Empire Baptized

Empire Baptized PDF Author: Howard-Brook, Wes
Publisher: Orbis Books
ISBN: 1608336581
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 555

Get Book Here

Book Description
Through a study of the early church, this book shows how Christianity in effect opted for the religion of empire, shifting the emphasis of Jesus's prophetic message from transforming the world to the aim of saving one's soul.

The Grand Finale

The Grand Finale PDF Author: Anton Wessels
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725275996
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 341

Get Book Here

Book Description
We often hear that we are living in apocalyptic times. Wars like those in the Middle East are just more signs that the end is near. That, however, is a misunderstanding of the message of the Bible and the Qur’an. The basic meaning of “apocalypse” is disclosure, revelation, bringing to light what is happening now and what has happened throughout all of history. The “apocalypse” is not about making predictions about the future but about determining who bears responsibility for injustice in the world. In that sense, all times—including ours—are “apocalyptic,” though in a different way than what is usually thought. Since the devastating Greek conquest of the world by Alexander the Great, there have been apocalyptic insights and “revelatory” readings of the whole Hebrew Bible. The same is true of the New Testament with “Rome” as the world power then. The same apocalyptic message is confirmed by the Qur’an when the Byzantines and the Persians fought for mastery of the world. The apocalyptic message is that God will put an end to the unjust dominion of violence, money, and lies. God’s kingdom will certainly arrive, but not through violence—after all, there “is no violence in God” (Diognetus).

The Insurgency of the Spirit

The Insurgency of the Spirit PDF Author: Robert E. Shore-Goss
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1793623198
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 339

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Insurgency of the Spirit taps mutli-disciplinary methodologies of post-colonial biblical scholarship and anthropology, liberation theologies, indigenous studies, grief/trauma research, and nature-meditation writings to shape a constructive retrieval of the animist Jesus. The vision that emerges is one that sets forward an Earth-loving Jesus who challenges Christians in particular to mobilize against the destructive relationship that exists between imperial religion and political systems.

Church of the Wild

Church of the Wild PDF Author: Victoria Loorz
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
ISBN: 1506469647
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Get Book Here

Book Description
Like many unfulfilled by traditional faith expressions, Victoria Loorz went in search of a spirituality strong enough to reckon with the unraveling of her vocation, identity, and planet, and found herself in the wilderness. Loorz invites us to reimagine our relationship with and commitment to a suffering planet by loving it--and calling it church.

The Baptized Muse

The Baptized Muse PDF Author: Karla Pollmann
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192517228
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. With the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire increasing numbers of educated people converted to this new belief. As Christianity did not have its own educational institutions the issue of how to harmonize pagan education and Christian convictions became increasingly pressing. Especially classical poetry, the staple diet of pagan education, was considered to be morally corrupting (due to its deceitful mythological content) and damaging for the salvation of the soul (because of the false gods it advocated). But Christianity recoiled from an unqualified anti-intellectual attitude, while at the same time the experiment of creating an idiosyncratic form of genuinely Christian poetry failed (the sole exception being the poet Commodianus). In The Baptized Muse: Early Christian Poetry as Cultural Authority, Karla Pollmann argues that, instead, Christian poets made creative use of the classical literary tradition, and—in addition to blending it with Judaeo-Christian biblical exegesis—exploited poetry's special ability of enhancing communicative effectiveness and impact through aesthetic means. Pollman explores these strategies through a close analysis of a wide range of Christian, and for comparison partly also pagan, writers mainly from the fourth to sixth centuries. She reveals that early Christianity was not a hermetically sealed uniform body, but displays a rich spectrum of possibilities in dealing with the past and a willingness to engage with and adapt the surrounding culture(s), thereby developing diverse and changing responses to historical challenges. By demonstrating throughout that authority is a key in understanding the long denigrated and misunderstood early Christian poets, this book reaches the ground-breaking conclusion that early Christian poetry is an art form that gains its justification by adding cultural authority to Christianity. Thus, in a wider sense it engages with the recently developed interdisciplinary scholarly interest in aspects of religion as cultural phenomena.

Cross and Kremlin

Cross and Kremlin PDF Author: Thomas Bremer
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 0802869629
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 190

Get Book Here

Book Description
Russian political history and Russian church history are tied together very tightly. One cannot properly understand the overall history of Russia without considering the role of the Orthodox Church in Russia. Cross and Kremlin uniquely surveys both the history and the contemporary situation of the Russian Orthodox Church. The first chapter gives a concise chronology from the tenth century through the present day. The following chapters highlight several important issues and aspects of Russian Orthodoxy -- church-state relations, theology, ecclesiastical structure, monasticism, spirituality, the relation of Russian Orthodoxy to the West, dissidence as a frequent phenomenon in Russian church history, and more.

Understanding God's Sabbath

Understanding God's Sabbath PDF Author: Aubrey Duncan
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595283756
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 144

Get Book Here

Book Description
Understanding God's Sabbath is a simple, systematic study of one of the most important, yet grossly misunderstood doctrines of the Bible. It is a fascinating journey, which traces the Sabbath from its origins in creation to its place in redemption. The reader is led, step by step, through the history of the Sabbath. This book looks at the Sabbath from the perspectives of the Bible, history and contemporary world affairs. Understanding God's Sabbath answers such questions as: What is the Sabbath? Should we keep the Sabbath? What role does the Sabbath play in my life? Is the Sabbath Saturday or Sunday? Is the Sabbath important today? Was the Sabbath really nailed to the cross? Can we choose any day for the Sabbath? Who tried to change the Sabbath and why? Whom should I believe on the matter of the Sabbath? The answers to these questions will enlighten and intrigue you. As you trace the footsteps of the prophets, Jesus, the disciples and the early church, you will come to the true meaning of the Sabbath. When you examine current world affairs, you will discover that the Sabbath is playing a crucial role in determining where you will spend eternity. Understanding God's Sabbath demystifies the concept of why and to whom God gave the Sabbath. It will illuminate the mind and draw you into a closer to walk with God. Understanding God's Sabbath is ultimately an appeal for the reader to worship the only true God, the God of creation. You will be challenged and blessed by Understanding God's Sabbath.

Greece

Greece PDF Author: Roderick Beaton
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022667388X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 505

Get Book Here

Book Description
For many, “Greece” is synonymous with “ancient Greece,” the civilization that gave us much that defines Western culture today. But, how did Greece come to be so powerfully attached to the legacy of the ancients in the first place and then define an identity for itself that is at once Greek and modern? This book reveals the remarkable achievement, during the last three hundred years, of building a modern nation on the ruins of a vanished civilization—sometimes literally so. This is the story of the Greek nation-state but also, and more fundamentally, of the collective identity that goes with it. It is not only a history of events and high politics; it is also a history of culture, of the arts, of people, and of ideas. Opening with the birth of the Greek nation-state, which emerged from encounters between Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire, Roderick Beaton carries his story into the present moment and Greece’s contentious post-recession relationship with the rest of the European Union. Through close examination of how Greeks have understood their shared identity, Beaton reveals a centuries-old tension over the Greek sense of self. How does Greece illuminate the difference between a geographically bounded state and the shared history and culture that make up a nation? A magisterial look at the development of a national identity through history, Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation is singular in its approach. By treating modern Greece as a biographical subject, a living entity in its own right, Beaton encourages us to take a fresh look at a people and culture long celebrated for their past, even as they strive to build a future as part of the modern West.

'Ain el-Gedida

'Ain el-Gedida PDF Author: Nicola Aravecchia
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479803014
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 652

Get Book Here

Book Description
The fourth volume in the Amheida series, ‘Ain el-Gedida: 2006-2008 Excavations of a Late Antique Site in Egypt's Western Desert (Amheida IV) presents the systematic record and interpretation of the archaeological evidence from the excavations at ‘Ain el-Gedida, a fourth-century rural settlement in Egypt's Dakleh Oasis uniquely important for the study of early Egyptian Christianity and previously known only from written sources. Nicola Aravecchia (Washington University), the Deputy Field Director of NYU's Amheida Excavations, offers a history of the site and its excavations, followed by an integrated topographical and archaeological interpretation of the site and its significance for the history of Christianity in Egypt. In the second half of the volume a team of international experts presents catalogs and interpretations of the archaeological finds, including ceramics (Delphine Dixneuf, CRNS), coins (David M. Ratzan, NYU), ostraca and graffiti (Roger S. Bagnall, NYU and Dorota Dzierzbicka, University of Warsaw), small finds (Dorota Dzierzbicka, University of Warsaw), and zooarcheological remains (Pamela J. Crabtree, NYU and Douglas Campana).

Incarnation

Incarnation PDF Author: O'Murchu, Diarmuid
Publisher: Orbis Books
ISBN: 1608337006
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 177

Get Book Here

Book Description