Author Topic: Book: "Pagans and Christians: in the mediterranean world"  (Read 1166 times)

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Offline JohnK

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Book: "Pagans and Christians: in the mediterranean world"
« on: April 23, 2016, 05:56:48 AM »
I am reading "Pagans and Christians: in the mediterranean world" by Robin Lane Fox, and just finished the chapter on pagans and their cities, that sketches out the civic life of later antiquity. It describes a cosmopolitan society with a multiplicity of gods and strong inequalities (reminding of many fantasy settings!) at the time when christianity rose.
Probably there are many game supplements out there to give a GM adventure ideas for a game influenced by such a period, but what's unique in that book is it's focus on the transition from an old religion to a new, and its description of important persons, places and ideas, which in their complex interaction ended on a historical change. Themes like the cult of the emperor and the lives of martyrs desribe an era of extreme events.
The clush of two different "lifestyles" is a pattern that easily I think adds drama on a campaign at a grand scale.
Also the writer remains as much as historically objective on a subject that still might stir up intense feelings.
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Offline Bruce

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Re: Book: "Pagans and Christians: in the mediterranean world"
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2016, 03:11:09 PM »
That sounds like an interesting book! I may have to look into it. I am a Christian myself and find it hard to read books that lean towards one side or another. I enjoy reading historical books that don't really offer an opinion but are more "objective" like you mention. I have read some books (or tried to read) on other religions that were written by Christian authors. I have also tried reading historical books about Christianity (or other religions) but are written by non Christians. They both have so many things that are inaccurate and tend to generalize, which I dislike very much. I know plenty of people generalize Christianity but that does not mean us Christians should do the same.
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Offline JohnK

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Re: Book: "Pagans and Christians: in the mediterranean world"
« Reply #2 on: April 24, 2016, 05:18:45 PM »
Yes, I have found the same problem of generalization in quiet enough books that I read ( and maybe that's why I tend to leave many of them aside now). But I still find a few interesting and stimulating texts from time to time, especially if the author can engage the historical and the philosophical/religious perspective of an era, which is a challenge by itself. I always found very boring the overemphasizing on the economic factors that can produce social changes, overemphasizing which characterizes I think most of today's attempts to analyze a society, a quiet materialistic viewpoint.
But what about the ideas (or even myths) of a society, especially of the premodern societies? This can be an at least equally fruitful way of writing about a historical period, and getting of course a more truthfull glimpse of its worldview.
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