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From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity
- Narrated by: Bart D. Ehrman
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
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From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity
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Publisher's Summary
Step back to Christianity's first three centuries to see how it transitioned from the religion of Jesus to a religion about Jesus. How did a single group from among many win the struggle for dominance to establish the beliefs central to the faith, rewrite the history of Christianity's internal conflicts, and produce a canon of sacred texts – the New Testament – that supported its own views?
These 24 lectures provide a fresh and provocative perspective on how a movement of perhaps only 20 lower-class followers of a Jewish apocalyptic preacher crucified as an enemy of the state grew to include nearly four million adherents in only 300 years. Professor Ehrman looks at the faith's beginnings, starting with the historical Jesus, Jewish-Christian relations, the way Paul and other Christians spread the new faith, hostility to the Christian mission, internal struggles within the faith, and the formation of traditional Christianity as we know it today.
Christianity argued its ancient roots by retaining the Jewish scriptures and arguing that it was, in fact, the fulfillment of what those scriptures had promised. Throughout these lectures, Professor Ehrman challenges old misconceptions and offers fresh perspectives on aspects of Christianity and its roots that many of us might have thought we already understood. By offering you a scholar's perspective on the origins of what Professor Ehrman describes as the most important institution in Western civilization, this engaging course will increase your understanding of Christianity today.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
What listeners say about From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Dan
- 09-01-2021
Worthwhile and fascinating
This is a solid course that demystifies the first few centuries of Christianity. It 'fills in the gaps' between the gospel accounts and Constantine, something that I feel safe saying most people don't learn much about, even in Christian education. As an atheist I sometimes find it hard to care about what one theology says versus another but the historical importance is undeniable.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- ADAM CLARK
- 10-05-2023
Wonderful
Excellent course by Dr Ehrman I am not a Christian but enjoyed becoming more informed about the historical issues and the way it has shaped the world as we know it
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 21-10-2022
worth the time investment.
I enjoy these lecture series. This has given me new views for my Biblical studies.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 29-08-2024
Phenomenal lecturer and very engaging content
The best of The Great Courses I’ve come across. Superbly presented and deeply engrossing. I’ll be looking for more courses from this lecturer.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 28-04-2016
An excellent introduction to the topic
This is a very interesting scholarly examination of a very critical time in the formation of the Western civilisation. This series examines how one man's life and death became the pivotal moment around which the ancient world moved irrevocably away from paganism and towards something new and untried. You don't need to be a Christian to enjoy this series of lectures. If you are curious about how the classical world morphed into the medieval, then this is a compelling and fascinating series to listen to. I think this series is as thought-provoking for Christians and for non-Christians. For example, the birth of Islam is really captured in this moment of history too: Islam almost certainly would not have been developed without the monotheistic theology developed by the early Christians. I thoroughly enjoyed this series.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 23-04-2022
Digestible
As someone who hasn’t studied the history of Early Christianity before, I found this a very useful starting point. Ehrman is concise and entertaining; he seems to include nothing superfluous, and he summarises and reiterates his findings in ways that made them easier for me to remember. I felt that he strung this complex history together cohesively. He doesn’t comment on the specific impacts of Christianity on Western Civilisation—he just focuses on its early formation. He’s inspired me to now research and consider how Western Civilisation and beyond has been shaped by the emergence and persistence of Christianity.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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- Sunshine
- 17-06-2024
Lacking in evidence for some basic conclusions
I was keen to listen to such a highly regarded scholar in this field but was quickly disappointed. The author asserts that there are a number of things historians look at to assess the reliability and accuracy of ancient documents.
While he names a few of these, they are few. Moreover, he does not cover where the documents meet and fail certain historical requirements, and he doesn't give any comparisons to other ancient texts (eg: Roman, ancient Greek etc).
This is needed for a basic idea of how historical documents are assessed and to gain a proper perspective on the documents he discusses.
This was a missing foundation and i found the author analyses the content of the material based on some of its flaws, rather than all aspects of historical assessment. I expected more from a prominent historical scholar.
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1 person found this helpful