Bearing False Witness Read Online By Rodney Stark
| Title | : | Bearing False Witness |
| Author | : | Rodney Stark |
| Format | : | Hardcover |
| Page | : | 280 pages |
| ISBN | : | 1599474999 |
As we all know and as many of our well established textbooks have argued for decades, the Inquisition was one of the most frightening and bloody chapters in Western history, Pope Pius XII was anti Semitic and rightfully called Hitler s Pope, the Dark Ages were a stunting of the progress of knowledge to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment, and the As we all know and as many of our well established textbooks have argued for decades, the Inquisition was one of the most frightening and bloody chapters in Western history, Pope Pius XII was anti Semitic and rightfully called Hitler s Pope, the Dark Ages were a stunting of the progress of knowledge to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment, and the religious Crusades were an early example of the rapacious Western thirst for riches and power But what if these long held beliefs were all wrong In this stunning, powerful, and ultimately persuasive book, Rodney Stark, one of the most highly regarded sociologists of religion and bestselling author of The Rise of Christianity HarperSanFrancisco 1997 argues that some of our most firmly held ideas about history, ideas that paint the Catholic Church in the least positive light are, in fact, fiction Why have we held these wrongheaded ideas so strongly and for so long And if our beliefs are wrong, what, in fact, is the truth In each chapter, Stark takes on a well established anti Catholic myth, gives a fascinating history of how each myth became the conventional wisdom, and presents a startling picture of the real truth For example,Instead of the Spanish Inquisition being an anomaly of torture and murder of innocent people persecuted for imaginary crimes such as witchcraft and blasphemy, Stark argues that not only did the Spanish Inquisition spill very little blood, but it was a major force in support of moderation and justice.Instead of Pope Pius XII being apathetic or even helpful to the Nazi movement, such as to merit the title, Hitler s Pope, Stark shows that the campaign to link Pope Pius XII to Hitler was initiated by the Soviet Union, presumably in hopes of neutralizing the Vatican in post World War II affairs Pope Pius XII was widely praised for his vigorous and devoted efforts to saving Jewish lives during the war.Instead of the Dark Ages being understood as a millennium of ignorance and backwardness inspired by the Catholic Church s power, Stark argues that the whole notion of the Dark Ages was an act of pride perpetuated by anti religious intellectuals who were determined to claim that theirs was the era of Enlightenment In the end, readers will not only have a accurate history of the Catholic Church, they will come to understand why it became unfairly maligned for so long Bearing False Witness is a compelling and sobering account of how egotism and ideology often work together to give us a false truth
about Author
Rodney Stark grew up in Jamestown, North Dakota, and began his career as a newspaper reporter Following a tour of duty in the U.S Army, he received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, where he held appointments as a research sociologist at the Survey Research Center and at the Center for the Study of Law and Society He left Berkeley to become Professor of Sociology and of Compa Rodney Stark grew up in Jamestown, North Dakota, and began his career as a newspaper reporter Following a tour of duty in the U.S Army, he received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, where he held appointments as a research sociologist at the Survey Research Center and at the Center for the Study of Law and Society He left Berkeley to become Professor of Sociology and of Comparative Religion at the University of Washington In 2004 he joined the faculty of Baylor University He has published 30 books and than 140 scholarly articles on subjects as diverse as prejudice, crime, suicide, and city life in ancient Rome However, the greater part of his work has been on religion He is past president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and of the Association for the Sociology of Religion He also has won a number of national and international awards for distinguished scholarship Many of his books and articles have been translated and published in foreign languages, including Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Slovene, and Turkish 
The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries
God's Battalions: The Case for the Crusades
The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success
The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion
Title: Bearing False WitnessPosted by:
Published :2016-01-16T15:49+01:00
As we all know and as many of our well established textbooks have argued for decades, the Inquisition was one of the most frightening and bloody chapt
280 pagesRodney Stark
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