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From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity
- Narrated by: Bart D. Ehrman
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
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Publisher's summary
Step back to Christianity's first three centuries to see how it transitioned from the religion of Jesus to a religion about Jesus. How did a single group from among many win the struggle for dominance to establish the beliefs central to the faith, rewrite the history of Christianity's internal conflicts, and produce a canon of sacred texts – the New Testament – that supported its own views?
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Christianity argued its ancient roots by retaining the Jewish scriptures and arguing that it was, in fact, the fulfillment of what those scriptures had promised. Throughout these lectures, Professor Ehrman challenges old misconceptions and offers fresh perspectives on aspects of Christianity and its roots that many of us might have thought we already understood. By offering you a scholar's perspective on the origins of what Professor Ehrman describes as the most important institution in Western civilization, this engaging course will increase your understanding of Christianity today.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
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What listeners say about From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Wurm
- 09-18-13
An Objective History of Early Christianity
This course is not a devotional course. It is not intended necessarily for Christians, but for those who are interested in the history of Christianity. This is not Christianity from a theological perspective. In other words, this is education. It is not a course on faith.
Professor Ehrman is an erudite scholar on the Bible and the history of Christianity. If you wish to receive an objective education on the subject, this course is appropriate for you.
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72 people found this helpful
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- AlexK
- 09-07-13
Another Angry Athiests Views
What would have made From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity better?
If professor Bart D Ehrman would have walked up to the microphone, turned back around and sat down without opening his mouth. Just kidding he has a right to his distorted views.
What do you think your next listen will be?
Not sure but it won't be another book about Angry Atheists trying to get their message across.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Sadness.
Any additional comments?
It is saddens me that so many people are hung up on the little things in the Bible that they miss the hole picture about Jesus's message.It is about Loving your neighbor as yourself and loving God. If the New Testament was not true then surely the other letters of the bible would not have small discrepancies in them, because any good author would know that any intelligent person like professor Bart D Ehrmman would point this out to us who are less educated them he is. That we would be enlightened by his Atheistic views. We would quickly abandon our foolish faith and join him in celebrating our freedom of tolerance of all sin. If there is no higher power (God) to be accountable to then who's to say what is right or wrong? Anything goesBecause of those discrepancies one can tell that the four gospels in the New Testament are true. If you had four people that witness a crime their stories will not be the same unless they all got together in corroboration and straitened their stories out. But because the letters were written from different perspective of the authors as to what they (Witnessed)remembered the reliability of the four gospels are more credible in my opinion.
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40 people found this helpful
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- MultipleMama
- 07-07-18
12-hour Attempt to Delegitimize Christianity
According to professor Ehrman, Christianity just happened to happen. It was guided and developed by politics, culture and quests for power. According to the professor, the rise and impact of the world’s greatest religion was happenstance; a series of unfortunate events. Orthodoxy rose not because of the Church fathers’ faithfulness to history and tradition, not because of their scrupulous study of the Scriptures and the diligent application of their intellects to the same, but rather because they concocted paradoxical arguments that appealed to pagan culture and suppressed their opposition.
I can appreciate church history taught from a neutral, secular position. What I can’t appreciate is 12 hours of lectures clearly presented with an aim to transform Christianity into a silly, contradictory, intellectually dishonest, cultic fringe religion that only thrived through the millennia because Constantine half-heartedly joined the cult and forced it on the world. This is a dishonest read of history.
You’ll get some good facts from these lectures but if you’re looking for a neutral, honest perspective, find a different professor.
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35 people found this helpful
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- Tad Davis
- 01-16-15
Ideas, not people
Bart Ehrman is spot on as usual. The advantage of listening to his lectures rather than to someone else narrating his book is hearing the author's own voice. Ehrman is enthusiastic and engaging; he sounds like he's speaking off the cuff rather than reading a script; and he's able to present complex material in a clear and systematic way. It's important to note, however, that this lecture series is a history of early Christian IDEAS rather than early Christian people. There are a number of people discussed, of course - people like Tertullian, Ignatius, and Origen - but the lectures are far more topical than chronological.
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27 people found this helpful
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- Cloudy
- 10-16-13
More speculation than scholarship
I was disappointed that there was more guessing than real answers. Per the professor, sources are scarce but then went on to do a lot speculating about things he and his colleagues really don't know. This is not helpful. I stuck out the whole lecture hoping it would get better which it did only marginally, cringing as it went along. I was reminded of Paul's statement, "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
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- Carl D. Smith
- 03-29-17
Wonderful survey of historical Christianity
As always Ehrman tells a level and factual account of the appearance and development of Christianity. Well researched and fair to believer and skeptic alike. As objective of a history one could hope to find. Engaging presentation and never dry.
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20 people found this helpful
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- Jsn3604
- 01-08-15
Informative, but Biased.
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
There is quite a bit of interesting information that anyone with an interest in history or religion should consider, but it is quite obvious what the lecturer's religious opinions are based on his lectures.
What could The Great Courses and Bart D. Ehrman have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?
The lectures should be more neutral in regards to religious opinions. Dr. Ehrman doesn't explicitly state his beliefs, but they are definitely implied throughout the course.
Which character – as performed by Professor Bart D. Ehrman – was your favorite?
If the story is about Christianity, I would assume Jesus. There are other interesting players in the lecture.
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
As I said, the lecture was informative and I don't have regrets with the purchase.
Any additional comments?
Dr. Ehrman is knowledgeable and a wonderful speaker, but I think speakers on religious of political topics should do as much as they can to remain neutral for lecturing purposes. Unfortunately, I did come across conflicts in his statements between this lecture and "The Greatest Controversies of Early Christian History."
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14 people found this helpful
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- David
- 06-17-14
I recommend this with strong caution.
Would you try another book from The Great Courses and/or Professor Bart D. Ehrman?
I have been grinding through these and find them a mixed quality. Even the lesser are worth a listen. Perhaps more quantum mechanics next.
Would you be willing to try another book from The Great Courses? Why or why not?
Yes but I might run out of quality stuff. Keep it up. This is likely a growing market.
What three words best describe Professor Bart D. Ehrman’s performance?
Shallow. Sophmoric. Mediocher. Still worth the listen once you know these things.
Did From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity inspire you to do anything?
Yes. Write a detailed critic below.
Any additional comments?
I recommend this with strong caution. Let me describe my qualifications to comment.
I spent a year reading 200 bc -150 ad literature in this area with about 1,000 print out pages and a stack of books. I found one serious mistranslation in what was presented as "The Apostles Bible" as well as one seemingly deliberate anti-semetec translation in "The Marterdom of Pollycarp".
So whats my beef with the lecturer? Lets start with anti semetism of the early Church. Theologens DID present plenty of grist for that mill. The lecturer, however, seems nearly oblivious the slander was two ways and that Jews of the era had the better of the Christians by virtue of shear numbers.
Further, he also seems oblivious of The Talmud which includes all sorts of calumnies such that Reform Jews I asked referred to it as 'Folk Literature'. I consulted an Israeli Orthodox Jew who confirmed my translations were not only good but excellant. He reffered to Jesus as 'Your Man' not being permitted to say his name. I really liked that guy.
Anyway, the Talmud presents non-Jews as little more then natural resources for the picking.
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- Philip
- 08-15-21
Ehrman hopes you don't listen.
Legit listened hoping to get a scholarly perspective on the time period, someone to give just the facts and no opinions.
Ehrman: Jesus and Paul where poor, jailed and murdered.
Jesus and Paul: taught against being wealthy
Early Christians: sold homes to pay off each other's debts, overwhelming poor.
Ehrman's conclusion: Christianity spread because Romans thought God would make their material lives better.
Lolz okay
Ehrman: The gospels have issues, we don't know who wrote them, Jesus was dead 30 years when they where written. They're as accurate as kids playing telephone.
Me: I didn't know that!
Ehrman later: We think the gospels pulled from an original source "Q".
Me: Wait that means there was a source within 30 years of Jesus' death. Wouldn't that be pretty accurate, possibly written by the disciples who knew Jesus?
Ehrman: Moving on!
Also also Ehrman: The never canonized gospel of Thomas! Jesus had a twin! I'm not going to question it's authority, authorship or tell you when it was written! When it was written: 100-110 or 250 AD, scholars disagree.
This happens over and over again.
Anyone got something better than Bart?
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- Kent Curtis
- 05-15-19
Not enjoyable
He begins with an a priori assumption that God doesn't exist and Jesus Christ is just one more made up religion to ease the minds of men, and then spends the first nine lectures trying to prove said assumption. Now tell me this: why, if I didn't have faith in Jesus Christ, would I be interested in this lecture series? Answer: I wouldn't. I suggest finding a religious scholar who is able to begin a lecture about Christianity from a standpoint of a Christian. Duh? He is a scholar, not a priest, and yet he interprets scripture to prove his beliefs, and sets about attempting to further prove those beliefs by logic, reason, factual evidence, and academic agreement. (The best one was this: the commandment that says thou shalt have no other gods before me proves that the Jews believed in many gods.) That's ridiculous, and relies on a very specific interpretation of that commandment's meaning, which is not commonly held, but is supportive of his a priori assumption. He goes about not trying to give a history, as the series misleads one to believe he is going to do, but instead, tries to lead the listener through a series of positions leading to the conclusion that Jesus Christ was not divine. This has nothing to do with the series, yet he cannot help himself. It's sad. Faith is a special thing, and it is not for him to destroy. His conclusions rely on his assumptions. His assumptions are things he must have faith in. So his belief that faith is found-less, requires faith to believe. Ironic isn't it? And this brilliant atheist teaches religion? He teaches religion as a delusion, and gets rewarded? Wow. I myself will continue to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of mankind. If anyone cares.
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