Beyond belief [[electronic resource] ] : two thousand years of bad faith in the Christian church / / James McDonald

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910458821003321
• Autore: McDonald James
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Reading, : Garnet Publishing, 2010
• ISBN: 0-86372-523-6; 1-282-91640-8; 9786612916403; 0-86372-381-0
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (513 p.)
• Disciplina: 270
• Soggetti: Christian life; Church history; Electronic books.
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover; Contents; Acknowledgements; Introduction; A Note on Scope and Sources; 1 The Reliability of Christian Authorities; The Old Testament; The New Testament; Other Sources; Summary; 2 The Development of Christianity; What Did Jesus Believe Himself To Be?; Who Founded Christianity?; How Old are Christian Doctrines and Where Did They Come From?; Where Did Other Christian Ideas and Practices Come From?; Is There Such a Thing as Orthodox Christianity?; How Did The Priesthood Arise?; 3 Facts and Fictions; Manipulation of the Facts; Method 1: Suppress Inconvenient Evidence; Method 2: Select Sources and Arguments Method 3: Fabricate Records; Method 4: The Retrospective Prophecy; Method 5: Attribute Ambiguous Authority to the Old Testament; Method 6: Ignore or Distort New Testament Injunctions and Examples; Method 7: Invent, Amend and Discard Teachings and Practices; Method 8: Manipulate Language; Case Study A: Re-branding a Sky God; Case Study B: Making One God Out of Many; Case Study C: How the Virgin Mary Stays a Virgin; Case Study D: How the Nativity Story Was Created; Case Study E: Textual Problems; Summary; 4 Science and Christianity; Traditional Christian Battlegrounds Recent Christian Battlegrounds; 5 Religion Today and Tomorrow; Religious Discrimination; Christian Discrimination; Moral Dangers of Religion; Continued Abuse of Power; Present Dangers; Appendices; Appendix A: Jesus' Family; Appendix B: The Apostles; Appendix C: Postburial Events; Bibliography; Index
• Sommario/riassunto: Starting from a neutral position, this book looks at claims made by Christian leaders over the centuries and analyses them in the light of modern scholarship. Erudite yet mischievous, the book''s scope is wide, from early history to the present day, from America to China, and spanning many different disciplines. Many of the conclusions reached will shock devout believers, though all of them can be verified with reference to sympathetic works by biblical scholars and theologians. A recurring theme is that of open secrets - facts well known to historians and other academics in the Church,