In this scholarly yet readable book Schonfield tries to unravel the mysteries behind the development of early Christianity in the thirty years between the crucifixion of Jesus and the Fall of Jerusalem. It builds on the famous work 'The Passover Plot' by the same author. It is a companion reader also to 'Those Incredible Christians' and 'The Politics of God' and provides challenging insights into a world we thought we understood.
Once you've read the "Passover Plot" and "Those Incredible Christians", you'll want to read this incredibly erudite work by Schonfield which takes the readers to the events inspired by the Pentecost experience.
Cities evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls and archaeological resources to reveal that the early Jesus movement was comprised of loyal Jewish nationalists.
Church history books must choose either brevity or thoroughness. A History of the Church does an excellent job combining both. Although it has been used as a college textbook, it also has been used successfully in local churches and personal study of church history as well.
"Before there was a West, there was Christendom. This book tells the story of how both came to be." (from the Introduction) The Age of Paradise is the first of a projected four-volume history of Christendom, a civilization with a supporting culture that gave rise to what we now call the West. At a time of renewed interest in the future of Western culture, author John Strickland-an Orthodox scholar, professor, and priest-offers a vision rooted in the deep past of the first millennium. At the heart of his story is the early Church's "culture of paradise," an experience of the world in which the kingdom of heaven was tangible and familiar. Drawing not only on worship and theology but statecraft and the arts, the author reveals the remarkably affirmative character Western culture once had under the influence of Christianity-in particular, of Eastern Christendom, which served the West not only as a cradle but as a tutor and guardian as well.
The author tells of his experiences as a Pentecostal minister and a proponent of the charismatic movement that influenced churches worldwide. -- Back cover.
Why, when traditionally organized religious groups are seeing declining membership and participation, are networks of independent churches growing so explosively? Drawing on in-depth interviews with leaders and participants, The Rise of Network Christianity explains the social forces behind the fastest-growing form of Christianity in the U.S., which Brad Christerson and Richard Flory have labeled "Independent Network Charismatic." This form of Christianity emphasizes aggressive engagement with the supernatural-including healing, direct prophecies from God, engaging in "spiritual warfare" against demonic spirits--and social transformation. Christerson and Flory argue that macro-level social changes since the 1970s, including globalization and the digital revolution, have given competitive advantages to religious groups organized as networks rather than traditionally organized congregations and denominations. Network forms of governance allow for experimentation with controversial supernatural practices, innovative finances and marketing, and a highly participatory, unorthodox, and experiential faith, which is attractive in today's unstable religious marketplace. Christerson and Flory hypothesize that as more religious groups imitate this type of governance, religious belief and practice will become more experimental, more orientated around practice than theology, more shaped by the individual religious "consumer," and authority will become more highly concentrated in the hands of individuals rather than institutions. Network Christianity, they argue, is the future of Christianity in America.
