Download or read book The History of the Christian Religion and Church During the Three First Centuries written by August Neander and published by . This book was released on 1842 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Complete Guide to Christian Denominations written by Ron Rhodes and published by Harvest House Publishers. This book was released on 2015-03-01 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you ever wonder what the difference is between one denomination and another? Why are there so many kinds of Baptist or Presbyterian or Lutheran churches? Where do those names come from, anyway? You can find answers in this concise but comprehensive guide. Learn about the leaders, teachings, and history of most of the church families in America. In addition to membership statistics, you'll find... a brief explanation of how the denomination began a short summary of its teaching on God, the Bible, the church, and other important topics a quick overview of some of its distinctive characteristics Whether you're looking for a new church or enriching your fellowship with believers from other traditions, you'll be much better prepared with this revised and expanded edition of The Complete Guide to Christian Denominations.
Download or read book The Origins of Christian Morality written by Wayne A. Meeks and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the time Christianity became a political and cultural force in the Roman Empire, it had come to embody a new moral vision. This wise and eloquent book describes the formative years--from the crucifixion of Jesus to the end of the second century of the common era--when Christian beliefs and practices shaped their unique moral order. Wayne A. Meeks examines the surviving documents from Christianity's beginnings (some of which became the New Testament) and shows that they are largely concerned with the way converts to the movement should behave. Meeks finds that for these Christians, the formation of morals means the formation of community; the documents are addressed not to individuals but to groups, and they have among their primary aims the maintenance and growth of these groups. Meeks paints a picture of the process of socialization that produced the early forms of Christian morality, discussing many factors that made the Christians feel that they were a single and "chosen" people. He describes, for example, the impact of conversion; the rapid spread of Christian household cult-associations in the cities of the Roman Empire; the language of Christian moral discourse as revealed in letters, testaments, and "moral stories"; the rituals, meetings, and institutionalization of charity; the Christians' feelings about celibacy, sex, and gender roles; and their sense of the end-time and final judgment. In each of these areas Meeks seeks to determine what is distinctive about the Christian viewpoint and what is similar to the moral components of Greco-Roman or Jewish thought.
Download or read book Know why You Believe written by Paul E. Little and published by . This book was released on 1967 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Evolution and Christian Faith written by Joan Roughgarden and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2006-08-01 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Click here to visit evolutionandchristianfaith.org "I'm an evolutionary biologist and a Christian," states Stanford professor Joan Roughgarden at the outset of her groundbreaking new book, Evolution and Christian Faith: Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist. From that perspective, she offers an elegant, deeply satisfying reconciliation of the theory of evolution and the wisdom of the Bible. Perhaps only someone with Roughgarden's unique academic standing could examine so well controversial issues such as the teaching of intelligent design in public schools, or the potential flaws in Darwin's theory of evolution. Certainly Roughgarden is uniquely suited to reference both the minutiae of scientific processes and the implication of Biblical verses. Whether the topic is mutation rates and lizards or the hidden meanings behind St. Paul's letters, Evolution and Christian Faith distils complex arguments into everyday understanding. Roughgarden has scoured the Bible and scanned the natural world, finding examples time and again, not of conflict, but of harmony. The result is an accessible and intelligent context for a Christian vision of the world that embraces science. In the ongoing debates over creationism and evolution, Evolution and Christian Faith will be seen as a work of major significance, written for contemporary readers who wonder how-or if-they can embrace scientific advances while maintaining their traditional values.
Download or read book Cambridge History of Christianity Volume 1 Origins to Constantine written by Margaret M. Mitchell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on with total page 796 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book History of Christianity written by Paul Johnson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-03-27 with total page 816 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1976, Paul Johnson’s exceptional study of Christianity has been loved and widely hailed for its intensive research, writing, and magnitude—“a tour de force, one of the most ambitious surveys of the history of Christianity ever attempted and perhaps the most radical” (New York Review of Books). In a highly readable companion to books on faith and history, the scholar and author Johnson has illuminated the Christian world and its fascinating history in a way that no other has. Johnson takes off in the year AD 49 with his namesake the apostle Paul. Thus beginning an ambitious quest to paint the centuries since the founding of a little-known ‘Jesus Sect’, A History of Christianity explores to a great degree the evolution of the Western world. With an unbiased and overall optimistic tone, Johnson traces the fantastic scope of the consequent sects of Christianity and the people who followed them. Information drawn from extensive and varied sources from around the world makes this history as credible as it is reliable. Invaluable understanding of the framework of modern Christianity—and its trials and tribulations throughout history—has never before been contained in such a captivating work.
Download or read book An Introduction to Christian Theology written by Justo L. González and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book helps beginning theological students grasp the basics of Christian theology. Consciously avoiding the perspective of one school of thought or confessional tradition, the authors provide the reader with a brief, broad overview of the questions and contents of theological study. Their accessible use of language, clear organization, and careful explanation will prove of invaluable aid to those who are getting their theological feet wet for the first time. "In the words of its authors, this book offers an introduction 'to the fuller spectrum of Christian theology as it has developed through the centuries.' Few writers address the historical development of the classic doctrines and the contemporary resonance as adroitly as Gonzalez and Perez. The chapter on Jesus Christ, for example, presents concise summaries of the treatments of Christ's person leading up to Chalcedon, while suggesting a need for a multiplicity of images in understanding the work of Christ that liberates the whole person and restores all creation. Beginning students, as a result, are invited into a living theological conversation, where the contested claims of the past have continued relevance in a contemporary era beset by its undervaluing of the body and creation. Broadly ecumenical in tenor, with reference to theologians from nearly every century, the work should appeal to both a popular readership and introductory students in college and seminary. One disappointing aspect of the book is an absence of Latino/a, feminist, and liberation perspectives. For a work that argues for the contextuality of all theology, and from authors whose previous work has been monumental in Hispanic theological education, this lack is surprising."---David H. Jensen, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in Religious Studies Review, Volume 29 Number 3, July 2003.
Download or read book Christianity An Ancient Egyptian Religion written by Ahmed Osman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2005-04-19 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contends that the roots of Christian belief come not from Judaea but from Egypt • Shows that the Romans fabricated their own version of Christianity and burned the Alexandrian library as a way of maintaining political power • Builds on the arguments of the author's previous books The Hebrew Pharaohs of Egypt, Moses and Akhenaten, and Jesus in the House of the Pharaohs In Christianity: An Ancient Egyptian Religion author Ahmed Osman contends that the roots of Christian belief spring not from Judaea but from Egypt. He compares the chronology of the Old Testament and its factual content with ancient Egyptian records to show that the major characters of the Hebrew scriptures--including Solomon, David, Moses, and Joshua--are based on Egyptian historical figures. He further suggests that not only were these personalities and the stories associated with them cultivated on the banks of the Nile, but the major tenets of Christian belief--the One God, the Trinity, the hierarchy of heaven, life after death, and the virgin birth--are all Egyptian in origin. He likewise provides a convincing argument that Jesus himself came out of Egypt. With the help of modern archaeological findings, Osman shows that Christianity survived as an Egyptian mystery cult until the fourth century A.D., when the Romans embarked on a mission of suppression and persecution. In A.D. 391 the Roman-appointed Bishop Theophilus led a mob into the Serapeum quarter of Alexandria and burned the Alexandrian library, destroying all records of the true Egyptian roots of Christianity. The Romans' version of Christianity, manufactured to maintain political power, claimed that Christianity originated in Judaea. In Christianity: An Ancient Egyptian Religion Osman restores Egypt to its rightful place in the history of Christianity.
Download or read book An Introduction to the New Testament and the Origins of Christianity written by Delbert Burkett and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-07-10 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description
Download or read book Pagan Christianity written by Frank Viola and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2010-09-30 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you ever wondered why we Christians do what we do for church every Sunday morning? Why do we “dress up” for church? Why does the pastor preach a sermon each week? Why do we have pews, steeples, and choirs? This ground-breaking book, now in affordable softcover, makes an unsettling proposal: most of what Christians do in present-day churches is rooted, not in the New Testament, but in pagan culture and rituals developed long after the death of the apostles. Coauthors Frank Viola and George Barna support their thesis with compelling historical evidence and extensive footnotes that document the origins of modern Christian church practices. In the process, the authors uncover the problems that emerge when the church functions more like a business organization than the living organism it was created to be. As you reconsider Christ's revolutionary plan for his church—to be the head of a fully functioning body in which all believers play an active role—you'll be challenged to decide whether you can ever do church the same way again.
Download or read book A Brief Introduction to Buddhism written by Tim Dowley and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2019-06-01 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This brief introduction to Buddhism is designed to help readers understand this important religious tradition. With both nuance and balance, this text provides broad coverage of various forms of Buddhism with an arresting layout with rich colors. It offers both historical overviews and modern perspectives on Buddhist beliefs and practices. The user-friendly content is enhanced by charts of religious festivals, historic timelines, updated maps, and a useful glossary. It is ideal for courses on Buddhism and Asian religions and will be a useful, concise reference for all readers eager to know more about this important religious tradition and its place in our contemporary world.
Download or read book Liberty in the Things of God written by Robert Louis Wilken and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2019-04-09 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of the leading historians of Christianity comes this sweeping reassessment of religious freedom, from the church fathers to John Locke In the ancient world Christian apologists wrote in defense of their right to practice their faith in the cities of the Roman Empire. They argued that religious faith is an inward disposition of the mind and heart and cannot be coerced by external force, laying a foundation on which later generations would build. Chronicling the history of the struggle for religious freedom from the early Christian movement through the seventeenth century, Robert Louis Wilken shows that the origins of religious freedom and liberty of conscience are religious, not political, in origin. They took form before the Enlightenment through the labors of men and women of faith who believed there could be no justice in society without liberty in the things of God. This provocative book, drawing on writings from the early Church as well as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, reminds us of how "the meditations of the past were fitted to affairs of a later day."
Download or read book Martin Luther s 95 Theses written by Martin Luther and published by . This book was released on 2015-01-24 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An unabridged, unaltered edition of the Disputation on the Power & Efficacy of Indulgences Commonly Known as The 95 Theses
Download or read book Religion Explained written by Pascal Boyer and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2007-03-21 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many of our questions about religion, says the internationally renowned anthropologist Pascal Boyer, were once mysteries, but they no longer are: we are beginning to know how to answer questions such as "Why do people have religion?" and "Why is religion the way it is?" Using findings from anthropology, cognitive science, linguistics, and evolutionary biology, Boyer shows how one of the most fascinating aspects of human consciousness is increasingly admissible to coherent, naturalistic explanation. And Man Creates God tells readers, for the first time, what religious feeling is really about, what it consists of, and how it originates. It is a beautifully written, very accessible book by an anthropologist who is highly respected on both sides of the Atlantic. As a scientific explanation for religious feeling, it is sure to arouse controversy.
Download or read book The Jesus Mysteries written by Timothy Freke and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2001-12-18 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on the cutting edge of modern scholarship, this astonishing book completely undermines the traditional history of Christianity that has been perpetuated for centuries by the Church and presents overwhelming evidence that the Jesus of the New Testament is a mythical figure. “Whether you conclude that this book is the most alarming heresy of the millennium or the mother of all revelations, The Jesus Mysteries deserves to be read.” —Fort Worth Star-Telegram Far from being eyewitness accounts, as is traditionally held, the Gospels are actually Jewish adaptations of ancient Pagan myths of the dying and resurrecting godman Osiris-Dionysus. The supernatural story of Jesus is not the history of a miraculous Messiah but a carefully crafted spiritual allegory designed to guide initiates on a journey of mystical discovery. A little more than a century ago, most people believed that the strange story of Adam and Eve was history; today it is understood to be a myth. Within a few decades, authors Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy argue, we will likewise be amazed that the fabulous story of God incarnate—who was born of a virgin, who turned water into wine, and who rose from the dead—could have been interpreted as anything but a profound parable.
Download or read book Discovering God written by Rodney Stark and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-03-17 with total page 605 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2008 Christianity Today Award of Merit in Theology/Ethics The History of God In Discovering God, award-winning sociologist Rodney Stark presents a monumental history of the origins of the great religions from the Stone Age to the Modern Age and wrestles with the central questions of religion and belief.
