
Strange Religion
How the First Christians Were Weird, Dangerous, and Compelling
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Narrated by:
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Nijay K. Gupta
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By:
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Nijay K. Gupta
About this listen
The first Christians were weird. Just how weird is often lost on today's believers.
Within Roman society, the earliest Christians stood out for the oddness of their beliefs and practices. They believed unusual things, worshiped God in strange ways, and lived a unique lifestyle. They practiced a whole new way of thinking about and doing religion that would have been seen as bizarre and dangerous when compared to Roman religion and most other religions of the ancient world.
Award-winning author, blogger, speaker, and New Testament teacher Nijay Gupta traces the emerging Christian faith in its Roman context in this accessible and engaging book. Christianity would have been seen as radical in the Roman world, but some found this new religion attractive and compelling. The first Christians dared to be different, pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable, transformed how people thought about religion, and started a movement that grew like wildfire. This book shows how the example of the earliest Christians can offer today's believers encouragement and hope.
©2024 Nijay K. Gupta (P)2024 eChristianListeners also enjoyed...
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Who was among the last at the cross and the first at the empty tomb? Mary Magdalene. Her role in Jesus's ministry as told in all four Gospels was pivotal in many ways. Yet her story is often overlooked, confused, or scandalized by the church. In The Mary We Forgot, award-winning church historian and theologian Jennifer Powell McNutt unpacks Scripture and church history to reveal the real Mary Magdalene as a model of discipleship for all Christians today—women and men alike.
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The Apostle Mary
- By Valerie on 03-08-25
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Bearing God's Name
- Why Sinai Still Matters
- By: Carmen Joy Imes, Christpher J.H. Wright - foreword
- Narrated by: Ann Richardson
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Have you ever wondered what the Old Testament - especially the Old Testament law - has to do with your Christian life? You are not alone. Some Christian leaders believe we should cast off the Old Testament now that we have the New. Carmen Joy Imes disagrees. In this warm, accessible volume, Imes takes listeners back to Sinai, the ancient mountain where Israel met their God, and explains the meaning of events there. She argues that we've misunderstood the command about "taking the Lord's name in vain." Instead, Imes says that this command is about "bearing God's name."
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Great Audiobook!
- By Scott on 12-29-19
By: Carmen Joy Imes, and others
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The Challenge of Acts
- Rediscovering What the Church Was and Is
- By: N. T. Wright
- Narrated by: N. T. Wright
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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This book offers a brief introduction to the Acts of the Apostles. Acts is a substantial book, sitting right in the middle of the New Testament, looking back to the four Gospels and ahead to the mission of the early church. It provides a framework for our understanding of the letters; but it does more than that. It offers a sophisticated and nuanced view of what it means to think of the gospel of Jesus, Israel's Messiah, going out into the world over which Israel's Messiah claims the status of Lord.
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Glad Wright narrated
- By Adam Shields on 12-05-24
By: N. T. Wright
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The Lost World of the Prophets
- Old Testament Prophecy and Apocalyptic Literature in Ancient Context
- By: John H. Walton
- Narrated by: Tyler Boss
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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A fresh reading of the Old Testament text in light of the ancient Near Eastern context can open new avenues of awareness. Walton provides a clear, helpful guide to the nature of biblical prophecy and apocalyptic literature that will help listeners avoid potential misuse and reclaim the message of the prophets for their lives.
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This is the Modern “Prophecy” Book Christians Need to Read
- By Jamin D. Bradley on 08-01-24
By: John H. Walton
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Becoming the Pastor's Wife
- How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman's Path to Ministry
- By: Beth Allison Barr
- Narrated by: Connie Shabshab
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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As a pastor's wife for 25 years, Beth Allison Barr has lived with assumptions about what she should do and who she should be. In Becoming the Pastor's Wife, Barr draws on that experience and her expertise as a historian to trace the history of the role of the pastor's wife, showing how it both helped and hurt women in conservative Protestant traditions. While they gained an important leadership role, it came at a deep cost: losing independent church leadership opportunities that existed throughout most of church history and strengthening a gender hierarchy that prioritized male careers.
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Women can lead!
- By Paul W Tromans on 04-21-25
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Nobody's Mother
- Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament
- By: Sandra L. Glahn
- Narrated by: Kim Niemi
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Some Christians think Paul's reference to "saved through childbearing" in 1 Timothy 2:15 means that women are slated primarily for delivering and raising children. Alternate readings, however, sometimes fail to build on the best historical and textual evidence. Sandra Glahn thinks that we have misunderstood Paul by misunderstanding the context to which he wrote. A key to reading and applying 1 Timothy, Glahn argues, lies in getting to know a mysterious figure who haunts the letter: the goddess Artemis.
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Long overdue from a first-rate female Evangelical scholar
- By Kraig McNutt on 10-06-24
By: Sandra L. Glahn
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Losing Our Religion
- An Altar Call for Evangelical America
- By: Russell Moore
- Narrated by: Russell Moore
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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American evangelical Christianity has lost its way. While the witness of the church before a watching world is diminished beyond recognition, congregations are torn apart over Donald Trump, Christian nationalism, racial injustice, sexual predation, disgraced leaders, and covered-up scandals. Left behind are millions of believers who counted on the church to be a place of belonging and hope. As greater and greater numbers of younger Americans bleed out from the church, even the most rooted evangelicals are wondering, “Can American Christianity survive?”
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A Prophetic Call to Renewal
- By Rachel Stanton on 07-26-23
By: Russell Moore
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Reading While Black
- African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope
- By: Esau McCaulley
- Narrated by: Esau McCaulley
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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At a time in which some within the African American community are questioning the place of the Christian faith in the struggle for justice, New Testament scholar McCaulley argues that reading Scripture from the perspective of Black church tradition is invaluable for connecting with a rich faith history and addressing the urgent issues of our times.
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Awesome!
- By Ashley Allen on 10-19-20
By: Esau McCaulley
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Reading Revelation Responsibly
- Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation
- By: Michael J. Gorman
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Reading Revelation Responsibly is for those who are confused by, afraid of, and or preoccupied with the book of Revelation. In rescuing the Apocalypse from those who either completely misinterpret it or completely ignore it, Michael Gorman has given us both a guide to reading Revelation in a responsible way and a theological engagement with the text itself. He takes interpreting the book as a serious and sacred responsibility, believing how one reads, teaches, and preaches Revelation can have a powerful impact on one's own—and other people's—well-being.
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Excellent
- By Anonymous User on 09-23-23
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The Lost World of Genesis One
- Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate
- By: John H. Walton
- Narrated by: Brian P. Craig
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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In this astute mix of cultural critique and biblical studies, John H. Walton presents and defends twenty propositions supporting a literary and theological understanding of Genesis 1 within the context of the ancient Near Eastern world and unpacks its implications for our modern scientific understanding of origins. Ideal for students, professors, pastors, and lay listeners with an interest in the intelligent design controversy and creation-evolution debates, Walton's thoughtful analysis unpacks seldom appreciated aspects of the biblical text and sets Bible-believing scientists free.
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Interesting Propositions
- By Allen on 01-10-25
By: John H. Walton
What listeners say about Strange Religion
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- David Vartanian
- 07-17-24
Nice overview of NT Spirituality
I would recommend this for anyone who wants an entry point into church history combined with an overview of the Christian worldview. Christianity was strange in the Roman Empire because Christians worshipped without idols, and minimized in radical ways established social hierarchies, and conceptualized religion as a transformative relationship with the divine, as opposed to Roman religio, which focused on appeasing the Gods though impersonal rituals. One of my favorite sections was the comparison between Saturnalia as pretend liberation of slaves and church fellowship as a practice of brotherhood between even masters and slaves. My only point of contention is the critique of Paul language against the Jewish opposition to the gospel. It fails to recognize that 1) Paul was Jewish and 2) viewed the hardening of Jewish society as temporary or non-permanent. Even though both pagans and non-believing Jews were enemies of the gospels, neither were beyond God’s grace. I think the concept of grace makes Christianity exceptional and could have been explored more. I look forward to digging deeper with the actual print copy. Audible is just my first pass-through.
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- David
- 06-13-24
Excellent Book for Understanding New Testament Contexts
This is an excellent book for understanding the context of the New Testament writers, specifically the Apostle Paul.
As one who is involved in leading "Footsteps of Paul" and "Churches of Revelation" trips across Greece and Turkey, I highly recommend this book for anyone engaging in these type of trips as it will create a great deal of depth to the experience of visiting these ancient ruins.
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- Lisa Mensinger
- 04-30-24
Modern analogies helped
Great research and easy to understand. Must read for seminary students. I like how he doesn’t go into deep dives and stays relevant with what he is teaching.
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- AKCH
- 04-06-24
Will definitely learn something
Remember what you learned about the Roman and Greek culture that directly influenced our Western democracies? Your teachers probably left out a lot. And maybe you thought the early Christians were a lot like today’s Christians, except more pure and perfect. Also, not accurate. This study looks at the true religious culture of the first century Roman Empire. They were not all stoics and certainly not atheists. They believed in hundreds of gods. The author describes the true nature of everyday Greco-Roman religion and then explains how weird and different the Christian faith would have seemed. It’s a fascinating story. Read by the author, who is an excellent narrator.
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- James
- 10-11-24
All Christians could benefit from this
This book was excellent at documenting what was going on in the first century between Christianity and other religions. It also shows how far we have come from the true faith.
But it does help us understand what we need
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- Travis M. Stockwell
- 03-24-24
misleading title
The title suggests that you're going to learn about the really strange things that early Christians actually did. My hope was that it would be somewhat scholarly. It ends up being a book that punches down on the strange Roman religion, and is dogmatic about Christianity. it treats Christianity as being consistent, sensible, and empirically true.
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- L. Quimby
- 11-15-24
It was ok
Not particularly well written. Sort of occupies a strange space between popular and academic but doesn’t fit either. Overall, good content with awkward delivery.
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