts and traditions, explores the way we think about one of the most important cultural transformations the world has ever seen, one that has shaped the art, music, literature, philosophy, ethics and economics of modern Western civilisation.

Religions of the Ancient World

Religions of the Ancient World PDF Author: Sarah Iles Johnston
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674015173
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 750

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Book Description
This groundbreaking, first basic reference work on ancient religious beliefs collects and organizes available information on ten ancient cultures and traditions, including Greece, Rome, and Mesopotamia, and offers an expansive, comparative perspective on each one.

After Jesus Before Christianity

After Jesus Before Christianity PDF Author: Erin Vearncombe
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0063062178
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
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. Christianity has endured for more than two millennia and is practiced by billions worldwide today. Yet that longevity has created difficulties for scholars tracing the religion’s roots, distorting much of the historical investigation into the first two centuries of the Jesus movement. But what if Christianity died in the fourth or fifth centuries after it began? How would that change how historians see and understand its first two hundred years? Considering these questions, three Bible scholars from the Westar Institute summarize the work of the Christianity Seminar and its efforts to offer a new way of thinking about Christianity and its roots. Synthesizing the institute’s most recent scholarship—bringing together the many archaeological and textual discoveries over the last twenty years—they have found: There were multiple Jesus movements, not a singular one, before the fourth century There was nothing called Christianity until the third century There was much more flexibility and diversity within Jesus’s movement before it became centralized in Rome, not only regarding the Bible and religious doctrine, but also understandings of gender, sexuality and morality. Exciting and revolutionary, After Jesus Before Christianity provides fresh insights into the real history behind how the Jesus movement became Christianity. After Jesus Before Christianity includes more than a dozen black-and-white images throughout.

The Messiah Before Jesus

The Messiah Before Jesus PDF Author: Israel Knohl
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520215924
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
Publisher Fact Sheet Argues that there was a "messianic forerunner" to Jesus named Menachem who lived a generation earlier & served as a sort of role model for Jesus & his messianic movement.

The Abrahamic Religions: a Very Short Introduction

The Abrahamic Religions: a Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Charles L. Cohen
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190654341
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
In the book of Genesis, God bestows a new name upon Abram--Abraham, a father of many nations. With this name and his Covenant, Abraham would become the patriarch of three of the world's major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Connected by their mutual--if differentiated--veneration of the One God proclaimed by Abraham, these traditions share much beyond their origins in the ancient Israel of the Old Testament. This Very Short Introduction explores the intertwined histories of these monotheistic religions, from the emergence of Christianity and Islam to the violence of the Crusades and the cultural exchanges of al-Andalus. Each religion continues to be shaped by this history but has also reacted to the forces of modernity and politics. Movements such as the Reformation and that led by seventh-century Kharijites have emerged, intentioned to reform or restore traditional religious practice but quite different in their goals and effects. Relationships with states, among them Israel and Saudi Arabia, have also figured importantly in their development. The Abrahamic Religions: A Very Short Introduction brings these traditions together into a common narrative, lending much needed context to the story of Abraham and his descendants. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.