Gnosticism, one of the most fascinating phenomena in religious history, sparked ideologies that competed and conversed with other religions of the time, including Christianity. Follow Gnostic ideology and its impact on Western thought through the centuries, from its role in early religions and emergence in medieval spirituality to its remarkable traces in modern popular culture.
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Discover the true breadth and depth of the early Christian world with this two-course set. Study non-canonical Christian literature to deepen your knowledge of Jesus, his family, and the apostles with The Apocryphal Jesus. Then, immerse yourself in the theology, sacred writings, rituals, and outstanding human figures of the Gnostic movement with Gnosticism: From Nag Hammadi to the Gospel of Judas.
Who was Jesus? Is it possible to shape a single picture from the various accounts of his life? Jesus and the Gospels examines the canonical Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John familiar to us from the New Testament, as well as the many other, apocryphal narratives and literary works that have contributed to our perceptions of Jesus, Mary, and Christianity. Award-winning Professor Luke Timothy Johnson designed his course to examine the Gospels as literary productions. The lectures seek to encounter not the Jesus behind those compositions, but the Jesus found within them.
Enjoy an intellectual adventure like no other in this book-by-book look at the Bible from a literary perspective. From the stories of Moses to the gospel accounts of Jesus and the formation of the earliest Christian communities, these lectures empower you to engage with the Bible as a collection of richly meaningful texts filled with complex characters, dramatic conflicts, and inspirational wisdom.
Christianity is the largest and most global religious tradition in history. For nearly 2,000 years, the Christian faith has remained at or near the center of Western moral debate and conceptions of human identity, just action, and ultimate meaning. It has both shaped history and responded to history, showing an extraordinary adaptability within greatly differing cultures. Its practice and influence appears in every land and every language, and one-third of humanity now affiliates in some way with Christianity. Now, in 36 enthralling lectures, The History of Christianity: From the Disciples to the Dawn of the Reformation tells the phenomenal story of Christianity’s first 1,500 years, in all its remarkable diversity and complex dimension.
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