The Barbarian Conversion

Author : Richard A. Fletcher
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 9780520218598
Total Pages : 598 pages
Book Rating : 4.90/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Barbarian Conversion written by Richard A. Fletcher and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 598 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An investigation of the process by which large parts of Europe accepted the Christian faith between the fourth and the fourteenth centuries and of some of the cultural consequences that flowed therefrom." In a work of splendid scholarship that reflects both a firm mastery of difficult sources and a keen intuition, one of Britain's foremost medievalists tells the story of the Christianization of Europe. It is a very large story, for conversion encompassed much more than religious belief. With it came enormous cultural change: Latin literacy and books, Roman notions of law and property, and the concept of town life, as well as new tastes in food, drink, and dress. Whether from faith or by force, from self-interest or by revelation, conversion had an immense impact that is with us even today.

Author : Richard Fletcher
Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 682 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Conversion of Europe (TEXT ONLY) written by Richard Fletcher and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 1917 with total page 682 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of how Europe was converted to Christianity from 300AD until the barbarian Lithuanians finally capitulated at the astonishingly late date of 1386. It is an epic tale from one of the most gifted historians of today. This remarkable book examines the conversion of Europe to the Christian faith in the period following the collapse of the Roman Empire to approximately 1300 when the hegemony of the Holy Roman Empire was firmly established. One of the book’s great strengths is the degree to which it shows how little was inevitable about this process, how surrounded by uncertainties. What was the origin of the missionary impulse? Who were the activists who engaged in this work – the toilsome, often unrewarding, sometimes dangerous work of evangelisation, and how did they set about putting over this faith? How did a structure of ecclesiastical government come into being? Above all, at what point can one say that an individual or a society has become Christian? Fletcher’s range, lucidity and mastery of his sources brings the answers to these and many other questions as far within our grasp as they probably ever can be. Like Alan Bullock and Simon Schama, Fletcher is a historian with the true gift of a storyteller and a wide general readership ahead of him. Fletcher’s previous book, The Quest for El Cid won both the Wolfson History Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award for History. This book is even better – the most impressive achievement so far of this strikingly gifted historian.

Author : Hans-Peter Hasenfratz
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1620554488
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Barbarian Rites written by Hans-Peter Hasenfratz and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-06-23 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the untamed paganism of the Vikings and the Germanic tribes prior to the complete Christianization of Europe • Explores the different forms of magic practiced by these tribes, including runic magic, necromancy (death magic), soul-travel, and shape-shifting • Examines their rites of passage and initiation rituals and their most important gods, such as Odin, Loki, and Thor • Looks at barbarian magic in historical accounts, church and assembly records, and mythology as well as an eyewitness report from a 10th-century Muslim diplomat • Reveals the use and abuse of this tradition’s myths and magic by the Nazis Before the conversion of Europe to Christianity in the Middle Ages, Germanic tribes roamed the continent, plundering villages and waging battles to seek the favor of Odin, their god of war, ecstasy, and magic. Centuries later, predatory Viking raiders from Scandinavia carried on similar traditions. These wild “barbarians” had a system of social classes and familial clans with complex spiritual customs, from rites of passage for birth, death, and adulthood to black magic practices and shamanic ecstatic states, such as the infamous “berserker’s rage.” Chronicling the original pagan tradition of free and wild Europe--and the use and abuse of its myths and magic by the Nazis--Hans-Peter Hasenfratz offers a concise history of the Germanic tribes of Europe and their spiritual, magical, and occult beliefs. Looking at historical accounts, church and assembly records, mythology, and folktales from Germany, Russia, Scandinavia, and Iceland as well as an eyewitness report of Viking customs and rituals from a 10th-century Muslim diplomat, Hasenfratz explores the different forms of magic--including charms, runic magic, necromancy, love magic, soul-travel, and shamanic shape-shifting--practiced by the Teutonic tribes and examines their interactions with and eventual adaptation to Christianity. Providing in-depth information on their social class and clan structure, rites of passage, and their most important gods and goddesses, such as Odin, Loki, Thor, and Freyja, Hasenfratz reveals how it is only through understanding our magical barbarian roots that we can see the remnants of their language, culture, and dynamic spirit that have carried through to modern times.

Author : Michele Renee Salzman
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674043049
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Making of a Christian Aristocracy written by Michele Renee Salzman and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What did it take to cause the Roman aristocracy to turn to Christianity, changing centuries-old beliefs and religious traditions? Michele Salzman takes a fresh approach to this much-debated question. Focusing on a sampling of individual aristocratic men and women as well as on writings and archeological evidence, she brings new understanding to the process by which pagan aristocrats became Christian, and Christianity became aristocratic. Roman aristocrats would seem to be unlikely candidates for conversion to Christianity. Pagan and civic traditions were deeply entrenched among the educated and politically well-connected. Indeed, men who held state offices often were also esteemed priests in the pagan state cults: these priesthoods were traditionally sought as a way to reinforce one's social position. Moreover, a religion whose texts taught love for one's neighbor and humility, with strictures on wealth and notions of equality, would not have obvious appeal for those at the top of a hierarchical society. Yet somehow in the course of the fourth and early fifth centuries Christianity and the Roman aristocracy met and merged. Examining the world of the ruling class--its institutions and resources, its values and style of life--Salzman paints a fascinating picture, especially of aristocratic women. Her study yields new insight into the religious revolution that transformed the late Roman Empire.

Author : Peter Brown
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118301269
Total Pages : 741 pages
Book Rating : 4.65/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Rise of Western Christendom written by Peter Brown and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-02-04 with total page 741 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This tenth anniversary revised edition of the authoritative text on Christianity's first thousand years of history features a new preface, additional color images, and an updated bibliography. The essential general survey of medieval European Christendom, Brown's vivid prose charts the compelling and tumultuous rise of an institution that came to wield enormous religious and secular power. Clear and vivid history of Christianity's rise and its pivotal role in the making of Europe Written by the celebrated Princeton scholar who originated of the field of study known as 'late antiquity' Includes a fully updated bibliography and index

Author : Diane Moczar
Publisher : Catholic Answers Press
ISBN 13 : 9781933919577
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Converts and Kingdoms: How the written by Diane Moczar and published by Catholic Answers Press. This book was released on 2012-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Converts and Kingdoms, Professor Moczar tells the story of early Christianity's faith, courage, and cunning-chronicling the labors of missionaries and martyrs (with no small help from Providence) to spread the gospel and lay the foundation for the most magnificent culture human history has ever known. This stirring narrative reveals a young Church ardently occupied with the great work of conversion: with saints and generals, priests and kings alike filled with zeal to make disciples of all nations. You will encounter heroic tales of the nascent Faith, including: The emperor who put his trust in the one God rather than the sorcery of his predecessors- and changed the course of the world to come. The would-be hermit who became an accidental missionary- and helped birth the quintessential Catholic kingdom. Pious monarchs who repelled barbarian invaders. The former slave boy who returned to the land of his pagan captors- and turned it into an island of saints and scholars. The Marian miracle that scattered the demons of human sacrifice- and opened the door to a new Christian continent. You will discover not only the story of the Church's early missionary efforts but valuable lessons for re-evangelizing a modern West that has slipped into a new and insidious form of paganism.

Author : Lewis R. Rambo
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199713545
Total Pages : 829 pages
Book Rating : 4.47/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion written by Lewis R. Rambo and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-03-06 with total page 829 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion offers a comprehensive exploration of the dynamics of religious conversion, which for centuries has profoundly shaped societies, cultures, and individuals throughout the world. Scholars from a wide array of religions and disciplines interpret both the varieties of conversion experiences and the processes that inform this personal and communal phenomenon. This volume examines the experiences of individuals and communities who change religions, those who experience an intensification of their religion of origin, and those who encounter new religions through colonial intrusion, missionary work, and charismatic and revitalization movements. The thirty-two innovative essays provide overviews of the history of particular religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, indigenous religions, and new religious movements. The essays also offer a wide range of disciplinary perspectives-psychological, sociological, anthropological, legal, political, feminist, and geographical-on methods and theories deployed in understanding conversion, and insight into various forms of deconversion.

Author : James C. Russell
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0195104668
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity written by James C. Russell and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1996 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses German influence on the development of early medieval Christianity.

Author : Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781884527821
Total Pages : 191 pages
Book Rating : 4.25/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert written by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Rosaria, by the standards of many, was living a very good life. She had a tenured position at a large university in a field for which she cared deeply. She owned two homes with her partner, in which they provided hospitality to students and activists that were looking to make a difference in the world. In the community, Rosaria was involved in volunteer work. At the university, she was a respected advisor of students and her department's curriculum. And then, in her late 30s, Rosaria encountered something that turned her world upside down -- the idea that Christianity, a religion that she had regarded as problematic and sometimes downright damaging, might be right about who God was. That idea seemed to fly in the face of the people and causes that she most loved. What follows is a story of what she describes as a train wreck at the hand of the supernatural. These are her secret thoughts about those events, written as only a reflective English professor could."--Back cover.

Author : Peter S. Wells
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393335399
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.92/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Barbarians to Angels: The Dark Ages Reconsidered written by Peter S. Wells and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2009-08-24 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A rich and surprising look at the robust European culture that thrived after the collapse of Rome. The barbarians who destroyed the glory that was Rome demolished civilization along with it, and for the next four centuries the peasants and artisans of Europe barely held on. Random violence, mass migration, disease, and starvation were the only ways of life. This is the picture of the Dark Ages that most historians promote. But archaeology tells a different story. Peter Wells, one of the world’s leading archaeologists, surveys the archaeological record to demonstrate that the Dark Ages were not dark at all. The kingdoms of Christendom that emerged starting in the ninth century sprang from a robust, previously little-known European culture, albeit one that left behind few written texts.