In The Myth of Persecution; Candida Moss; a leading expert on early Christianity; reveals how the early church exaggerated; invented; and forged stories of Christian martyrs and how the dangerous legacy of a martyrdom complex is employed today to silence dissent and galvanize a new generation of culture warriors. According to cherished church tradition and popular belief; before the Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal in the fourth century; 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. These saints; Christianity’s inspirational heroes; are still venerated today. Moss; however; exposes that 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 taught in Sunday school classes; celebrated in sermons; and employed by church leaders; politicians; and media pundits who insist that Christians were—and always will be—persecuted by a hostile; secular world. Moss urges modern Christians to abandon the conspiratorial assumption that the world is out to get Christians and; rather; embrace the consolation; moral instruction; and spiritual guidance that these martyrdom stories provide.
#368487 in Books Gavin Menzies 2012-11-13 2012-11-13Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x 1.11 x 6.00l; 1.17 #File Name: 0062049496432 pagesThe Lost Empire of Atlantis History s Greatest Mystery Revealed
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. History made excitingBy chuck291Best history book I have read.Author; Gavin Menzies; is accurate on facts; lots of footnotes to back up the facts; easy to read due to font size and the authors writing skill. The author has written several other books; 1421; 1434 and "Who discovered America?" all updates and rewrites the history we once learned in school. Excellent and exciting material; recommend and should be "required" reading to our current history teachers and college professor's; even to suggest updating and rewriting some of our history text books. Will it be done?0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Well worth the read despite the year of his discoveriesBy JDThis author weaves a very compelling story about the possibilities of a very advanced civilization 2000 or greater BCE; that went through dramatic changes from upheaval of the earth such as tidal waves; earth quakes; volcano eruptions; or asteroids. It causes one to pause and think about how our current understanding and historical reporting about America being discovered in 1492 is a bit old school teaching and out of touch with this view which requires a significant compaction of history pre-civilization if people of 7000 BCE were already doing trade from the Americas to India.Current technology has unearthed more advanced ways to date antiquities. There has also been more important archeological finds since he wrote this book. However; he is a good story teller and clearly knows the part of the world where a thriving civilization existed centuries before AD. I would have liked it if he had current maps to go with the older maps as I had to keep looking up the older names to find out where in that part of the world he was. That in itself was a good exercise as I will unlikely not be able to go to many of these places given the massive migration of people from war and persecution from some of those areas at this time. As I read this book I just hope they can preserve these archeological finds and the ones of the future.Read with an open mind.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The Lost Empire...of Atlantis?By Leon HulettI really enjoyed this book! It was very hard to put down!It has excellent links to further research. It provides more in-depth archeological information about the Minoan Civilization than I could have imagined; but then I; and probably most readers; are pretty much starting from zero on that. I enjoyed how it was presented; and how his story unfolded. But I have read quite a lot on the mystique of Atlantis; and probably imagined a good deal too much. This book did not live up to my expectations on; or as regards; my timeline for Atlantis; nor what I expected the glorious Atlantean Civilization might have been.It does provide a great introduction to a great unknown civilization; but I remain loyal to Plato's time frame for Atlantis; and still have '9000 years earlier' than he; still firmly in mind for that story. That being said; I look forward to Menzies next book. I look forward to learning more about how the culture; the art; the intellect brought into being by the Minoan Civilization moved forward into the Golden Age of Greece; and possibly into our times. I want to get my hands on some of Minas (I hope no pun is intended here.) Tsikritsis's writings too. I live in the Great Lakes area of Michigan presented in the book; I can't wait to see more about how all the dots connect together for that area of the world; and history.Again; five stars from me!
