Book cover of Authority and the Sacred

Book description

The Christianisation of the Roman world lies at the root of modern Europe, yet at the time it was a tentative and piecemeal process. Peter Brown's study examines the factors which proved decisive and the compromises which made the emergence of the Christian 'thought world' possible. He shows how contemporary…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Authority and the Sacred as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This engaging and delightfully written little book considers how we, as readers and “observers” of the changing Roman world, should think about the changes that came with Christian domination. 

How do historians of the timeboth Christian and non-Christiantry to “control the narrative” with literary motifs? How, on the other hand, can we be sure that the religion spread across the countryside? And what were those strange holy men doing?

If you love Authority and the Sacred...

Book cover of When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity During the Last Days of Rome

When Jesus Became God by Richard E. Rubenstein,

Was Jesus of Nazareth a remarkably holy man and a prophet, or was he God in human form? This question tore the early Christian community apart in the fourth century CE, generating 60 years of violent conflict and raising questions that still concern millions of people worldwide.

"A splendidly dramatic…

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