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Cargando... God Against The Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism (2004 original; edición 2005)por Jonathan Kirsch
Información de la obraGod Against the Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism por Jonathan Kirsch (2004)
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. This book was fascinating. It really surprised me how close the world came to being primarily polytheistic. I cheered on Emperor Julian for standing up for his own faith as well as extending tolerance to a faith that called him nasty names at the very least. The author points out that the blessings of the monotheistic faiths do outweigh their serious bad behavior, and he presents the bad behavior of pagans as well, providing a balanced picture. All told, I enjoyed this book and was educated by it, and will look forward to reading more of Mr. Kirsch's work. ( ) There was some interesting information in there, but most of it I already knew. I also felt there just wasn't enough information most of the time. To top it off, it should really have had a subtitle about how it focuses almost solely on the Western world, and the Roman one in particular. I was really hoping there would be some information about, for example, Arabian polytheism and those peoples' conversion to Islam. But they barely even get a mention, which was disappointing. And what about the combination of colonization and conversion to monotheism that went on in many African and South American countries? Nothing. Although a serviceable account of the struggle between polytheism and monotheism in the Mediterranean region, principally from the time of Josiah to the death of Julian, the books cover promises more than the text delivers. This reader was disappointed that Kirsch did not address directly the question as to why Christianity, a minority religion, triumphed over paganism so quickly after the death of Julian. The author mentions, almost in passing, that Roman emperors had totalitarian powers as if that was an obvious and inarguable explanation for the phenomenon without demonstrating that it was true or why it inevitably led to the effective end of monotheism. A superficial and boring account of monotheism and polytheism in antiquity. It doesn't even come close to living up to its fancy title. The book contains miscellaneous historical anecdotes but not any serious or original historical research. The author fails to put his strange mixture of stories into a broader perspective. sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
Distinciones
In this ... book, [the author] explores the final struggle between monotheism and polytheism in the ancient world, a war that was fought by a series of charismatic, visionary but also violent monarchs in the name of the One True God - an Egyptian pharaoh, a Jewish king, and two Roman emperors. Contrary to the conventional wisdom of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the world of classical paganism was not steeped in sin. In fact, [according to the author], religious liberty and diversity were core values of classical paganism, and it was monotheism that introduced the terrors of true belief, including holy war, martyrdom, inquisitions, and crusades.-Dust jacket. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)291.14Religions Other Religions Comparative Religion; Mythology (No Longer Used) Mythologies Categories of ReligionClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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