| Author/Contributor(s): | Stark, Rodney |
| Publisher: | HarperOne |
| Date: | 12/2/2008 |
| Binding: | Paperback |
| Condition: | NEW |
From Stone Age burials to classical pantheons and the great world faiths, a sweeping exploration of how humanity discovered God.
Winner of the 2008 Christianity Today Award of Merit in Theology/Ethics
The History of God
The volume investigates the early emergence of High Gods among nomadic bands and tracks how state-supported temple religions in Sumer and Egypt subsequently replaced them with elaborate polytheistic pantheons.
Drawing on archaeological evidence and historical texts, Stark explores the sudden sixth-century emergence of dualistic monotheism in Zoroastrianism and examines how competitive religious marketplaces in Rome and India energized devotion.
In Discovering God, award-winning sociologist Rodney Stark presents a monumental history of the origins of the great religions from the Stone Age to the Modern Age and wrestles with the central questions of religion and belief.
- Ancient Civilizations: Archaeological excavations across Mesopotamian ziggurats and the pyramids of Giza and Mesoamerica uncover how state-subsidized priesthoods maintained political power through monumental building and elaborate sacrifice.
- World Religions: Detailed comparative surveys trace how Eastern traditions evolved, contrasting Indian movements that sought release from rebirth with Chinese philosophical schools centered on ancestral veneration.
- Church History: Imperial records and demographic data illuminate how early Christian communities expanded across Greco-Roman cities by providing charitable care during urban plagues and welcoming female leadership.
- Philosophy and Theology: Intellectual history shows how the monotheistic premise of a rational, lawful Creator provided European thinkers with the foundational conviction necessary to develop modern natural science.
- Also by This Author: God's Battalions, The Rise of Christianity and Cities of God.