200 BC
A01=Robert C. Knapp
ancient history
ancient religion
Author_Robert C. Knapp
Berkeley
Category=NHC
Category=QRAX
Category=QRM
Christianity
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
first century
history of Roman empire
Invisible Romans
Jew
Judaism
Judea
messiah
origins
polytheism
polytheist
Professor Emeritus
religion
Robert Knapp
University of California
western world
Product details
- ISBN 9781781252086
- Weight: 240g
- Dimensions: 128 x 194mm
- Publication Date: 15 Mar 2018
- Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Exploring the origins of Christianity, this book looks at why it was that people first in Judea and then in the Roman and Greek Mediterranean world became susceptible to the new religion. Robert Knapp looks for answers in a wide-ranging exploration of religion and everyday life from 200 BC to the end of the first century.
Survival, honour and wellbeing were the chief preoccupations of Jews and polytheists alike. In both cases, the author shows, people turned first to supernatural powers. According to need, season and place polytheists consulted and placated vast constellations of gods, while the Jews worshipped and contended with one almighty and jealous deity.
Professor Knapp considers why any Jew or polytheist would voluntarily dispense with a well-tried way of dealing with the supernatural and trade it in for a new model. What was it about the new religion that led people to change beliefs they had held for millennia and which in turn, within four centuries of the birth of its messiah, led it to transform the western world? His conclusions are as convincing as they are sometimes surprising.
Robert Knapp taught ancient history for over thirty years at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is now Professor Emeritus. He has published extensively on the world of the Roman Empire, including Invisible Romans (Profile 2011).
