Christianity: An Introduction
Ebook
The Christian faith has the allegiance of one third of the human race. It has succeeded in influencing civilization to such a degree that we now take its existence almost for granted. Yet it might all have been so different. Christianity began with the words and deeds of an obscure village carpenter's son who died a shameful criminal's death at the hands of the Roman occupiers of his country: itself an insignificant outpost of the powerful ruling Empire. The feverish land of biblical Palestine, awash with apocalyptic expectations of deliverance from its foreign overlords, was hardly short of seers and prophets who claimed to be sent visions from God. Yet the followers of this man thought he was different: so different, in fact, that some years after his death and asserted resurrection they scandalously insisted not only that he was sent by God, but that he 'was' God. How a provincial sect, with its seemingly outrageous ideas, became first the sanctioned religion of the Roman Empire and then, over the course of 2000 years, the creed of billions of people, is the improbable story that this book tells.
It is a story of freethinkers, friars, fanatics and firebrands; and of the lay people (not just the clerical or the powerful) who have made up the great mass of Christians over the centuries. Many introductions to Christianity are written by Christians, for Christians. This elegant textbook, by contrast, shows that the history of the religion, while often glorious, is not one of unimpeded progress, but something still more remarkable, flawed and human.
Christianity began with the words and deeds of an obscure village carpenter's son who died a shameful criminal's death at the hands of the Roman occupiers of his country. This book shows that the history of the religion, while often glorious, is not one of unimpeded progress, but something still more remarkable, flawed and human.
List of Maps and Illustrations
Preface
An X-Ray of Christianity
Time-Frame for Christianity
Quick Guide to Common Terms
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
PART I ORIGINS AND GROWTH
Chapter 1 Jesus and the Mediterranean World
Chapter 2 Ancient Christianity
PART II MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY
Chapter 3 The Early Middle Ages 500-1000
Chapter 4 The Later Middle Ages 1000-1500
PART III DISCOVERY AND DIVERSITY
Chapter 5 Renaissance and Discovery
Chapter 6 Reformation and Revolution
PART IV ENLIGHTENMENT AND MODERNITY
Chapter 7 Christianity Transformed
Chapter 8 Christianity in a Globalized World
Conclusion
Recommended Reading
Index
- Title: Christianity: An Introduction
- Author: Philip Kennedy
- Publisher: I.B. Tauris
- Print Publication Date: 2011
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9780857737885, 0857737880
- Resource ID: LLS:9780857737885
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-05-13T22:32:43Z
Philip Kennedy teaches theology in the University of Oxford, where he is a Senior Research Fellow at Mansfield College. He is the author of 'A Modern Introduction to Theology: New Questions for Old Beliefs' (2006) and 'Twentieth Century Theologians: A New Introduction to Modern Christian Thought' (2009), both published by I.B.Tauris.