Worshippers of the Gods

Worshippers of the Gods
Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Total Pages : 344
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780190082468
ISBN-13 : 0190082461
Rating : 4/5 (461 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Worshippers of the Gods by : Mattias P. Gassman

Download or read book Worshippers of the Gods written by Mattias P. Gassman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-05-29 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Worshippers of the Gods tells how the Latin writers who witnessed the political and social rise of Christianity rethought the role of traditional religion in the empire and city of Rome. In parallel with the empire's legal Christianisation, it traces changing attitudes toward paganism from the last empire-wide persecution of Christians under the Tetrarchy to the removal of state funds from the Roman cults in the early 380s. Influential recent scholarship has seen Christian polemical literature-a crucial body of evidence for late antique polytheism-as an exercise in Christian identity-making. In response, Worshippers of the Gods argues that Lactantius, Firmicus Maternus, Ambrosiaster, and Ambrose offered substantive critiques of traditional religion shaped to their political circumstances and to the preoccupations of contemporary polytheists. By bringing together this polemical literature with imperial laws, pagan inscriptions, and the letters and papers of the senator Symmachus, Worshippers of the Gods reveals the changing horizons of Roman thought on traditional religion in the fourth century. Through its five interlocking case studies, it shows how key episodes in the Empire's religious history-the Tetrarchic persecution, Constantine's adoption of Christianity, the altar of Victory affair, and the 'disestablishment' of the Roman cults-shaped contemporary conceptions of polytheism. It also argues that the idea of a unified 'paganism', often seen as a capricious invention, actually arose as a Christian response to the eclectic, philosophical polytheism in vogue at Rome.

Worshippers of the Gods Related Books

Worshippers of the Gods
Language: en
Pages: 344
Authors: Mattias P. Gassman
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-05-29 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

GET EBOOK

Worshippers of the Gods tells how the Latin writers who witnessed the political and social rise of Christianity rethought the role of traditional religion in th
Gods and Worshippers
Language: en
Pages: 162
Authors: Thor Ewing
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008 - Publisher:

GET EBOOK

What was paganism really like? Who were the gods and how were they worshipped? These are the questions Thor Ewing addresses in this fresh perspective on the pag
We Become What we Worship
Language: en
Pages: 311
Authors: G K Beale
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-05-21 - Publisher: Inter-Varsity Press

GET EBOOK

The heart of the biblical understanding of idolatry, argues Gregory Beale, is that we take on the characteristics of what we worship. Employing Isaiah 6 as his
Worship Matters (Foreword by Paul Baloche)
Language: en
Pages: 306
Authors: Bob Kauflin
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008-03-26 - Publisher: Crossway

GET EBOOK

Nothing is more essential than knowing how to worship the God who created us. This book focuses readers on the essentials of God-honoring worship, combining bib
Gather God's People
Language: en
Pages: 114
Authors: Brian Croft
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015-01-06 - Publisher: Zondervan

GET EBOOK

“God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). The Bible tells us that we are to worship the Lord, that we were creat