The Triumph of Christianity
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The Triumph of Christianity
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Narrated by:
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Professor Bart D. Ehrman
About this listen
The growth of Christianity in the early centuries of the Common Era is one of the most extraordinary stories in world history. What began with a preaching day laborer and his dozen or so disciples soon grew to be the largest religion in the world, eventually taking over the entire Roman Empire. How did that happen? How was such a movement possible?
Over the years, scholars have offered a variety of theories, including:
- The nature of Christianity as both exclusive and evangelical
- The single-handed efforts of the Apostle Paul
- The appeal of the Christian message for pagan audiences
- The conversion of the Roman emperor Constantine
While all of these theories may have been involved, the rise of Christianity nonetheless feels like an impossibility. Delve into this fascinating occurrence in The Triumph of Christianity. Taught by Dr. Bart. D. Ehrman, these 24 investigative lectures trace the exponential growth of Christianity, from its origins in a Jewish outpost of the Roman Empire to its spread throughout the entire Western world.
In this extraordinary course, you will investigate the historical events that led to such an astonishing feat. With the objective eye of a historian, Bart takes you through the ancient Roman world, offering analysis on what we can know for sure and what lies in the realm of myth. While Bart is careful to delineate history from religion, he walks you through a number of theological discussions and debates around the nature of Christ, salvation, “end times”, and more.
Along the way, you will meet the historical Jesus and other figures from the beginnings of Christianity; learn about the Acts of the Apostles as they spread the message far and wide; see how the apocalyptic message of Jesus transformed into a theology of salvation; and witness the development of a unified church. From the message of Jesus of Nazareth to the beginnings of a Christian Roman Empire, The Triumph of Christianity provides new insights into one of the most compelling stories ever recorded.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2021 The Great Courses (P)2021 The Teaching Company, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
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Large numbers of atheists, humanists, and conspiracy theorists are raising one of the most pressing questions in the history of religion: "Did Jesus exist at all?" Was he invented out of whole cloth for nefarious purposes by those seeking to control the masses? Or was Jesus such a shadowy figure - far removed from any credible historical evidence - that he bears no meaningful resemblance to the person described in the Bible?
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 479
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 481
The early Christian Church was a chaos of contending beliefs. Some groups of Christians claimed that there was not one God but two or twelve or thirty. Some believed that the world had not been created by God but by a lesser, ignorant deity. Certain sects maintained that Jesus was human but not divine, while others said he was divine but not human.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The Early Church(es)
- By Margaret on 01-06-14
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1, Revised and Updated
- The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation
- By: Justo L. González
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 18 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 604
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 529
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 529
In The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1, Justo L. González, author of the highly praised three-volume History of Christian Thought, presents a narrative history of Christianity from the early church to the dawn of the Protestant reformation. From Jesus' faithful apostles to the early reformist John Wycliffe, González skillfully traces core theological issues and developments within the various traditions of the church, including major events outside of Europe, such as the Spanish and Portuguese conquest of the New World.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Throughly engaging
- By Scott Pursley on 12-15-16
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A History of Judaism
- By: Martin Goodman
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 23 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world, and it has preserved its distinctive identity despite the extraordinarily diverse forms and beliefs it has embodied over the course of more than three millennia. A History of Judaism provides the first truly comprehensive look in one volume at how this great religion came to be, how it has evolved from one age to the next, and how its various strains, sects, and traditions have related to each other.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not easy to follow.
- By Max on 03-12-19
By: Martin Goodman
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Not the Impossible Faith
- By: Richard Carrier
- Narrated by: Richard Carrier
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 232
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 205
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 205
Written with occasional humor and an easy style, and thoroughly referenced, with many entertaining "gotcha!" moments, Not the Impossible Faith is a must-listen for anyone interested in the origins of Christianity. Richard Carrier, PhD, is an expert in the history of the ancient world and a critic of Christian attempts to distort history in defense of their faith.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Bloody awful audiobook...
- By Amazon Customer on 10-23-13
By: Richard Carrier
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The Origin of Satan
- How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics
- By: Elaine Pagels
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 555
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 468
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Story4 out of 5 stars 470
Who is Satan in the New Testament, and what is the evil that he represents? In this groundbreaking book, Elaine Pagels, Princeton's distinguished historian of religion, traces the evolution of Satan from its origins in the Hebrew Bible, where Satan is at first merely obstructive, to the New Testament, where Satan becomes the Prince of Darkness, the bitter enemy of God and man, evil incarnate. In The Origin of Satan, Pagels shows that the four Christian gospels tell two very different stories.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Must read for all practicing Christians
- By Venusian Incognito on 09-06-19
By: Elaine Pagels
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The Evolution of God
- By: Robert Wright
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,081
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 695
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 692
In this sweeping narrative, which takes us from the Stone Age to the Information Age, Robert Wright unveils an astonishing discovery: there is a hidden pattern that the great monotheistic faiths have followed as they have evolved. Through the prisms of archeology, theology, and evolutionary psychology, Wright's findings overturn basic assumptions about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and are sure to cause controversy.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Very heavy reading
- By Stephen on 08-07-09
By: Robert Wright
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Decoding Nicea
- Constantine Changed Christianity and Christianity Changed the World
- By: Paul Pavao
- Narrated by: Alan Sisto
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 46
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Story4 out of 5 stars 42
The Council of Nicea was not clerics in a dark and ornate hall. It was brawls in churchyards; it was emperors and governors fighting to save the empire; it was political intrigue as the governments of church and state blended into a volatile stew. It was the way a fringe group of peace-loving communal worshipers of a crucified Palestinian prophet conquered the Roman Empire.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Who mixes fact with fiction?
- By 3allvalve on 12-28-17
By: Paul Pavao
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A.D. 381
- Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State
- By: Charles Freeman
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 123
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 90
In A.D. 381, Theodosius, emperor of the eastern Roman empire, issued a decree in which all his subjects were required to subscribe to a belief in the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This edict defined Christian orthodoxy and brought to an end a lively and wide-ranging debate about the nature of God; all other interpretations were now declared heretical.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Dont pass it up
- By brett on 01-21-11
By: Charles Freeman
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Anti-Judaism
- The Western Tradition
- By: David Nirenberg
- Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld
- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 37
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 37
This incisive history upends the complacency that confines anti-Judaism to the ideological extremes in the Western tradition. With deep learning and elegance, David Nirenberg shows how foundational anti-Judaism is to the history of the West. Questions of how we are Jewish and, more critically, how and why we are not have been churning within the Western imagination throughout its history. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans; Christians and Muslims of every period; even the secularists of modernity have used Judaism in constructing their visions of the world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Book: Terrible Narrator
- By LB on 12-29-16
By: David Nirenberg
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When Christians Were Jews
- The First Generation
- By: Paula Fredriksen
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 100
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 90
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 88
In this electrifying social and intellectual history, Paula Fredriksen answers the question of how Jewish missionaries ended up inaugurating a movement that would grow into the gentile church by reconstructing the life of the earliest Jerusalem community. As her account arcs from this group’s hopeful celebration of Passover with Jesus, through their bitter controversies that fragmented the movement’s midcentury missions, to the city’s fiery end in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, she brings this vibrant apostolic community to life.
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2 out of 5 stars
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nothing to see here, nothing to read here
- By Anonymous User on 12-10-18
By: Paula Fredriksen
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Reformations
- The Early Modern World, 1450-1650
- By: Carlos M. N. Eire
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 39 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 166
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 129
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 128
Carlos Eire, popular professor and gifted writer, chronicles the 200-year era of the Renaissance and Reformation with particular attention to issues that persist as concerns in the present day. Eire connects the Protestant and Catholic Reformations in new and profound ways, and he demonstrates convincingly that this crucial turning point in history not only affected people long gone but continues to shape our world and define who we are today.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Catholics don’t believe in “Works Righteousness”
- By Liam Cruz Kelly on 02-23-19
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How God Became God
- What Scholars Are Really Saying About God and the Bible
- By: Richard M. Smoley
- Narrated by: Richard M. Smoley
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 48
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 45
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Story5 out of 5 stars 45
This epic, thrilling journey through Bible scholarship and ancient religion shows how much of Scripture is historically false - yet the ancient writings also resound with theologies that crisscrossed the primeval world and that direct us today toward a deep, authentic inner experience of the truly sacred.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Just Okay.
- By Thom on 10-28-21
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Strange Gods
- A Secular History of Conversion
- By: Susan Jacoby
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 19 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
In this original and riveting exploration, Susan Jacoby argues that conversion - especially in the free American "religious marketplace" - is too often viewed only within the conventional and simplistic narrative of personal reinvention and divine grace. Instead, the author places conversions within a secular social context that has, at various times, included the force of a unified church and state, desire for upward economic mobility, and interreligious marriage.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Our own fabrications
- By David E. Felker on 01-03-17
By: Susan Jacoby
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David Lynch
- The Man from Another Place (Icons)
- By: Dennis Lim
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 106
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 91
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 92
At once a pop culture icon, cult figure, and film industry outsider, master filmmaker David Lynch and his work defy easy definition. Dredged from his subconscious mind, Lynch's work is primed to act on our own subconscious, combining heightened, contradictory emotions into something familiar but inscrutable. No less than his art, Lynch's life also evades simple categorization, encompassing pursuits as a musician, painter, photographer, carpenter, entrepreneur, and vocal proponent of Transcendental Meditation.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Essential listening for Lunch fans
- By Michael P. Mesaros on 08-14-18
By: Dennis Lim
-
Medieval Christianity
- A New History
- By: Kevin Madigan
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 21 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 118
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 102
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 99
For many, the medieval world seems dark and foreign - a miraculous, brutal, and irrational time of superstition and strange relics. The pursuit of heretics, the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the domination of the "Holy Land" come to mind.
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4 out of 5 stars
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New Standard Text for This Period
- By Bill Martin on 10-22-16
By: Kevin Madigan
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When the Church Was Young
- Voices of the Early Fathers
- By: Marcellino D'Ambrosio
- Narrated by: Marcellino D'Ambrosio
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 999
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 864
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 864
Marcellino D'Ambrosio dusts off what might have been just dry theology to bring you the exciting stories of great heroes such as Ambrose, Augustine, Basil, Athanasius, John Chrysostom, and Jerome. These brilliant, embattled, and sometimes eccentric men defined the biblical canon, hammered out the Creed, and gave us our understanding of sacraments and salvation. It is they who preserved the rich legacy of the early Church for us.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Masterful summary of the early Church Fathers
- By Mike C on 08-22-14
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Tried by Fire
- The Story of Christianity's First Thousand Years
- By: William J. Bennett
- Narrated by: Wayne Campbell
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 76
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 68
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 67
Full of larger-than-life characters, stunning acts of bravery, and heart-rending sacrifice, Tried by Fire narrates the rise and expansion of Christianity from an obscure regional sect to the established faith of the world's greatest empire with influence extending from India to Ireland, Scandinavia to Ethiopia, and all points in between.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Best history of Christianity I've read
- By JOHN F KANARY on 05-05-16
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