The Triumph of Christianity
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The Triumph of Christianity
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Narrated by:
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Professor Bart D. Ehrman
About this listen
The growth of Christianity in the early centuries of the Common Era is one of the most extraordinary stories in world history. What began with a preaching day laborer and his dozen or so disciples soon grew to be the largest religion in the world, eventually taking over the entire Roman Empire. How did that happen? How was such a movement possible?
Over the years, scholars have offered a variety of theories, including:
- The nature of Christianity as both exclusive and evangelical
- The single-handed efforts of the Apostle Paul
- The appeal of the Christian message for pagan audiences
- The conversion of the Roman emperor Constantine
While all of these theories may have been involved, the rise of Christianity nonetheless feels like an impossibility. Delve into this fascinating occurrence in The Triumph of Christianity. Taught by Dr. Bart. D. Ehrman, these 24 investigative lectures trace the exponential growth of Christianity, from its origins in a Jewish outpost of the Roman Empire to its spread throughout the entire Western world.
In this extraordinary course, you will investigate the historical events that led to such an astonishing feat. With the objective eye of a historian, Bart takes you through the ancient Roman world, offering analysis on what we can know for sure and what lies in the realm of myth. While Bart is careful to delineate history from religion, he walks you through a number of theological discussions and debates around the nature of Christ, salvation, “end times”, and more.
Along the way, you will meet the historical Jesus and other figures from the beginnings of Christianity; learn about the Acts of the Apostles as they spread the message far and wide; see how the apocalyptic message of Jesus transformed into a theology of salvation; and witness the development of a unified church. From the message of Jesus of Nazareth to the beginnings of a Christian Roman Empire, The Triumph of Christianity provides new insights into one of the most compelling stories ever recorded.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2021 The Great Courses (P)2021 The Teaching Company, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about The Triumph of Christianity
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- mcsmall
- 20-02-22
Fascinating Lectures
A well researched and interesting series of lectures from a leading scholar on early Christianity.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Ruben Gardeslen
- 03-01-23
Comprehensive and easy to listen!
Fantastic Narrator, went through it within a week. great accompanying pdf! very comprehensive story. Really has enlightened my world and I feel really more knowledgeable after. Also kind of helps me with my catechesis. At least helps me put my faith in perspective.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- placidhead
- 02-05-22
Ehrman Great as Always
Professor Ehrman has lots of these lecture series (all on overlapping subject matter) in The Great Courses catalogue. they're all worthwhile, easy to listen to, well researched and well presented - though if you're going to listen to several of them, be prepared to hear the same jokes recycled over and over again. But other than that this series is money well spent.
If you enjoy this series, then you'll probably also enjoy The Darkening Age by Catherine Nixey, and also The Scientist in The Early Roman Empire (I think that's what it's called) by Richard Carrier. Both books focus on the social and intellectual consequences of the triumph of Christianity.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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- Dennis Sommers
- 20-04-22
… In as far as it goes …
This is really rather dumb: who is this guy talking to? There is no triumph of Christianity.
His account of the rise of the church seems pretty unexceptionable on the whole: there are gaps between Paul and Acts, and many scholars do acknowledge the inauthenticity of those ‘Pauline’ epistles the lecturer cites, but opposition to this opinion is equally strong and well argued. What is more generally understood, however, s that, assuming Paul ever made it to Athens, the philosophic tradition there was well in decline. Yes they called him a babbler and rightly too, because it took another several centuries for Christianity to integrate with and adopt the best of classical thinking; Cicero, Plato etc, and the best Christian theologians have usually taken onboard the best of secular thought. This author is right to emphasise the ethical value in zJudaism, but the elephant in his room is Islam, which doesn’t get a single mention!
It was Islam that carried forward those aspects of classical philosophy - sciences, Aristotle etc - and even numerals - without which the world as we know it could not have developed as it did.
Of course there is intolerance, corruption and power politics in western Christian tradition - not to mention some of the worst aspects of Paganism- but that’s the world as it is.
This could and should have been a lot more valuable than it is if this author had been less America-centric and less afraid of offending his audience by including the immense contribution of Islam to western culture.
It used to be the fashion to teach that harmony as we understand it developed through monastic practice, but this myth was exploded generations ago, so that if Bach, Mozart etc had never lived and worked, their equivalents would have.
Anyway, this useless speculation is what utterly soils this course, so enough!!!
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