The Rise and Fall of the Christian Myth - 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 Rise and Fall of the Christian Myth write by Burton L. Mack. This book was released on 2017-02-07. The Rise and Fall of the Christian Myth available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. This book is the culmination of a lifelong scholarly inquiry into Christian history, religion as a social institution, and the role of myth in the history of religions. Mack shows that religions are essentially mythological and that Christianity in particular has been an ever-changing mythological engine of social formation, from Roman times to its distinct American expression in our time. The author traces the cultural influence of the Christian myth that has persisted for sixteen hundred years but now should be much less consequential in our social and cultural life, since it runs counter to our democratic ideals. We stand at a critical impasse: badly splintered by conflicting groups pursuing their own social interests, a binding common myth needs to be established by renewing a truly cohesive national and international story rooted in our democratic and egalitarian origins, committed to freedom, equality, and vital human values.
The Rise and Fall of the Christian Myth
The Rise and Fall of the Christian Myth - 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 Rise and Fall of the Christian Myth write by Burton L. Mack. This book was released on 2017-01-01. The Rise and Fall of the Christian Myth available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A preeminent scholar explores the evolution of the Christian worldview and argues that it no longer offers a satisfactory vision for our democratic, multicultural society. This book is the culmination of a lifelong scholarly inquiry into Christian history, religion as a social institution, and the role of myth in the history of religions. Mack shows that religions are essentially mythological and that Christianity in particular has been an ever-changing mythological engine of social formation, from Roman times to its distinct American expression in our time. The author traces the cultural influence of the Christian myth that has persisted for sixteen hundred years but now should be much less consequential in our social and cultural life, since it runs counter to our democratic ideals. We stand at a critical impasse: badly splintered by conflicting groups pursuing their own social interests, a binding common myth needs to be established by renewing a truly cohesive national and international story rooted in our democratic and egalitarian origins, committed to freedom, equality, and vital human values. -- Provided by publisher.
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.
The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve
The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve - 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 Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve write by Stephen Greenblatt. This book was released on 2017-09-14. The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Selected as a book of the year 2017 by The Times and Sunday Times What is it about Adam and Eve’s story that fascinates us? What does it tell us about how our species lives, dies, works or has sex? The mythic tale of Adam and Eve has shaped conceptions of human origins and destiny for centuries. Stemming from a few verses in an ancient book, it became not just the foundation of three major world faiths, but has evolved through art, philosophy and science to serve as the mirror in which we seem to glimpse the whole, long history of our fears and desires. In a quest that begins at the dawn of time, Stephen Greenblatt takes us from ancient Babylonia to the forests of east Africa. We meet evolutionary biologists and fossilised ancestors; we grapple with morality and marriage in Milton’s Paradise Lost; and we decide if the Fall is the unvarnished truth or fictional allegory.
6 Modern Myths About Christianity & Western Civilization
6 Modern Myths About Christianity & Western Civilization - 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 6 Modern Myths About Christianity & Western Civilization write by Philip J. Sampson. This book was released on 2001-01-11. 6 Modern Myths About Christianity & Western Civilization available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. In this book Philip J. Sampson dispels six myths about Christianity and Western civilization and results in unsettling conven-tional wisdom and providing an enlightening look at truth.
