Rome Religion

Two thousand years ago, 967 Jewish men, women, and children reportedly took their own lives rather than surrender to the Roman army. This dramatic event, which took place on top of Masada, a barren and windswept mountain overlooking the Dead Sea, spawned a powerful story of Jewish resistance that came to symbolize the embattled modern State of Israel. Jodi Magness, an archaeologist who has excavated at Masada, explains what happened there, how we know it, and how recent developments might change understandings of the story.

When the rabbis composed the Mishnah in the late second or early third century C.E., the Jerusalem Temple had been destroyed for more than a century. Why, then, do the Temple and its ritual feature so prominently in the Mishnah? Against the view that the rabbis were reacting directly to the destruction and asserting that nothing had changed, Naftali S. Cohn argues that the memory of the Temple served a political function for the rabbis in their own time.

Belief and Cult argues that belief isn't uniquely Christian but was central to ancient Roman religion. Drawing on cognitive theory, Jacob Mackey shows that despite having nothing to do with salvation or faith, belief underlay every aspect of Roman religious practices—emotions, individual and collective cult action, ritual norms, social reality, and social power. In doing so, he also offers a thorough argument for the importance of belief to other non-Christian religions.

Based on a wealth of documents long buried in the Vatican archives, Prisoner of the Vatican tells the story of the Church's secret attempt to block the unification of Italy and seize control, not in ancient times, but in the late 19th century. For more than 50 years, the pope was a self-imposed prisoner within the Vatican walls, planning to flee Italy, to return only as the restored ruler of Rome and the Papal States.

Carpocrates, Marcellina, and Epiphanes is the definitive study of the early Christian theologian Carpocrates, his son Epiphanes, and the leader of the Carpocratian movement in Rome, Marcellina. It contains the first full-length study of and commentary on the fragments of Epiphanes, the earliest reports on Carpocrates and Marcellina, as well as the Epistle to Theodore (containing the so-called Secret Gospel of Mark). Listeners also encounter an up-to-date history of research on the Carpocratian movement, and three full profiles of all we can know from the earliest Carpocratian leaders.

Skip Heitzig teaches through a series of messages on the life of Paul. Paul the Apostle stands out as one of history's greatest figures, towering above most everyone else, with the exception of his own Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll take a peek into his unique background - a mix of both Jewish and Greco-Roman nurturing. Let's see how God used this distinctive individual as one of His finest tools.

We have been asked to write on lay people who became Saints. As we researched our last book, Visionaries, Mystics and Stigmatists, we found ourselves writing on many saints and blesseds, brothers and sisters who came from a life very much like our own; they never entered the religious life but instead served the Lord right where he had planted them, within their families. St. Frances of Rome is one such saint and visionary.

This letter of St. John Chrysostom to the Bishop of Rome, deals with Theophilus, the leader of the Church in Alexandria. Theophilus had been commanded to go to Constantinople, to answer to the Emperor for accusations against him. He arrived bringing with him a multitude of Egyptian Bishops, showing from the outset that he came for war and antagonism, argues Chrysostom.

This comprehensive work by E. M. Berens starts with the primordial deities of the Greeks and the myths on the origin of the world, followed by the Olympian, sea, and minor divinities; nymphs; nature spirits; and Roman divinities.

This journey through this narration of theological history gives an insightful look at our apostolic heritage and promotes the unity of faith that must be attained within our apostolic fellowships during these final hours. If you're looking for a unique perspective to gain greater spiritual understanding, this former Roman Catholic seminarian has provided it.

It is said that there is no-one more zealous in a cause than an adult convert. A notable example of this was Joseph McCabe, whose conversion was not to a religion, but from religious faith to secularism. Ordained as a Franciscan priest in 1890, and later recognized by the Catholic Church as an able scholar and teacher, by 1897 McCabe had completely lost his faith and had left the priesthood. He became a very active secularist, delivering thousands of public lectures and publishing over two hundred books on a wide range of religious, historical and scientific topics.

This fourth book in Dando-Collins’ definitive history of Rome’s legions tells the story of Rome’s 3rd Gallica Legion, which put Vespasian on the throne and saved the life of the Christian apostle Paul. Named for their leader, Mark Antony, these common Roman soldiers, through their gallantry on the battlefield, reshaped the Roman Empire and aided the spread of Christianity throughout Europe.

Marcus Aurelius was an outstanding person and Emperor of Ancient Rome. He was far more concerned with ways of thinking than with warfare. Being a small boy he applied himself to task with education. Marcus preferred others over himself, putting his own welfare aside for the good of other people.

How did things progress from that story in the Bible, with a Jewish girl giving birth to the Messiah of Israel in a manager in the city of Bethlehem, to the modern colossus that is the Christmas holiday? How did Santa Claus, the Christmas tree, the snow sleighs, the presents, and family reunions become the distinctive features of the holiday if none of them were there at the beginning? The answers can be attributed to a chain of events, characters, oral traditions, artistic works, and an assimilation of local folklore.

Apart from Jesus, there is no character more vividly presented in the gospels than Peter. To talk of Saint Peter is to talk about a man of action. There is a good reason why he is the apostle with the most mentions in the Gospels, and the most referred to in the New Testament (a total of 195 times). In comparison, John, the next most popular disciple, barely reaches 29 references. It is at decisive moments which require a categorical reaction where the leader of the Twelve shines.

The most famous church in Jerusalem for nearly 2,000 years, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, often called the Church of the Resurrection, was built in the era of St. Constantine, and the church as a structure has no history separable from the city of Jerusalem and its environs. It is venerated as being on the site where Jesus was crucified and buried, and naturally, making it a crucial pilgrimage site for Christians, and it is now the home of the Greek Orthodox Jerusalem Patriarchate.

Que Jesús de Nazareth (ca. 4 AC-30 DC) fue crucificado es una de las afirmaciones más cercanas a un hecho histórico que pueda hacerse sobre su él. Sobre los detalles de qué hizo o dijo la academia ha pasado siglos debatiendo, pero en este hecho, que sufrió la pena capital a manos de la autoridad romana por medio de la crucifixión, coincide la abrumadora mayoría de los historiadores del mundo antiguo. Este volumen sigue la complicada trayectoria de las dos reliquias existentes más importantes del cristianismo....

Bethlehem is amongst the oldest cities in the world, one that has been conquered and ruled by Caananites, Jews, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, the Mamluks of Egypt, and the Ottomans. In the last century alone, it has been controlled by various different parties. The British took Bethlehem during World War I and controlled the city from 1920-1948, and in the wake of the 1948 war between Israel and its neighbors, Jordan annexed Bethlehem and controlled it until the Six Day War in 1967.

Many historians in the past have seen Constantine as a secret pagan who used Christianity as a political device or a God-sent Emperor who converted a whole nation to Christianity. Since Constantine's personal beliefs allowed for both paganism and Christianity, he created an Empire of tolerance or a religiously neutral realm (as far as what you wanted to believe).

The life story of Jesus of Nazareth, considered by billions of Christians to be the messiah prophesized in the Old Testament of the Bible, is perhaps the most famous in history. Described in detail in the New Testament, Jesus comes from both divine yet humble roots, born in a manger to a young woman, but in time he leads a fervent following as tales of his miracles spread across the Holy Land.