-
Cities of God
- The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $17.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
How did the preaching of a peasant carpenter from Galilee spark a movement that would grow to include over two billion followers? Who listened to this "good news," and who ignored it? Where did Christianity spread, and how? Based on quantitative data and the latest scholarship, preeminent scholar and journalist Rodney Stark presents new and startling information about the rise of the early church, overturning many prevailing views of how Christianity grew through time to become the largest religion in the world.
Drawing on both archaeological and historical evidence, Stark is able to provide hard statistical evidence on the religious life of the Roman Empire to discover the facts that set conventional history on its head.
By analyzing concrete data, Stark is able to challenge the conventional wisdom about early Christianity offering the clearest picture ever of how this religion grew from its humble beginnings into the faith of more than one-third of the earth's population.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
God's Battalions
- The Case for the Crusades
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In God's Battalions, award-winning author Rodney Stark takes on the long-held view that the Crusades were the first round of European colonialism, conducted for land, loot, and converts by barbarian Christians who victimized the cultivated Muslims. To the contrary, Stark argues that the Crusades were the first military response to unwarranted Muslim terrorist aggression.
-
-
A lively and useful introduction
- By Tad Davis on 01-06-10
By: Rodney Stark
-
The Triumph of Christianity
- How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrated religious and social historian Rodney Stark traces the extraordinary rise of Christianity through its most pivotal and controversial moments to offer fresh perspective on the history of the world's largest religion.
-
-
Balanced and unapologetic, excellent read
- By JARAM, CT on 08-04-20
By: Rodney Stark
-
The Victory of Reason
- How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Victory of Reason, Rodney Stark advances a revolutionary, controversial, and long overdue idea: that Christianity and its related institutions are, in fact, directly responsible for the most significant intellectual, political, scientific, and economic breakthroughs of the past millennium. In Stark's view, what has propelled the West is not the tension between secular and non-secular society, nor the pitting of science and the humanities against religious belief. Christian theology, Stark asserts, is the very font of reason.
-
-
Absolutely incredible history book!
- By Daniel on 01-02-20
By: Rodney Stark
-
The Triumph of Faith
- Why the World Is More Religious than Ever
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everybody seems to take it for granted that the world is getting more secular - that faith is doomed by modernity. Scientists, secularists, and atheists applaud the change; religious believers lament it. But here's the thing: They're all wrong, and acclaimed author Rodney Stark has the numbers to prove it. The Triumph of Faith explodes the myth that people around the world are abandoning religion.
-
-
Lots of amazing statistics, a clear thesis, lots of tangents
- By Mr. and Mrs.G on 07-06-16
By: Rodney Stark
-
How the West Won
- The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Kevin Foley
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modernity developed only in the West - in Europe and North America. Nowhere else did science and democracy arise; nowhere else was slavery outlawed. Only Westerners invented chimneys, musical scores, telescopes, eyeglasses, pianos, electric lights, aspirin, and soap. The question is, why? Unfortunately, that question has become so politically incorrect that most scholars avoid it. But acclaimed author Rodney Stark provides the answers in this sweeping new look at Western civilization.
-
-
We all have a bias
- By Adam Shields on 04-21-15
By: Rodney Stark
-
Bearing False Witness
- Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As we all know, and as many of our well-established textbooks have argued for decades, the Inquisition was one of the most frightening and bloody chapters in Western history, Pope Pius XII was anti-Semitic and rightfully called "Hitler's Pope", the Dark Ages were a stunting of the progress of knowledge to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment, and the religious Crusades were an early example of the rapacious Western thirst for riches and power. But what if these long-held beliefs were all wrong?
-
-
Historical Accuracy needed in modern world
- By bgdade on 01-12-17
By: Rodney Stark
-
God's Battalions
- The Case for the Crusades
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In God's Battalions, award-winning author Rodney Stark takes on the long-held view that the Crusades were the first round of European colonialism, conducted for land, loot, and converts by barbarian Christians who victimized the cultivated Muslims. To the contrary, Stark argues that the Crusades were the first military response to unwarranted Muslim terrorist aggression.
-
-
A lively and useful introduction
- By Tad Davis on 01-06-10
By: Rodney Stark
-
The Triumph of Christianity
- How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrated religious and social historian Rodney Stark traces the extraordinary rise of Christianity through its most pivotal and controversial moments to offer fresh perspective on the history of the world's largest religion.
-
-
Balanced and unapologetic, excellent read
- By JARAM, CT on 08-04-20
By: Rodney Stark
-
The Victory of Reason
- How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Victory of Reason, Rodney Stark advances a revolutionary, controversial, and long overdue idea: that Christianity and its related institutions are, in fact, directly responsible for the most significant intellectual, political, scientific, and economic breakthroughs of the past millennium. In Stark's view, what has propelled the West is not the tension between secular and non-secular society, nor the pitting of science and the humanities against religious belief. Christian theology, Stark asserts, is the very font of reason.
-
-
Absolutely incredible history book!
- By Daniel on 01-02-20
By: Rodney Stark
-
The Triumph of Faith
- Why the World Is More Religious than Ever
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everybody seems to take it for granted that the world is getting more secular - that faith is doomed by modernity. Scientists, secularists, and atheists applaud the change; religious believers lament it. But here's the thing: They're all wrong, and acclaimed author Rodney Stark has the numbers to prove it. The Triumph of Faith explodes the myth that people around the world are abandoning religion.
-
-
Lots of amazing statistics, a clear thesis, lots of tangents
- By Mr. and Mrs.G on 07-06-16
By: Rodney Stark
-
How the West Won
- The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Kevin Foley
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modernity developed only in the West - in Europe and North America. Nowhere else did science and democracy arise; nowhere else was slavery outlawed. Only Westerners invented chimneys, musical scores, telescopes, eyeglasses, pianos, electric lights, aspirin, and soap. The question is, why? Unfortunately, that question has become so politically incorrect that most scholars avoid it. But acclaimed author Rodney Stark provides the answers in this sweeping new look at Western civilization.
-
-
We all have a bias
- By Adam Shields on 04-21-15
By: Rodney Stark
-
Bearing False Witness
- Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As we all know, and as many of our well-established textbooks have argued for decades, the Inquisition was one of the most frightening and bloody chapters in Western history, Pope Pius XII was anti-Semitic and rightfully called "Hitler's Pope", the Dark Ages were a stunting of the progress of knowledge to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment, and the religious Crusades were an early example of the rapacious Western thirst for riches and power. But what if these long-held beliefs were all wrong?
-
-
Historical Accuracy needed in modern world
- By bgdade on 01-12-17
By: Rodney Stark
-
Defenders of the West
- The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam
- By: Raymond Ibrahim
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Defenders of the West, the author of Sword and Scimitar follows up with vivid and dramatic profiles of eight extraordinary warriors—some saints, some sinners—who defended the Christian West against Islamic invasions. Discover the real Count Dracula, Spain’s El Cid, England’s Richard Lionheart, and many other historical figures whose true and original claim to fame revolved around their defiant stance against jihadist aggression.
-
-
Inconvenient truth regarding Islam and historical fact
- By Michael on 12-11-23
By: Raymond Ibrahim
-
The Long War Against God
- The History & Impact of the Creation/Evolution Conflict
- By: Henry M. Morris
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Has Satan successfully led most Christians to give more credibility to the institution of science than the Bible? Today many Christians regard evolution as nothing more than God's method of creation. In this Christian apologetic resource, Morris boldly challenges this anti-biblical and even anti-theistic philosophy; an imagination or high thing exalting itself against the true knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5). Dr. Henry Morris presents the theory of evolution as one of Satan's most devastating attacks against the Church.
-
-
Incredible analysis and arguments
- By John Maddox on 09-15-19
By: Henry M. Morris
-
The Fatal Conceit
- The Errors of Socialism
- By: F. A. Hayek
- Narrated by: Everett Sherman
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hayek gives the main arguments for the free-market case and presents his manifesto on the "errors of socialism." Hayek argues that socialism has, from its origins, been mistaken on factual, and even on logical, grounds and that its repeated failures in the many different practical applications of socialist ideas that this century has witnessed were the direct outcome of these errors. He labels as the "fatal conceit" the idea that "man is able to shape the world around him according to his wishes."
-
-
If more had these insights we'd be better off
- By Doug on 11-12-12
By: F. A. Hayek
-
Dynasty
- The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Author and historian Tom Holland returns to his roots in Roman history and the audience he cultivated with Rubicon—his masterful, witty, brilliantly researched popular history of the fall of the Roman republic—with Dynasty, a luridly fascinating history of the reign of the first five Roman emperors. Dynasty continues Rubicon's story, opening where that book ended: with the murder of Julius Caesar. This is the period of the first and perhaps greatest Roman emperors. It's a colorful story of rule and ruination, from the rise of Augustus to the death of Nero.
-
-
Accessible, enjoyable history
- By Mary on 01-28-16
By: Tom Holland
-
Evolution of Adam
- What the Bible Does and Doesn't Say About Human Origins
- By: Peter Enns
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This thought-provoking audiobook helps listeners reconcile the teachings of the Bible with the widely held evolutionary view of beginnings and will appeal to anyone interested in the Christianity-evolution debate.
-
-
Insightful and new perspective
- By MarineSgtSmith on 12-22-22
By: Peter Enns
-
Into the Heart of Romans
- A Deep Dive into Paul's Greatest Letter
- By: N. T. Wright
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
N. T. Wright—widely regarded as the most influential commentator and interpreter of Paul—deftly unpacks this dense and sometimes elusive letter, detailing Paul's arguments and showing how it illuminates the Gospel from the promises to Abraham through the visions of Revelation. Wright takes a deep dive into Romans 8, showing how it illuminates so much else that God reveals in Scripture: God the Father, Christology, and the Spirit; Jesus' Messiahship, cross, resurrection, and ascension; salvation, redemption, and adoption; suffering and glory; holiness and hope.
-
-
Deep dive into Romans 8
- By Adam Shields on 11-27-23
By: N. T. Wright
-
Forbidden Faith
- The Secret History of Gnosticism
- By: Richard Smoley
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The success of books such as Elaine Pagels's Gnostic Gospels and Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code proves beyond a doubt that there is a tremendous thirst today for finding the hidden truths of Christianity - truths that may have been lost or buried by institutional religion over the last two millennia. In Forbidden Faith, Richard Smoley narrates a popular history of one such truth, the ancient esoteric religion of gnosticism, which flourished between the first and fourth centuries AD, but whose legacy remains even today, having survived secretly throughout the ages.
-
-
An absolute must for understanding Gnosticism.
- By Patriot RN - Doc on 05-12-21
By: Richard Smoley
-
Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist
- Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper
- By: Brant Pitre, Scott Hahn - foreword
- Narrated by: David Cochran Heath
- Length: 6 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In recent years, Christians everywhere are rediscovering the Jewish roots of their faith. Every year at Easter time, many believers now celebrate Passover meals (known as Seders) seeking to understand exactly what happened at Jesus' final Passover, the night before he was crucified. Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist shines fresh light on the Last Supper by looking at it through Jewish eyes.
-
-
I am a Protestant trying to learn more about the significance of the Eucharist and I feel that my eyes have been opened up ..
- By Kim Lank on 03-08-18
By: Brant Pitre, and others
-
Evidence That Demands a Verdict
- Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World
- By: Josh McDowell, Sean McDowell PhD
- Narrated by: Josh McDowell, Sean McDowell PhD, Bob Souer
- Length: 42 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The modern apologetics classic that started it all is now completely revised and updated - because the truth of the Bible doesn't change, but its critics do. With the original Evidence That Demands a Verdict, best-selling author Josh McDowell gave Christian audiences the answers they needed to defend their faith against the harshest critics and skeptics. Now, with his son Sean McDowell, Josh McDowell has updated and expanded this classic resource for a new generation. This is a book that invites listeners to bring their doubts.
-
-
Lexicons aren't best suited for Audible
- By Leifen on 10-24-17
By: Josh McDowell, and others
-
Counterfeit Kingdom
- The Dangers of New Revelation, New Prophets, and New Age Practices in the Church
- By: Holly Pivec, R. Douglas Geivett
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is there a new reformation happening in the church? It depends on who you ask. The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is a popular and fast-growing new movement of Christians who emphasize signs and wonders, and teach that God is giving new revelation through new apostles and prophets. But is this biblical Christianity? In Counterfeit Kingdom, apologists and NAR experts Holly Pivec and Douglas Geivett show how the NAR’s key tenets distort the gospel, twist the Scriptures, are influenced by New Age practices, and lead faithful Christians to shipwreck their faith.
-
-
Wanted more than a Bethel Bash
- By Sean D on 03-18-23
By: Holly Pivec, and others
-
Strange New World
- How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution
- By: Carl R. Trueman, Ryan T. Anderson - foreword
- Narrated by: Carl R. Trueman
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did the world arrive at its current, disorienting state of identity politics, and how should the church respond? Historian Carl R. Trueman discusses how influences ranging from traditional institutions to technology and pornography moved modern culture toward an era of "expressive individualism." Investigating philosophies from the Romantics, Nietzsche, Marx, Wilde, Freud, and the New Left, he outlines the history of Western thought to the distinctly sexual direction of present-day identity politics and explains the modern implications of these ideas.
-
-
Read and reread
- By Daniel on 04-04-22
By: Carl R. Trueman, and others
-
Dominion
- How the Christian Revolution Remade the World
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Tom Holland, Mark Meadows
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Crucifixion, the Romans believed, was the worst fate imaginable, a punishment reserved for slaves. How astonishing it was, then, that people should have come to believe that one particular victim of crucifixion - an obscure provincial by the name of Jesus - was to be worshipped as a god. Dominion explores the implications of this shocking conviction as they have reverberated throughout history.
-
-
Only the forward is narrated by Holland.
- By Honora on 06-16-20
By: Tom Holland
Related to this topic
-
The Triumph of Christianity
- How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrated religious and social historian Rodney Stark traces the extraordinary rise of Christianity through its most pivotal and controversial moments to offer fresh perspective on the history of the world's largest religion.
-
-
Balanced and unapologetic, excellent read
- By JARAM, CT on 08-04-20
By: Rodney Stark
-
The Closing of the Western Mind
- The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason
- By: Charles Freeman
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 368 AD, he changed the course of European history in ways that continue to have repercussions to the present day. Adopting those aspects of the religion that suited his purposes, he turned Rome on a course from the relatively open, tolerant, and pluralistic civilization of the Hellenistic world, towards a culture that was based on the rule of fixed authority, whether that of the Bible, or the writings of Ptolemy in astronomy and of Galen and Hippocrates in medicine.
-
-
Not proven
- By Jeffrey D on 04-30-21
By: Charles Freeman
-
How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind
- Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity
- By: Dr. Thomas C. Oden PhD
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture from its infancy. Some of the most decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity were explored and understood in Africa before they were in Europe. If this is so, why is Christianity so often perceived in Africa as a Western colonial import? How can Christians in Northern and sub-Saharan Africa, indeed, how can Christians throughout the world, rediscover and learn from this ancient heritage?
-
-
Worth reading even if not perfect
- By Adam Shields on 02-26-20
-
The Lost History of Christianity
- The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church --- and How It Died
- By: Philip Jenkins
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Lost History of Christianity will change how we understand Christian and world history. Leading religion scholar Philip Jenkins reveals a vast Christian world to the east of the Roman Empire and how the earliest, most influential churches of the East---those that had the closest link to Jesus and the early church---died. In this paradigm-shifting book, Jenkins recovers a lost history, showing how the center of Christianity for centuries used to be the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, extending as far as China.
-
-
Worthwhile with caveats
- By Telorast on 03-05-13
By: Philip Jenkins
-
The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Biography
- Lives of the Great Religious Books
- By: John J. Collins
- Narrated by: Mark Moseley
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since they were first discovered in the caves at Qumran, in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls have aroused more fascination - and more controversy - than perhaps any other archaeological find. They appear to have been hidden in the Judean desert by the Essenes, a Jewish sect that existed around the time of Jesus, and they continue to inspire veneration and conspiracy theories to this day. John Collins tells the story of the bitter conflicts that have swirled around the scrolls since their startling discovery, and sheds light on their true significance for Jewish and Christian history.
-
-
"Great Biography"
- By Marilyn Lame' on 12-04-14
By: John J. Collins
-
Forbidden Faith
- The Secret History of Gnosticism
- By: Richard Smoley
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The success of books such as Elaine Pagels's Gnostic Gospels and Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code proves beyond a doubt that there is a tremendous thirst today for finding the hidden truths of Christianity - truths that may have been lost or buried by institutional religion over the last two millennia. In Forbidden Faith, Richard Smoley narrates a popular history of one such truth, the ancient esoteric religion of gnosticism, which flourished between the first and fourth centuries AD, but whose legacy remains even today, having survived secretly throughout the ages.
-
-
An absolute must for understanding Gnosticism.
- By Patriot RN - Doc on 05-12-21
By: Richard Smoley
-
The Triumph of Christianity
- How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrated religious and social historian Rodney Stark traces the extraordinary rise of Christianity through its most pivotal and controversial moments to offer fresh perspective on the history of the world's largest religion.
-
-
Balanced and unapologetic, excellent read
- By JARAM, CT on 08-04-20
By: Rodney Stark
-
The Closing of the Western Mind
- The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason
- By: Charles Freeman
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 368 AD, he changed the course of European history in ways that continue to have repercussions to the present day. Adopting those aspects of the religion that suited his purposes, he turned Rome on a course from the relatively open, tolerant, and pluralistic civilization of the Hellenistic world, towards a culture that was based on the rule of fixed authority, whether that of the Bible, or the writings of Ptolemy in astronomy and of Galen and Hippocrates in medicine.
-
-
Not proven
- By Jeffrey D on 04-30-21
By: Charles Freeman
-
How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind
- Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity
- By: Dr. Thomas C. Oden PhD
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture from its infancy. Some of the most decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity were explored and understood in Africa before they were in Europe. If this is so, why is Christianity so often perceived in Africa as a Western colonial import? How can Christians in Northern and sub-Saharan Africa, indeed, how can Christians throughout the world, rediscover and learn from this ancient heritage?
-
-
Worth reading even if not perfect
- By Adam Shields on 02-26-20
-
The Lost History of Christianity
- The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church --- and How It Died
- By: Philip Jenkins
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Lost History of Christianity will change how we understand Christian and world history. Leading religion scholar Philip Jenkins reveals a vast Christian world to the east of the Roman Empire and how the earliest, most influential churches of the East---those that had the closest link to Jesus and the early church---died. In this paradigm-shifting book, Jenkins recovers a lost history, showing how the center of Christianity for centuries used to be the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, extending as far as China.
-
-
Worthwhile with caveats
- By Telorast on 03-05-13
By: Philip Jenkins
-
The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Biography
- Lives of the Great Religious Books
- By: John J. Collins
- Narrated by: Mark Moseley
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since they were first discovered in the caves at Qumran, in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls have aroused more fascination - and more controversy - than perhaps any other archaeological find. They appear to have been hidden in the Judean desert by the Essenes, a Jewish sect that existed around the time of Jesus, and they continue to inspire veneration and conspiracy theories to this day. John Collins tells the story of the bitter conflicts that have swirled around the scrolls since their startling discovery, and sheds light on their true significance for Jewish and Christian history.
-
-
"Great Biography"
- By Marilyn Lame' on 12-04-14
By: John J. Collins
-
Forbidden Faith
- The Secret History of Gnosticism
- By: Richard Smoley
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The success of books such as Elaine Pagels's Gnostic Gospels and Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code proves beyond a doubt that there is a tremendous thirst today for finding the hidden truths of Christianity - truths that may have been lost or buried by institutional religion over the last two millennia. In Forbidden Faith, Richard Smoley narrates a popular history of one such truth, the ancient esoteric religion of gnosticism, which flourished between the first and fourth centuries AD, but whose legacy remains even today, having survived secretly throughout the ages.
-
-
An absolute must for understanding Gnosticism.
- By Patriot RN - Doc on 05-12-21
By: Richard Smoley
-
A History of Judaism
- By: Martin Goodman
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 23 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Not easy to follow.
- By Max on 03-12-19
By: Martin Goodman
-
The Evolution of God
- By: Robert Wright
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Very heavy reading
- By Stephen on 08-07-09
By: Robert Wright
-
How the West Really Lost God
- A New Theory of Secularization
- By: Mary Eberstadt
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this magisterial work, leading cultural critic Mary Eberstadt delivers a powerful new theory about the decline of religion in the Western world. The conventional wisdom is that the West first experienced religious decline, followed by the decline of the family. Eberstadt turns this standard account on its head. Marshalling an impressive array of research, Eberstadt shows that the reverse has also been true: the undermining of the family has further undermined Christianity itself.
-
-
A typical reflection on the most dominant form of American Christianity.
- By Nanci White on 08-30-24
By: Mary Eberstadt
-
Not the Impossible Faith
- By: Richard Carrier
- Narrated by: Richard Carrier
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Bloody awful audiobook...
- By Amazon Customer on 10-23-13
By: Richard Carrier
-
The Next Christendom
- The Coming of Global Christianity
- By: Philip Jenkins
- Narrated by: Robert Feifar
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this new and substantially expanded Third Edition, Philip Jenkins continues to illuminate the remarkable expansion of Christianity in the global South - in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Drawing upon the extensive new scholarship that has appeared on this topic in recent years, he asks how the new Christianity is likely to affect the poor, among whom it finds its most devoted adherents. How should we interpret the enormous success of prosperity churches across the Global South? Politically, what will be the impact of new Christian movements?
-
-
Be aware that the audio book is an old edition
- By GANC Line on 04-20-18
By: Philip Jenkins
-
Jesus
- Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this highly accessible discussion, Bart Ehrman examines the most recent textual and archaeological sources for the life of Jesus, along with the history of first-century Palestine, drawing a fascinating portrait of the man and his teachings. Ehrman shows us what historians have long known about the Gospels and the man who stands behind them. Through a careful evaluation of the New Testament (and other surviving sources, including the more recently discovered Gospels of Thomas and Peter), Ehrman proposes that Jesus can be best understood as an apocalyptic prophet.
-
-
I must read for those whose wanting to expand their insight from a single perspective (devotional) to include historical
- By RGO on 11-25-19
By: Bart D. Ehrman
-
The Faith Instinct
- How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures
- By: Nicholas Wade
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For at least the last fifty thousand years, and probably much longer, people have practiced religion. Yet little attention has been given, either by believers or atheists, to the question of whether this universal human behavior might have an evolutionary basis. Did religion evolve, in other words, because it helped people in early societies survive?
-
-
If you're religious or into religion read this
- By Adam on 08-16-10
By: Nicholas Wade
-
The Chalice and the Blade
- Our History, Our Future
- By: Riane Eisler
- Narrated by: Riane Eisler
- Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Riane Eisler believes that war and the "war of the sexes" are concepts neither divinely nor biologically ordained. Join the author as she reconstructs a prehistoric culture based on partnership rather than domination and traces the roots of the global shift to patriarchy. Eisler, an acclaimed scholar, futurist, and activist, also presents new scripts for living based on a more socially, economically, ecologically, personally, and spiritually balanced society. This script is in direct opposition to the tension and violence typical of what she calls the dominator model. Her vision is the partnership model, which today is struggling to reemerge. This program is an important contribution to that struggle.
-
-
the chalice and the blade
- By Anne on 07-25-08
By: Riane Eisler
-
The Story of Christianity
- A History of 2000 Years of the Christian Faith
- By: David Bentley Hart
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Story of Christianity, the distinguished theologian David Bentley Hart provides a broad picture of Christian history. Presented in 50 short chapters - each focusing on a critical facet of Christian history or theology, and each amplified by timelines, and quotations - his magisterial account does full justice to the range of Christian tradition, belief and practice - Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, Evangelical, Coptic, Chaldean, Ethiopian Orthodox, and more....
-
-
Great Brief Overview of Christianity
- By James Mikkelson on 01-26-22
-
Why You Think the Way You Do
- The Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home
- By: Glenn S. Sunshine
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why You Think the Way You Do traces the development of the worldviews that underpin the Western world. Professor and historian Glenn S. Sunshine demonstrates the decisive impact that the growth of Christianity had in transforming the outlook of pagan Roman culture into one that—based on biblical concepts of humanity and its relationship with God—established virtually all the positive aspects of Western civilization.
-
-
"Christian's view of the western world"
- By Bradley on 03-21-10
-
How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization
- By: Thomas E. Woods Jr.
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Western civilization has given us modern science, the wealth of free-market economics, the security of law, a sense of human rights and freedom, charity as a virtue, splendid art and music, philosophy grounded in reason, and innumerable other gifts we take for granted.
-
-
Fascinating and informative
- By Michael Kellogg on 09-29-05
-
Whose Bible Is It?
- A History of the Scriptures Through the Ages
- By: Jaroslav Pelikan
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the John W. Kluge Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Human Sciences, Jaroslav Pelikan is Professor Emeritus of history at Yale University and past president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This examination of the history of the Bible reflects half a century of study and research by the author. In Whose Bible Is It?, Pelikan traces the transformation of the Bible from its earliest oral traditions to its modern forms.
-
-
Too Verbose Not Enough "Big Picture" Bible History
- By Stephen on 07-05-11
By: Jaroslav Pelikan
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Triumph of Christianity
- How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrated religious and social historian Rodney Stark traces the extraordinary rise of Christianity through its most pivotal and controversial moments to offer fresh perspective on the history of the world's largest religion.
-
-
Balanced and unapologetic, excellent read
- By JARAM, CT on 08-04-20
By: Rodney Stark
-
The Victory of Reason
- How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Victory of Reason, Rodney Stark advances a revolutionary, controversial, and long overdue idea: that Christianity and its related institutions are, in fact, directly responsible for the most significant intellectual, political, scientific, and economic breakthroughs of the past millennium. In Stark's view, what has propelled the West is not the tension between secular and non-secular society, nor the pitting of science and the humanities against religious belief. Christian theology, Stark asserts, is the very font of reason.
-
-
Absolutely incredible history book!
- By Daniel on 01-02-20
By: Rodney Stark
-
How the West Won
- The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Kevin Foley
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modernity developed only in the West - in Europe and North America. Nowhere else did science and democracy arise; nowhere else was slavery outlawed. Only Westerners invented chimneys, musical scores, telescopes, eyeglasses, pianos, electric lights, aspirin, and soap. The question is, why? Unfortunately, that question has become so politically incorrect that most scholars avoid it. But acclaimed author Rodney Stark provides the answers in this sweeping new look at Western civilization.
-
-
We all have a bias
- By Adam Shields on 04-21-15
By: Rodney Stark
-
God's Battalions
- The Case for the Crusades
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In God's Battalions, award-winning author Rodney Stark takes on the long-held view that the Crusades were the first round of European colonialism, conducted for land, loot, and converts by barbarian Christians who victimized the cultivated Muslims. To the contrary, Stark argues that the Crusades were the first military response to unwarranted Muslim terrorist aggression.
-
-
A lively and useful introduction
- By Tad Davis on 01-06-10
By: Rodney Stark
-
Bearing False Witness
- Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As we all know, and as many of our well-established textbooks have argued for decades, the Inquisition was one of the most frightening and bloody chapters in Western history, Pope Pius XII was anti-Semitic and rightfully called "Hitler's Pope", the Dark Ages were a stunting of the progress of knowledge to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment, and the religious Crusades were an early example of the rapacious Western thirst for riches and power. But what if these long-held beliefs were all wrong?
-
-
Historical Accuracy needed in modern world
- By bgdade on 01-12-17
By: Rodney Stark
-
The Triumph of Faith
- Why the World Is More Religious than Ever
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everybody seems to take it for granted that the world is getting more secular - that faith is doomed by modernity. Scientists, secularists, and atheists applaud the change; religious believers lament it. But here's the thing: They're all wrong, and acclaimed author Rodney Stark has the numbers to prove it. The Triumph of Faith explodes the myth that people around the world are abandoning religion.
-
-
Lots of amazing statistics, a clear thesis, lots of tangents
- By Mr. and Mrs.G on 07-06-16
By: Rodney Stark
-
The Triumph of Christianity
- How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrated religious and social historian Rodney Stark traces the extraordinary rise of Christianity through its most pivotal and controversial moments to offer fresh perspective on the history of the world's largest religion.
-
-
Balanced and unapologetic, excellent read
- By JARAM, CT on 08-04-20
By: Rodney Stark
-
The Victory of Reason
- How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Victory of Reason, Rodney Stark advances a revolutionary, controversial, and long overdue idea: that Christianity and its related institutions are, in fact, directly responsible for the most significant intellectual, political, scientific, and economic breakthroughs of the past millennium. In Stark's view, what has propelled the West is not the tension between secular and non-secular society, nor the pitting of science and the humanities against religious belief. Christian theology, Stark asserts, is the very font of reason.
-
-
Absolutely incredible history book!
- By Daniel on 01-02-20
By: Rodney Stark
-
How the West Won
- The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Kevin Foley
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modernity developed only in the West - in Europe and North America. Nowhere else did science and democracy arise; nowhere else was slavery outlawed. Only Westerners invented chimneys, musical scores, telescopes, eyeglasses, pianos, electric lights, aspirin, and soap. The question is, why? Unfortunately, that question has become so politically incorrect that most scholars avoid it. But acclaimed author Rodney Stark provides the answers in this sweeping new look at Western civilization.
-
-
We all have a bias
- By Adam Shields on 04-21-15
By: Rodney Stark
-
God's Battalions
- The Case for the Crusades
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In God's Battalions, award-winning author Rodney Stark takes on the long-held view that the Crusades were the first round of European colonialism, conducted for land, loot, and converts by barbarian Christians who victimized the cultivated Muslims. To the contrary, Stark argues that the Crusades were the first military response to unwarranted Muslim terrorist aggression.
-
-
A lively and useful introduction
- By Tad Davis on 01-06-10
By: Rodney Stark
-
Bearing False Witness
- Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As we all know, and as many of our well-established textbooks have argued for decades, the Inquisition was one of the most frightening and bloody chapters in Western history, Pope Pius XII was anti-Semitic and rightfully called "Hitler's Pope", the Dark Ages were a stunting of the progress of knowledge to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment, and the religious Crusades were an early example of the rapacious Western thirst for riches and power. But what if these long-held beliefs were all wrong?
-
-
Historical Accuracy needed in modern world
- By bgdade on 01-12-17
By: Rodney Stark
-
The Triumph of Faith
- Why the World Is More Religious than Ever
- By: Rodney Stark
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Everybody seems to take it for granted that the world is getting more secular - that faith is doomed by modernity. Scientists, secularists, and atheists applaud the change; religious believers lament it. But here's the thing: They're all wrong, and acclaimed author Rodney Stark has the numbers to prove it. The Triumph of Faith explodes the myth that people around the world are abandoning religion.
-
-
Lots of amazing statistics, a clear thesis, lots of tangents
- By Mr. and Mrs.G on 07-06-16
By: Rodney Stark
-
No Apologies
- Why Civilization Depends on the Strength of Men
- By: Anthony Esolen
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s time to end the apology tour for traditional masculinity. A generation of young men and boys are being raised in self-loathing, taught that the core of their identity as men is not only abhorrent but the fountainhead of humanity’s ills. In No Apologies, veteran author and professor Anthony Esolen issues a powerful defense of the virtues of masculine strength.
-
-
Most Important Book of 2022!
- By Daniel on 11-22-22
By: Anthony Esolen
-
Brainscapes
- The Warped, Wondrous Maps Written in Your Brain - and How They Guide You
- By: Rebecca Schwarzlose
- Narrated by: Rebecca Schwarzlose
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A path-breaking journey into the brain, showing how perception, thought, and action are products of "maps" etched into your gray matter - and how technology can use them to read your mind.
-
-
Rare situation of author being excellent narrator
- By Paul on 05-17-23
-
The Lost History of Christianity
- The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church --- and How It Died
- By: Philip Jenkins
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Lost History of Christianity will change how we understand Christian and world history. Leading religion scholar Philip Jenkins reveals a vast Christian world to the east of the Roman Empire and how the earliest, most influential churches of the East---those that had the closest link to Jesus and the early church---died. In this paradigm-shifting book, Jenkins recovers a lost history, showing how the center of Christianity for centuries used to be the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, extending as far as China.
-
-
Worthwhile with caveats
- By Telorast on 03-05-13
By: Philip Jenkins
-
The Forge of Christendom
- The End of Days and the Epic Rise of the West
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: James A. Gillies
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the approach of the first millennium, the Christians of Europe did not seem likely candidates for future greatness. They saw no future beyond the widely anticipated Second Coming of Christ. But when the world did not end, the peoples of Western Europe suddenly found themselves with no choice but to begin the heroic task of building a Jerusalem on Earth. In The Forge of Christendom, Tom Holland masterfully describes this remarkable new age, a time of caliphs and Viking sea kings, the spread of castles, and the invention of knighthood.
-
-
A Worthy Expansion to the Dark Ages
- By William Ratkus on 12-11-18
By: Tom Holland
-
Medieval Christianity
- A New History
- By: Kevin Madigan
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 21 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
New Standard Text for This Period
- By Bill Martin on 10-22-16
By: Kevin Madigan
-
Defenders of the West
- The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam
- By: Raymond Ibrahim
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Defenders of the West, the author of Sword and Scimitar follows up with vivid and dramatic profiles of eight extraordinary warriors—some saints, some sinners—who defended the Christian West against Islamic invasions. Discover the real Count Dracula, Spain’s El Cid, England’s Richard Lionheart, and many other historical figures whose true and original claim to fame revolved around their defiant stance against jihadist aggression.
-
-
Inconvenient truth regarding Islam and historical fact
- By Michael on 12-11-23
By: Raymond Ibrahim
-
A True History of the United States
- Indigenous Genocide, Racialized Slavery, Hyper-Capitalism, Militarist Imperialism and Other Overlooked Aspects of American Exceptionalism (Sunlight Editions)
- By: Daniel Sjursen
- Narrated by: Daniel Sjursen
- Length: 24 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliant, listenable, and raw. Maj. (ret.) Danny Sjursen, who served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and later taught history at West Point, delivers a true epic and the perfect companion to Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States.
-
-
The raw facts are good but the info is very bias.
- By Charlie :) on 08-13-21
By: Daniel Sjursen
-
Reformations
- The Early Modern World, 1450-1650
- By: Carlos M. N. Eire
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 39 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Catholics don’t believe in “Works Righteousness”
- By Liam Cruz Kelly on 02-23-19
-
Heretics and Believers
- A History of the English Reformation
- By: Peter Marshall
- Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
- Length: 35 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Centuries on, what the Reformation was and what it accomplished remain deeply contentious. Peter Marshall's sweeping new history argues that 16th-century England was a society neither desperate for nor allergic to change, but one open to ideas of "reform" in various competing guises. This engaging history reveals what was really at stake in the overthrow of Catholic culture and the reshaping of the English Church.
-
-
A heavy read but well worth it.
- By chemtrooper on 12-02-18
By: Peter Marshall
-
The Raven's Mark
- By: Christie J Newport
- Narrated by: Vinette Robinson
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Detective Chief Inspector Beth Fellows is thrown into the biggest case of her career: the brutal murder of Rose Danes. She quickly realizes Rose’s murder is linked to a cold case she investigated two years previously. The victim, 14-year-old Celine Wilson, survived but now languishes in a coma. Both girls were branded with the image of a raven. The only lead is a vague description and a first name, Simon.
-
-
Wow
- By HappyCamper on 11-30-23
-
The First Thousand Years
- A Global History of Christianity
- By: Robert Louis Wilken
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 17 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beginning with the life of Jesus, Robert Louis Wilken narrates the dramatic spread and development of Christianity over the first thousand years of its history. Moving through the formation of early institutions, practices, and beliefs to the transformations of the Roman world after the conversion of Constantine, he sheds new light on the subsequent stories of Christianity in the Latin West, the Byzantine and Slavic East, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
-
-
Excellent Summary!
- By Gary Vandenbos on 09-13-21
-
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization
- By: Anthony Esolen
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Western civilization is under attack. At universities and in the media, professors and pundits decry Western civilization as exploitative, destructive, and without value. But fear not: coming to its defense is this "P.I." guide to Western civilization.
-
-
Holy Neo-Nazism Batman!
- By Douglas on 12-03-11
By: Anthony Esolen
What listeners say about Cities of God
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Paul Adams
- 06-08-20
A coherent, compelling, and challenging account
Stark's work continues to build a strong case, based on quantitative data, for re-examining established myths about the rise and early history of Christianity. He shows how Christianity spread in cities and among the more affluent rather than among the rural poor; Paul's work was primarily among diaspora Hellenic Jews rather than gentiles; polytheism was not tolerant in this period nor monotheism intolerant; Constantine favored a peaceful pluralism and did not try to suppress paganism (whereas Julian was an anti-Christian repressive fanatic), etc. Church Fathers engaged the question of the similarities between Christianity and pagan myths (e.g., Isis) that anti-Christian writers like James Frazer (Golden Bough), centuries later, seized on as gotcha evidence of the former's unoriginality.
On the contrary, the commonalities showed how God gave us all the capacity to discover him. Stark explores this theme in another book, "Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief." But the difference between pagan religions or cults and Christianity are crucial. As in the case of Gnostic heresies, the non-Christian cults were ahistorical myths, unanchored in time or place, but the Judeo-Christian story was one of an historically and geographically particular people developing its relation with God over centuries, a God who progressively revealed himself "at sundry times and in divers places" as the people were ready to receive and understand (something like Star Trek's "prime directive"!).
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Timothy Wachtstetter
- 08-23-20
Another excellent work by Stark
A little dry and academic in spots; but on the whole, an outstanding work.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stephen
- 08-07-23
Excellent Book
Well thought out and well researched. Great overview of the early Christian church. I'm very pleased that I found this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Samuel Hudnet
- 02-14-23
Informative, but be ready for dry lists of info
This book is of a definite scholarly nature and parts of it can feel repetitive especially if you've read many of Rodney Stark's other works. Still, it was a great analysis on the growth of the "early" church and offered strong counterpoints to the common narrative of Christianity as an expansionist force that supplanted and suppressed the religions of the areas it spread.
As always, the best thing about Rodney Stark is just how much he pulls from the available historical sources (a huge breadth of datapoints for this one) and from them compiles the most factually accurate picture possible. As a data analyst by trade, I appreciate the immense background work Dr. Stark put into this particular work, though it was far from the most engaging of his titles that I've listened to.
Bob Souer did an admirable job narrating this (what I would consider difficult) work. I'd highly recommend the audio format if you're having trouble getting through it in print, though the one disadvantage is that you can't skim lists of information on audio (just listen at 1.5x during the more info-dense parts).
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!