Early Christianity and Greek Paideia

Early Christianity and Greek Paideia

Author: Werner Jaeger

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 9780674220522

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This small book, the last work of a world-renowned scholar, has established itself as a classic. It provides a superb overview of the vast historical process by which Christianity was Hellenized and Hellenic civilization became Christianized. Werner Jaeger shows that without the large postclassical expansion of Greek culture the rise of a Christian world religion would have been impossible. He explains why the Hellenization of Christianity was necessary in apostolic and postapostalic times; points out similarities between Greek philosophy and Christian belief; discuss such key figures as Clement, Origen, and Gregory of Nyssa; and touches on the controversies that led to the ultimate complex synthesis of Greek and Christian thought.


Greek Thought and the Rise of Christianity

Greek Thought and the Rise of Christianity

Author: James Shiel

Publisher:

Published: 1968

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13:

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This series is designed to study problems in preference to periods. Each volume will contain sections dealing with historiography, documents, and a consideration of the wider issues, although the balance between the three will vary in each case. This approach encourages the student to deal in his own way with the problems raised by historical documents and the historiography of the issues in question and he is made aware of the wider perspectives of history.


The Rise of Christianity

The Rise of Christianity

Author: Rodney Stark

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 1997-05-09

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0060677015

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This "fresh, blunt, and highly persuasive account of how the West was won—for Jesus" (Newsweek) is now available in paperback. Stark's provocative report challenges conventional wisdom and finds that Christianity's astounding dominance of the Western world arose from its offer of a better, more secure way of life. "Compelling reading" (Library Journal) that is sure to "generate spirited argument" (Publishers Weekly), this account of Christianity's remarkable growth within the Roman Empire is the subject of much fanfare. "Anyone who has puzzled over Christianity's rise to dominance...must read it." says Yale University's Wayne A. Meeks, for The Rise of Christianity makes a compelling case for startling conclusions. Combining his expertise in social science with historical evidence, and his insight into contemporary religion's appeal, Stark finds that early Christianity attracted the privileged rather than the poor, that most early converts were women or marginalized Jews—and ultimately "that Christianity was a success because it proved those who joined it with a more appealing, more assuring, happier, and perhaps longer life" (Andrew M. Greeley, University of Chicago).


The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark

The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark

Author: Dennis Ronald MacDonald

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780300080124

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In this groundbreaking book, Dennis R. MacDonald offers an entirely new view of the New Testament gospel of Mark. The author of the earliest gospel was not writing history, nor was he merely recording tradition, MacDonald argues. Close reading and careful analysis show that Mark borrowed extensively from the Odyssey and the Iliad and that he wanted his readers to recognise the Homeric antecedents in Mark's story of Jesus. Mark was composing a prose anti-epic, MacDonald says, presenting Jesus as a suffering hero modeled after but far superior to traditional Greek heroes. Much like Odysseus, Mark's Jesus sails the seas with uncomprehending companions, encounters preternatural opponents, and suffers many things before confronting rivals who have made his house a den of thieves. In his death and burial, Jesus emulates Hector, although unlike Hector Jesus leaves his tomb empty. Mark's minor characters, too, recall Homeric predecessors: Bartimaeus emulates Tiresias; Joseph of Arimathea, Priam; and the women at the tomb, Helen, Hecuba, and Andromache. And, entire episodes in Mark mirror Homeric episodes, including stilling the sea, walking on water, feeding the multitudes, the Triumphal E


Intimations of Christianity Among the Ancient Greeks

Intimations of Christianity Among the Ancient Greeks

Author: Simone Weil

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 1987-01

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 9780744800593

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In "Intimations of Christianity Among the Ancient Greeks," Simone Weil discusses precursors to Christian religious ideas which can be found in ancient Greek mythology, literature and philosophy. She looks at evidence of "Christian" feelings in Greek literature, notably in "Electra, Orestes," and "Antigone," and in the "Iliad," going on to examine God in Plato, and divine love in creation, as seen by the ancient Greeks.


Christianity

Christianity

Author: Linda Woodhead

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 0199687749

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This is a short, accessible analysis of Christianity that focuses on its social and cultural diversity as well as its historical dimensions.


The Mystery-Religions

The Mystery-Religions

Author: S. Angus

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2012-04-30

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 0486143511

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Classic study explores the Eleusinian mysteries of ancient Greece; Asiatic cults of Cybele, the Magna Mater, and Attis; Dionysian groups; Orphics; Egyptian devotees of Isis and Osiris; Mithraism; and others.


The Rise of Christianity

The Rise of Christianity

Author: Kevin W. Kaatz

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2015-12-07

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13:

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An outstanding resource for high school readers and first-year college students, this book explores early Christianity from its beginnings in the first century through the fourth century when Christianity went from a persecuted faith to the only legalized faith in the Roman Empire. How did Christianity become one of the most widespread religions as well as one of the most influential forces in world history that has shaped politics, wars, literature, art, and music on every continent? This book contains more than 40 entries on various topics in early Christianity, 15 primary documents, and 6 argumentative essays written by scholars in the field. The breadth of materials enables readers to learn about early Christianity from a number of different viewpoints and to come to their own conclusions about how historical events unfolded in early Christianity. This single-volume work focuses on the first four centuries of early Christianity, including topics on Jerusalem, Herod the Great, Paul, Tertullian, Mani, The Arians, Constantine the Great, and many others. Readers will be well equipped to answer three critical questions that scholars of early Christianity deal with when they study this period: Why was Christianity popular? Why were Christians persecuted? How did Christianity spread?


The Rise of Christianity

The Rise of Christianity

Author: W. H. C. Frend

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 1984-01-01

Total Pages: 1048

ISBN-13: 9781451419528

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Traces the early history of the Christian church from Jewish Palestine prior to Christ's birth to the sixth century monastic movement, and explains how Christianity survived under a variety of cultures