a book entitled "Christian Theology" has a moral duty to cover not only Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, but also the Orthodox - both Eastern and Oriental. While this book gives a good introduction to the first two, there is almost complete lack of coverage of the third, which is most unwarranted and unfortunate, considering the spiritual wealth and contributions of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox theologians to Christianity. This book would be of very limited use to anyone interested in Christianity as it is understood and practiced by the Orthodox. Perhaps it should have been entitled "Western Christian Theology".
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Read any secondary account of early Anglo-Saxon England and the authors are unanimous in their praise of the Venerable Bede. However, it wasn't until I read the book for myself that I realised how true it was when historians claim that, for information, the only reliable source from this era is Bede. I noticed how all the secondary accounts I have read on this period sprung from this book which makes it one of the most influential historical texts ever written. From the departure of the Romans in 409AD until the time Bede finished his work in 731, with the possible exception of Gildas; he is the only game in town for the 21st century Historian.
The book is very readable which is surprising as usually primary histories are harder to ... Read More:
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This work is, without a doubt, the absolute benchmark when it comes to the study of English popular religion on the eve of the Reformation. Duffy brings the lost world of late medieval / early modern English Catholicism to life in such an enthralling fashion that you're almost as sorry about the Reformation even happening as Duffy is himself.
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This book covers the history from the beginning of Christianity until the 6th century AD.
First all the early different mainstream directions are described until finally during the 4th century AD the orthodox win and rewriting history.
But after Constantine's support and Nicaea 325 AD the in-fight gets even more severe, a mix of political bickering, who is nearer to the emperor is mixing with theological interpretations. Doctrinal discussions about the duality of father and son, the `one substance' interpretation and later including the Holy Ghost as trinity are explained.
Henry Chadwick is describing all the political power play, intrigues and corruption.
- Bishop's still mainstream this year are considered heretic soon after, ... Read More:
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The "Lost Christianities" of Bart Ehrman is a very neutral description of the Christian history of the first 3 centuries AD. Ehrman has no axe to grind with competing scholars no dogmatic bias, just the open minded attempt to describe the different streams of Christianities before the orthodox were left as winners.
Part 1 of the book is evaluating the different forgeries of Gospels, epistles, revelations and prophecies which were circulating in the ancient Middle East. Gospels of different authors suppressed from the orthodox winners, sometimes only available as fragmented quotations from opponents of the other camp.
Part 2 is describing the 4 different main directions of early Christianity:
- Ebonite's based on the Jewish ancestry, following ... Read More:
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I bought this book using money I had recieved on my 21st birthday, I did not buy it because I needed it for a course of anything like that, I bought it just out of interest. I must say I do not regret buying this book one bit, as it is just so interesting. The names of Saints are something which I frequently encounter in day to day live and until I purchased that book is something I did not give much thought to. The book opened my eyes to how interesting the topic of Saints is and a greater insight into their significance in the modern world. Overall this is an excellent book to own and I would recommend it to anybody who is interested in religion, history, or to anybody who is simply curious about the signifiance of saints.
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I bought this book using money I had recieved on my 21st birthday, I did not buy it because I needed it for a course of anything like that, I bought it just out of interest. I must say I do not regret buying this book one bit, as it is just so interesting. The names of Saints are something which I frequently encounter in day to day live and until I purchased that book is something I did not give much thought to. The book opened my eyes to how interesting the topic of Saints is and a greater insight into their significance in the modern world. Overall this is an excellent book to own and I would recommend it to anybody who is interested in religion, history, or to anybody who is simply curious about the signifiance of saints.
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First off wow! I havent been able to put that book down since I borrowed my grandads copy off him, I even read it in the bath. Sadly as good as this book is, the roots of mans tradition run deep and anyone who has tried to share these historic truths with people will understand what I mean. This book represents a systamatic point by point destruction of many of the church practices that many christians hold dear. One of the most helpful aspects to the book were the footnotes, Ive never read a christian book that has been so well referenced before. This book has reaffirmed what I have been feeling for a while, you simply cant go back to a sunday service christianity after reading this! I just really hope this book takes off in the UK, its been causing a real stir in the US lets hope and ... Read More:
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For almost 2000 years, people have prepared us for the New Testament. There's been many books about it, many sermons, even many movies. Some of it may still seem unusual to us but it's familiar. The scriptures within it were carefully selected and ordered. Many of the writers seem to have gone to great care to make their messages accessible.
We've had little if any preparation for the scriptures in the Nag Hammadi library. They weren't supposed to be around any longer. They may not be a random collection but they seem as if they were. They aren't even all Christian Gnostic. There are some non-Christian Gnostic works, some Hermetic works, even a modified excerpt from Plato's Republic. It seems unlikely that they would have been judged readily understandable ... Read More:
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