the triumph of christianity summary

…. You’re like Richard Dawkins and co telling christians how they should believe given the Bible. These arguments are fairly easily dispatched and Ehrman does so succinctly. So what is this “reason” that he gives? Show us this “small number of cruel executions of pagans” and produce evidence that makes it “clear that people were terrorized” by them. The triumph of Christianity : how the Jesus movement became the world's largest religion. The work I provide is guaranteed to be plagiarism free, original, and written from scratch. Only 200 years after christianity had become state religion the famous (pagan) academy of Athena was closed. Jesus died around 30 CE., at which time he had only a handful of followers, all of whom considered themselves to be Jews. This seems to have been because there was far less need for organised and concerted preaching within the Empire, due to the way networks of patronage, community and family worked in late Roman society. Well what the hell has he been doing for the last 30 years of his life???? I would say that miracles are really the blessing and the curse of Christianity. Concerning your last paragraph…… Stark excoriates other academics for the use of the phrase "must have been" but relies heavily on "would have" a, Some very interesting concepts, perfect for discussion among a group- though ultimately I think the author missed the mark. In recent decades, as traditional Christian denominations have become more liberal and less demanding they have lost members, whereas relative new, stricter, more demanding denominations are gaining in membership. His newest book, The Triumph of Christianity, traces the path taken by the underdog of religions to its apogee as imperator of Europe and Western civilization, the latter of which ultimately owes a great deal, culturally, politically and ethically, to that victory. Sign-in to download and listen to this audiobook today! I think this discussion has reached its natural end. Nothing counts as evidence because there is no God”. While being a 7 on the scale of Dawkins I’d call those reasons philosophical. But what he said is perfectly correct. Now the actual reasoning may be one that many Christians would accept. But somehow once you accept the third claim then you no longer can you apply the historical criteria to the second. Stark’s writing is clear and readable, and he supplies extensive documentation. I am able to accept that perhaps religious fundamentalists have exaggerated such impacts on Western society. So he could say “I can’t say it was a miracle or not but historical analysis suggests 1, 2 and 3 are all true.”. You write nothing about evidence, method, hypotheses. I was urged—and authorized—to make the announcement at the debate. (I personally dislike audio formats and wish that there were transcripts of these debates – I find it much easier to assimilate information in writing.). (Even if from a philosophical or religious perspective we completely discount the possibility they occurred.). For them – even for the ones who analyse the historical dynamics much as Ehrman does in this book – everything that happened from the execution of Jesus onward has to be seen through the prism of Christianity’s inevitable triumph. So there are not “two Ehrmans”. Which is hardly surprising given the very strong similarities between Christianity and Islam (and I expect that like many American Christians; your eyes might be combusting in the face of such heresy). We’d love your help. I don’t know Mr. O’Neill but I will say that anyone who knows anything at all about Bart Ehrman knows that he is a historical revisionist of the Dan Brown sort. I must say this was one of the more surprising findings of his analysis for me, though one that I did find convincing. This means Constantine adopted Christianity despite its political disadvantages, not because it gave him a political edge. Either he didn’t understand Ehrman’s previous writing on this issue or he hasn’t read it. Is that the New Atheists definition of peer review? I’m afraid I didn’t notice any “thesis”. Thank you Frank I may look up Herman Philipse. There were some Christians in both echelons, but far fewer than in the lower strata. This brings us to my second point, which is that I think the ethical/moral behaviour is more important. doesn’t make any sense to me Historical analysis can’t go any further than “people believed that a miracle happened”. Because,Wallace clearly gives his reason, which if heard, is not easily dismissed regarding the two Bart Ehrman’s. Christian care of the sick ensured that those cared for by Christian families and communities survived illnesses at significantly higher rates than pagans. Assuming a population of the Empire of around 60 million in this period, this gives us approximately 4-6 million Christians overall. Daniel Wallace is an equal to Bart, and therefore, one should at least consider why Wallace maintains this position concerning Ehrmans dual nature. Are you gonna get to the Ascension of Isaiah soon? That Christians were so low class was a perennial comment by pagan observers as well as a source of satire and a basis for at least some anti-Christian polemic. I took 19 pages of notes while reading this book because I want to remember his main points. What you like to believe does not change the bare hard facts. Just a gathering place of old ideas of the author. I should probably clarify, Tim, that was a (poor) rhetorical question pointing out that you tend to find the historical Jesus analysis that places him within the context of Apocalyptic Judaism in first century Palestine more convincing than the proto-anarchocommunist (my words, not theirs) reformer that the Jesus Seminar types tend towards. This expansion of Stark's classic "Rise of Christianity" adds plenty of new sections and brings his argument to the 21st century. It easily could have remained a sect of Judaism fated to have the historical importance of the Sadducees or the Essenes. Challenging re-evaluation of historical myþs. https://www.richardcarrier.info/archives/6923. Ehrman does squirm when pressed by Wallace. He uses quantitative historical data to support arguments about Christian history that go against some of the widely-accepted claims made by earlier generations of historians. The last section about the expansion of Christianity in the modern world and the statistics he compiles in support of his ideas are fascinating. October 25th 2011 Of course, Julian’s death in battle and the succession of a second generation of Christians meant his attempts at reversal failed, though Ehrman’s demographic calculations imply they were doomed anyway. 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