Pagan Rome and the Early Christians

Pagan Rome and the Early Christians
Author: Stephen Benko
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 198
Release: 1986-07-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780253203854

"In the early Roman empire, Christians were seen by pagans as overthrowers of ancient gods and destroyers of the prevailing social order. Allegations that Christians recognized each other by secret marks, met at night and made love to one another indiscriminately, worshipped the head of an ass and the genitals of their high priests, and ate children were widely believed. In examining these charges and the Christian response to them, Benko has provided a persuasively argued and refreshing, if controversial, perspective on the confrontation of the pagan and early Christian worlds."[book cover].

Early Christians Adapting to the Roman Empire

Early Christians Adapting to the Roman Empire
Author: Niko Huttunen
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2020-03-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004428240

In Early Christians Adapting to the Roman Empire: Mutual Recognition Niko Huttunen challenges the interpretation of early Christian texts as anti-imperial documents. He presents examples of the positive relationship between early Christians and the Roman society. With the concept of “recognition” Huttunen describes a situation in which the parties can come to terms with each other without full agreement. Huttunen provides examples of non-Christian philosophers recognizing early Christians. He claims that recognition was a response to Christians who presented themselves as philosophers. Huttunen reads Romans 13 as a part of the ancient tradition of the law of the stronger. His pioneering study on early Christian soldiers uncovers the practical dimension of recognizing the empire.

The Myth of Persecution

The Myth of Persecution
Author: Candida Moss
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2013-03-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0062104543

An expert on early Christianity reveals how the early church invented stories of Christian martyrs—and how this persecution myth persists today. According to church tradition and popular belief, early Christians were systematically persecuted by a brutal Roman Empire intent on their destruction. As the story goes, vast numbers of believers were thrown to the lions, tortured, or burned alive because they refused to renounce Christ. But as Candida Moss reveals in The Myth of Persecution, the “Age of Martyrs” is a fiction. There was no sustained 300-year-long effort by the Romans to persecute Christians. Instead, these stories were pious exaggerations; highly stylized rewritings of Jewish, Greek, and Roman noble death traditions; and even forgeries designed to marginalize heretics, inspire the faithful, and fund churches. The traditional story of persecution is still invoked by church leaders, politicians, and media pundits who insist that Christians were—and always will be—persecuted by a hostile, secular world. While violence against Christians does occur in select parts of the world today, the rhetoric of persecution is both misleading and rooted in an inaccurate history of the early church. By shedding light on the historical record, Moss urges modern Christians to abandon the conspiratorial assumption that the world is out to get them.

Memory in Ancient Rome and Early Christianity

Memory in Ancient Rome and Early Christianity
Author: Karl Galinsky
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 421
Release: 2016
Genre: History
ISBN: 0198744765

Memory in Ancient Rome and Early Christianity presents perspectives from an international and interdisciplinary range of contributors on the literature, history, archaeology, and religion of a major world civilization, based on an informed engagement with important concepts and issues in memory studies.

Rome in the Bible and the Early Church

Rome in the Bible and the Early Church
Author: Peter S. Oakes
Publisher: Paternoster
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2002
Genre: History
ISBN:

Six notable scholars illuminate key aspects of Rome and its impact on early Christianity, emphasizing Roman culture, Roman authority, and the Christian community in Rome.

Fires of Rome

Fires of Rome
Author: John Hagan
Publisher: Rauson Group
Total Pages: 508
Release: 2010-05-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780982082812

"Fires of Rome" is the companion work to "Year of the Passover" and covers the early Christian era from the crucifixion of Jesus in A.D. 36 to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and beyond to the end of the revolt in A.D. 73. New Testament accounts of the crucifixion and early Christian events are examined against secular history written by accepted ancient Roman historians. "Fires of Rome" makes the case for a conspiracy against the Christians by the Jerusalem Second Temple High Priesthood which ultimately led to the persecutions in Rome, outwardly incited by Emperor Nero in A.D. 64. Earlier, in A.D. 62, the Jewish priests were responsible for the elimination of the Jerusalem Christian leadership, including James the Just, the brother of Jesus. Of necessity, "Fires of Rome" delves deeply into Roman history, with chapters on Roman Emperors Caius (Caligula), Claudius, and Nero, as well as chapters on the Jewish revolt of A.D. 66-73. "Fires of Rome" also profiles the powerful women of the early Christian era, including the infamous Herodias, Jewish Queen Bernice and her sister Drusilla, Agrippina the Younger, and others. Empress Poppea Sabina, the wife of Nero, is especially interesting, with her eclectic and semi-secret court of mystics, philosophers, and religious figures-which included historian Flavius Josephus and former Jerusalem Second Temple High Priest Ismael. Fires of Rome is a must read for every serious student of Christian history. Soft revision March 2013.

The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Nero

The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Nero
Author: Shadi Bartsch
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 423
Release: 2017-11-09
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1107052203

A lively and accessible guide to the rich literary, philosophical and artistic achievements of the notorious age of Nero.

Judaism and Christianity in First-century Rome

Judaism and Christianity in First-century Rome
Author: Karl P. Donfried
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 348
Release: 1998
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780802842657

Rome, as the center of the first-century world, was home to numerous ethnic groups, among which were both Jews and Christians. The dealings of the Roman government with these two groups, and their dealings with each other, are the focus of this book.t