Crucible of Faith
The Ancient Revolution That Made Our Modern Religious World
1st Edition
Published on 19. September 2017
336 pages
978-0-465-09641-1 (ISBN)
Description
One of America's foremost scholars of religion examines the tumultuous era that gave birth to the modern Judeo-Christian tradition
In The Crucible of Faith, Philip Jenkins argues that much of the Judeo-Christian tradition we know today was born between 250-50 BCE, during a turbulent "Crucible Era." It was during these years that Judaism grappled with Hellenizing forces and produced new religious ideas that reflected and responded to their changing world. By the time of the fall of the Temple in 70 CE, concepts that might once have seemed bizarre became normalized-and thus passed on to Christianity and later Islam. Drawing widely on contemporary sources from outside the canonical Old and New Testaments, Jenkins reveals an era of political violence and social upheaval that ultimately gave birth to entirely new ideas about religion, the afterlife, Creation and the Fall, and the nature of God and Satan.
In The Crucible of Faith, Philip Jenkins argues that much of the Judeo-Christian tradition we know today was born between 250-50 BCE, during a turbulent "Crucible Era." It was during these years that Judaism grappled with Hellenizing forces and produced new religious ideas that reflected and responded to their changing world. By the time of the fall of the Temple in 70 CE, concepts that might once have seemed bizarre became normalized-and thus passed on to Christianity and later Islam. Drawing widely on contemporary sources from outside the canonical Old and New Testaments, Jenkins reveals an era of political violence and social upheaval that ultimately gave birth to entirely new ideas about religion, the afterlife, Creation and the Fall, and the nature of God and Satan.
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Person
Philip Jenkins is a distinguished professor of history at the Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University. The author of twenty-seven books, Jenkins divides his time between Texas and Pennsylvania.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Table of Contents
- Dedication
- List of Maps and Tables
- Of Dates, Names, and Places
- Introduction
- 1. The Old World: Living with Radical Monotheism
- 2. The Years of the Greeks: The Jewish World Confronts Greek Empires
- 3. Antioch in Jerusalem: The Limits of the Law
- 4. Enoch the Prophet: Startling New Scriptures Remap the Spiritual Universe
- 5. Tyrants Follow Tyrants: A Century of National Agony
- 6. Daniel's Revolution: Visions of Cosmic Warfare
- 7. The Light and the Life: Wars of Light and Darkness
- 8. The Powers Above: How the Universe Filled with Angels and Demons
- 9. The Word Was with God: Rethinking the World's Creation
- 10. Smashing God's House: How Apocalyptic and Messianic Ideas Drove Political Action
- 11. Making Faiths: The Making of World Religions
- Conclusion: Closed Histories
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Notes
- Index
