
When Prophecy Fails
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Narrated by:
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Warren Keyes
About this listen
Originally published in 1956, When Prophecy Fails is a psychological study of a UFO cult and their belief of an apocalypse. It discusses the psychological dissonance experienced when the prophesied date passes with no event.
©1956 Leon Festinger (P)2021 Yashiki AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Its messaging can seem cryptic, even nonsensical, yet for tens of thousands of people, it explains everything: What is QAnon, where did it come from, and is the Capitol insurgency a sign of where it’s going next? Mike Rothschild, a journalist specializing in conspiracy theories, has been collecting their stories for years, and through interviews with QAnon converts, apostates, and victims, as well as psychologists, sociologists, and academics, he is uniquely equipped to explain the movement and its followers.
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In Armageddon, acclaimed New Testament authority Bart D. Ehrman delves into the most misunderstood—and possibly the most dangerous—book of the Bible, exploring the horrifying social and political consequences of expecting an imminent apocalypse and offering a fascinating tour through three millennia of Judeo-Christian thinking about how our world will end. By turns hilarious, moving, troubling, and provocative, Armageddon presents inspiring insights into how to live our lives in the face of an uncertain future.
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By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Jesus Before the Gospels
- How the Earliest Christians Remembered, Changed, and Invented Their Stories of the Savior
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- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Throughout much of human history, our most important stories were passed down orally - including the stories about Jesus before they became written down in the Gospels. In this fascinating and deeply researched work, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Erhman investigates the role oral history has played in the New Testament - how the telling of these stories not only spread Jesus' message but helped shape it.
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God's Monsters
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- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Traditional interpretations of the creatures of the Bible have sanded down their sharp, unsavory edges, transforming them into celestial beings of glory and light—or chubby, happy cherubs. Those cherubs? They're actually hybrid guardian monsters, more closely associated with the Egyptian sphinx than with flying babies. And the seraphim? Winged serpents sent to mete out God's vengeance. Demons aren't at war with angels; they're a distinct supernatural species used by Satan and by God. The pattern is chilling. Most of these monsters aren't God's opponents—they're God's entourage.
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The Storm Is upon Us
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Performance
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At the end of the 1960s, the mysterious Tom Forçade suddenly appeared, insinuating himself into the top echelons of countercultural politics and assuming control of the Underground Press Syndicate, a coalition of newspapers across the country. Weathering government surveillance and harassment, he embarked on a landmark court battle to obtain White House press credentials. But his audacious exploits—pieing Congressional panelists, stealing presidential portraits, and picking fights with other activists—led to accusations that he was an agent provocateur.
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How Jesus Became God
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In a book that took eight years to research and write, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Ehrman explores how an apocalyptic prophet from the backwaters of rural Galilee crucified for crimes against the state came to be thought of as equal with the one God Almighty Creator of all things. Ehrman sketches Jesus's transformation from a human prophet to the Son of God exalted to divine status at his resurrection. Only when some of Jesus's followers had visions of him after his death - alive again - did anyone come to think that he, the prophet from Galilee, had become God.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At the height of the John Birch Society’s activity in the 1960s, critics dismissed its members as a paranoid fringe. After all, “Birchers” believed that a vast communist conspiracy existed in America and posed an existential threat to Christianity, capitalism, and freedom. But as historian Matthew Dallek reveals, the Birch Society’s extremism remade American conservatism. Most Birchers were white professionals who were radicalized as growing calls for racial and gender equality appeared to upend American life.
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Do not recommend
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The Undertow
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
An unmatched guide to the religious dimensions of American politics, Jeff Sharlet journeys into corners of our national psyche where others fear to tread. The Undertow is both inquiry and meditation, an attempt to understand how, over the last decade, reaction has morphed into delusion, social division into distrust, distrust into paranoia, and hatred into fantasies—sometimes realities—of violence.
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I'm just not feeling this one....
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Cultish
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
What makes “cults” so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join - and more importantly, stay in - extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has.
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Get this book ASAP
- By chris boutte on 06-17-21
By: Amanda Montell
What listeners say about When Prophecy Fails
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- Anna
- 03-23-24
Fascinating
The account of the the study was more engaging than I had expected. I have listened several times to understand the different components better. So applicable to modern life, especially qanon and evangelical thinking. I personally found the narrator’s weird noises when he messed up comical and charming but I can see how it could irritate other listeners.
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- jj
- 03-28-23
Relevant in today's credulous world.
This is where the term 'cognitive dissonance' evolved and it is this the true believers flail to tamp down, ignoring facts, science, evidence and\or all reason. Start here if you want to understand why Fox audiences and Jehovah's Witnesses are zombies when it comes to the myths they cling to
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2 people found this helpful
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- JB
- 08-25-23
Fascinating, but outakes were left in audiobook!
The story was fascinating and written like a polished mystery novel, but the outakes of the audiobook were left in this recording. You'll suddenly hear the reader clear his throat and say "beep beep" and reread the sentence.
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1 person found this helpful
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- David Greenberg
- 05-17-23
An incredibly well done analysis
This goes on my shelf where I keep books that have changed my thinking. Crowds and Power by Elias Canetti; Darwin’s dangerous idea by Daniel dennett. This is such a striking series of observations and applicable to so many current situations it should be taught in schools
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