Paganism And Christianity 100 425 C E

This book is a collection of nearly 175 documents?from saints, emperors, philosophers, satirists, inscriptions, graffiti, and other interesting types?that sheds light on the complex fabric of religious belief as it changed from a variety of non-Judeo-Christian movements to Christian in late antiquity. These texts illuminate and bring to life the bizarre and the banal of the social world of the Roman Empire, the world in which Christianity ultimately gained preeminence. This treasury of texts leads the reader through the matrix of beliefs among which Christianity grew. It includes both Christian and non-Christian sources, avoiding a common but obscuring division between the two. The material is presented as one single flow that satisfies natural curiosity and whets the reader's appetite for more. Brief explanatory introductions to the documents are included.

This book is a collection of nearly 175 documentsfrom saints, emperors, philosophers, satirists, inscriptions, graffiti, and other interesting typesthat sheds light on the complex fabric of religious belief as it changed from a variety of non-Judeo-Christian movements to Christian in late antiquity. These texts illuminate and bring to life the bizarre and the banal of the social world of the Roman Empire, the world in which Christianity ultimately gained preeminence. This treasury of texts leads the reader through the matrix of beliefs among which Christianity grew. It includes both Christian and non-Christian sources, avoiding a common but obscuring division between the two. The material is presented as one single flow that satisfies natural curiosity and whets the reader's appetite for more. Brief explanatory introductions to the documents are included.

The slaughter of animals for religious feasts, the tinkling of bells to ward off evil during holy rites, the custom of dancing in religious services--these and many other pagan practices persisted in the Christian church for hundreds of years after Constantine proclaimed Christianity the one official religion of Rome. In this book, Ramsay MacMullen investigates the transition from paganism to Christianity between the fourth and eighth centuries. He reassesses the triumph of Christianity, contending that it was neither tidy nor quick, and he shows that the two religious systems were both vital during an interactive period that lasted far longer than historians have previously believed. MacMullen explores the influences of paganism and Christianity upon each other. In a rich discussion of the different strengths of the two systems, he demonstrates that pagan beliefs were not eclipsed or displaced by Christianity but persisted or were transformed. The victory of the Christian church, he explains, was one not of obliteration but of widening embrace and assimilation. This fascinating book also includes new material on the Christian persecution of pagans over the centuries through methods that ranged from fines to crucifixion; the mixture of motives in conversion; the stubbornness of pagan resistance; the difficulty of satisfying the demands and expectations of new converts; and the degree of assimilation of Christianity to paganism.

Using sermons, exorcisms, letters, biographies of the saints, inscriptions, autobiographical and legal documents—some of which are translated nowhere else—J. N. Hillgarth shows how the Christian church went about the formidable task of converting western Europe. The book covers such topics as the relationship between the Church and the Roman state, Christian attitudes toward the barbarians, and the missions to northern Europe. It documents as well the cult of relics in popular Christianity and the emergence of consciously Christian monarchies.

Paganism and Christianity by James Anson Farrer, first published in 1891, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.

This book is a volume in the Penn Press Anniversary Collection. To mark its 125th anniversary in 2015, the University of Pennsylvania Press rereleased more than 1,100 titles from Penn Press's distinguished backlist from 1899-1999 that had fallen out of print. Spanning an entire century, the Anniversary Collection offers peer-reviewed scholarship in a wide range of subject areas.

This brief survey text tells the story of early Christianity. Cynthia White explores the emergence of Christianity in Rome during the first four centuries of the Greco-Roman empire, from the first followers of Jesus Christ, to conflicts between Christians and Jewish kings under Roman occupation, to the torture of Christian followers, Diocletian's reforms, and Constantine's eventual conversion to monotheism, which cemented Christianity's status as the official religion of Rome. The text's chapters will integrate key pedagogy, including introductions, study questions, textboxes, photos, maps, suggested readings, and a glossary and timeline.

Human beings seek meaning and purpose. To do so, we tell stories about the past, which we call history, and stories about what will occur in the future, constructed from memory and imagination. History is not a subject we study, but one we live. History is our medium, as water is to fish. No period of antiquity is more informative and influential for Western civilization than the Greco-Roman, the period from the time of Alexander the Great to the fall of the Roman Empire, an age that saw the emergence of Judaism and Christianity—twin traditions shaped against the background of pagan dominance. The meeting between Jew and Greek, Christian and pagan, revolutionized the ancient world. It represented a crucial moment in the history of Western society, when politics, economics, culture, and religion took a new turn. In time, these separate streams mingled and merged, forming the single and ever-widening current that gave birth to modernity. Moving against the stream of religious exclusivism, this book does not seek to further the cause of one particular religious perspective, but rather to gain insight on how ancient pagans, Jews, and Christians interacted with one another. This study advances contemporary attempts at dialogue and cooperation, enabling people of differing agendas to focus their energy on finding solutions to problems plaguing our planet. Response to the Other has much to offer specialists and non-specialists alike. This work can be used as a study guide, the questions at the end of each chapter suitable for individual or group use.