Selina O'Grady
A groundbreaking history ofÂ the ageÂ whenÂ empires used religions toÂ become powerfulÂ and religionsÂ used empires to spread their messageÂ ,At the end of the first century BC, the world was full of gods. Thousands of them jostled, competed and merged with one another.Â In Syria ecstatic devotees castrated themselves in the streets so as to become priests of Atargatis. InÂ Galilee,Â holy men turned oil into wine and claimed to be the Messiah.Â Kings, queens, and emperors were riding on the backs of these religions toÂ increase their power.,And Man Created God, considers how and why religious belief has had such an immense impact on human history byÂ identifying the roots of belief within societies.Â O'GradyÂ looks atÂ the whole world during one short period andÂ asks aÂ specific question:Â Why did Christianity grow so quickly and become the predominant world religion? The beliefs held by a tiny Jewish sect in an obscure corner of the then mighty Roman Empire would have seemed doomed to disappear within a few generations. Instead, they became the official religion of the Empire. What was it about Christian ideas thatÂ appealed to people in soÂ many different cultures at that time? Beginning in Rome, expanding her review out to Gaul, Germania, North Africa, the Near East, Persia, and beyond to China, the author sifts through the economic, political and sociocultural facts to understand why some ideas die and others thrive in a thrilling new work of history.
History,Religion,Nonfiction,History,Ancient History,History,World History,Spirituality
And Man Created God: A History of the World at the Time of Jesus