Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church write by W. H. C. Frend. This book was released on 1965. Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle.
The Myth of Persecution
The Myth of Persecution - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Myth of Persecution write by Candida Moss. This book was released on 2013-03-05. The Myth of Persecution available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. In The Myth of Persecution, Candida Moss, a leading expert on early Christianity, reveals how the early church exaggerated, invented, and forged stories of Christian martyrs and how the dangerous legacy of a martyrdom complex is employed today to silence dissent and galvanize a new generation of culture warriors. According to cherished church tradition and popular belief, before the Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal in the fourth century, early Christians were systematically persecuted by a brutal Roman Empire intent on their destruction. As the story goes, vast numbers of believers were thrown to the lions, tortured, or burned alive because they refused to renounce Christ. These saints, Christianity's inspirational heroes, are still venerated today. Moss, however, exposes that the "Age of Martyrs" is a fiction—there was no sustained 300-year-long effort by the Romans to persecute Christians. Instead, these stories were pious exaggerations; highly stylized rewritings of Jewish, Greek, and Roman noble death traditions; and even forgeries designed to marginalize heretics, inspire the faithful, and fund churches. The traditional story of persecution is still taught in Sunday school classes, celebrated in sermons, and employed by church leaders, politicians, and media pundits who insist that Christians were—and always will be—persecuted by a hostile, secular world. While violence against Christians does occur in select parts of the world today, the rhetoric of persecution is both misleading and rooted in an inaccurate history of the early church. Moss urges modern Christians to abandon the conspiratorial assumption that the world is out to get Christians and, rather, embrace the consolation, moral instruction, and spiritual guidance that these martyrdom stories provide.
Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church
Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church write by William Hugh Clifford Frend. This book was released on 1965. Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle.
I Am A Christian
I Am A Christian - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook I Am A Christian write by Anthony P. Schiavo, Jr.. This book was released on 2018-09-17. I Am A Christian available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. "Jesus never existed." "The Bible is a book of fairy tales." "Accounts of Christian persecution are fables." Christians of today face ridiculous claims of this type on a regular basis. These charges gain traction in the modern world because the average person has practically no knowledge of the Church's ancient past. I Am A Christian: Authentic Accounts of Christian Martyrdom and Persecution from the Ancient Sources aims to remedy this deficiency. The works collected in this book represent some of the most trustworthy first-hand accounts of the triumphs and travails of the early Church that have survived antiquity. These include several authentic transcripts of Roman legal proceedings against Christians, along with obscure but fascinating historical works that are unfamiliar to even the most informed Christians of today. In several cases, readers will be presented with the actual words of the martyrs themselves. In others, they will read accounts penned by eye-witnesses or authors writing within the living memory of the events themselves. Taken together, these works form a glorious record of early Christian zeal and fortitude in the face of aggressive state persecution. When reading them, one notices a common refrain: when questioned, the accused would cry out: “I am a Christian,” which was the equivalent of saying, “I am guilty as charged.” In an era when such an admission carried a death sentence, these authentic testimonies provide a convincing answer to modern skeptics who will find them as baffling as did the ancient Roman emperors, proconsuls and magistrates of nearly two millennia ago.
Christian Persecution, Martyrdom, and Orthodoxy
Christian Persecution, Martyrdom, and Orthodoxy - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Christian Persecution, Martyrdom, and Orthodoxy write by Geoffrey Ernest Maurice De Ste. Croix. This book was released on 2006-09-28. Christian Persecution, Martyrdom, and Orthodoxy available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. This volume brings together seven seminal papers by the great radical historian Geoffrey de Ste. Croix, who died in 2000, on early Christian topics, with an especial focus on persecution and martyrdom. Christian martyrdom is a topic which conjures up ready images of inhumane persecutors confronted by Christian heroes who perish for the instant but win the long-term battle for reputation. In five of these essays Ste. Croix scrutinizes the evidence to reveal the significant role ofChristian themselves, first as volunteer martyrs and later, after the triumph of Christianity in the early fourth century, as organizers of much more effective persecutions. A sixth essay pursues the question of the control of Christianity through a comprehensive study of the context for one of theChurch's most important and divisive doctrinal decisions, at the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451); the key role of the emperor and his senior secular officials is revealed, contrary to the prevailing interpretation of Church historians. Finally the attitudes of the early Church towards property and slavery are reviewed, to show the divide between the Gospel message and actual practice.
