Nell?antichità fra i cristiani ci si appellava al peccato per spiegare una quantità incredibile di problematiche, dalla morte del figlio di Dio alla politica dell?impero romano che ne celebrava il culto, all'ordinamento del cosmo. Chi si salvava dal peccato e come? ma, soprattutto, l?idea che si aveva del peccato potrebbe dire qualcosa dell?idea di genere umano e di Dio che vi corrispondeva? Nel suo studio Paula Fredriksen racconta la storia sorprendente delle concezioni cristiane antiche e più antiche di peccato, illustrando i diversi modi in cui l?idea di peccato non ha mai mancato di adeguarsi alla diversità dei tempi storici: al pari di qualsiasi produzione umana, le idee di peccato sono creazioni culturali.

Ancient Christians invoked sin to account for an astonishing range of things, from the death of God's son to the politics of the Roman Empire that worshipped him. In this book, award-winning historian of religion Paula Fredriksen tells the surprising story of early Christian concepts of sin, exploring the ways that sin came to shape ideas about God no less than about humanity.

Long before Christianity, of course, cultures had articulated the idea that human wrongdoing violated relations with the divine. But Sin tells how, in the fevered atmosphere of the four centuries between Jesus and Augustine, singular new Christian ideas about sin emerged in rapid and vigorous variety, including the momentous shift from the belief that sin is something one does to something that one is born into. As the original defining circumstances of their movement quickly collapsed, early Christians were left to debate the causes, manifestations, and remedies of sin. This is a powerful and original account of the early history of an idea that has centrally shaped Christianity and left a deep impression on the secular world as well.

Ancient Christians invoked sin to account for an astonishing range of things, from the death of God's son to the politics of the Roman Empire that worshipped him. In this book, award-winning historian of religion Paula Fredriksen tells the surprising story of early Christian concepts of sin, exploring the ways that sin came to shape ideas about God no less than about humanity.

Long before Christianity, of course, cultures had articulated the idea that human wrongdoing violated relations with the divine. But Sin tells how, in the fevered atmosphere of the four centuries between Jesus and Augustine, singular new Christian ideas about sin emerged in rapid and vigorous variety, including the momentous shift from the belief that sin is something one does to something that one is born into. As the original defining circumstances of their movement quickly collapsed, early Christians were left to debate the causes, manifestations, and remedies of sin. This is a powerful and original account of the early history of an idea that has centrally shaped Christianity and left a deep impression on the secular world as well.

This provocative book traces the social and intellectual forces that led to the development of Christian anti-Judaism and shows how and why Augustine challenged this toxic tradition.

In Augustine and the Jews, Paula Fredriksen draws us into the life, times, and thought of Augustine of Hippo (396–430). Focusing on the period of astounding creativity that led to his new understanding of Paul and to his great classic The Confessions, Fredriksen shows how Augustine's struggle to read the Bible led him to a new theological vision, one that countered the anti-Judaism not only of his Manichaean opponents but also of his own church. The Christian empire, Augustine held, was right to ban paganism and to coerce heretics. But the source of ancient Jewish scripture and current Jewish practice, he argued, was the very same as that of the New Testament and of the church—namely, God himself. Accordingly, he urged, the Jews were to be left alone. Conceived as a vividly original way to defend Christian ideas about Jesus and about the Old Testament, Augustine's theological innovation survived the demise of the western Roman Empire, and it ultimately served to protect Jewish lives against the brutality of the medieval crusades.

Augustine and the Jewssheds new light on the origins of anti-Semitism and, through Augustine, opens a path toward better understanding between two of the world's great religions.

The Passion of the Christ, directed by Mel Gibson, was a commercial success of astonishing proportions, ranking as one of the highest grossing films of all time. It also unleashed a torrent of controversy and debate, provoking passionate responses, both negative and positive, from people of widely divergent backgrounds and beliefs. Exposing fundamental differences of opinion about everything from the historical reliability of gospel stories to the political power of Hollywood, the film continues to stir up accusations of anti-Semitism, gratuitous violence, and gross misrepresentation of the Bible. This book--whose contributors include theologians, journalists, academics, and clergy from Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish traditions--provides a wide spectrum of views and backgrounds. The essays consider the historical and ethical conundrums presented by the New Testament in general and by The Passion of the Christ in particular. The contributors' discussions range from the film's theological and historical underpinnings, to its cinematic and cultural implications, to the issues surrounding the millennia-long question 'Who really killed Jesus?'

Paula Fredriksen, renowned historian and author of From Christ to Jesus, begins this inquiry into the historic Jesus with a fact that may be the only undisputed thing we know about him: his crucifixion.

Rome reserved this means of execution particularly for political insurrectionists; and the Roman charge posted at the head of the cross indicted Jesus for claiming to be King of the Jews. To reconstruct the Jesus who provoked this punishment, Fredriksen takes us into the religious worlds, Jewish and pagan, of Mediterranean antiquity, through the labyrinth of Galilean and Judean politics, and on into the ancient narratives of Paul's letters, the gospels, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Josephus' histories. The result is a profound contribution both to our understanding of the social and religious contexts within which Jesus of Nazareth moved, and to our appreciation of the mission and message that ended in the proclamation of Jesus as Messiah.