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A century of miracles : Christians, pagans, Jews, and the supernatural, 312-410 / H.A. Drake.
Author
Drake, H. A. (Harold Allen), 1942-
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Format
Book
Language
English
Published/Created
New York, NY, United States of America : Oxford University Press, [2017]
Description
xvi, 312 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm
Availability
Copies in the Library
Location
Call Number
Status
Location Service
Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks
BR180 .D73 2017
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Details
Subject(s)
Church history
—
4th century
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Christianity
—
Influence
[Browse]
Religions
—
History
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Miracles
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Supernatural
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Constantine I Emperor of Rome -337
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Summary note
"Traditionally, in the year 312, the Roman emperor Constantine experienced a "vision of the Cross" that led him to convert to Christianity and to defeat his last rival to the imperial throne; and, in 394, a divine wind carried the emperor Theodosius to victory at the battle of the Frigidus River. Other stories heralded the discovery of the True Cross by Constantine's mother, Helena, and the rise of a new kind of miracle-maker in the deserts of Egypt and Syria. These miracle stories helped Christians understand the dizzying changes in their fortunes during the century. They also shed light on Christianity's conflict with other faiths and the darker turn it took in subsequent ages. In A Century of Miracles, historian H.A. Drake explores the role miracle stories played in helping Christians, pagans, and Jews think about themselves and each other. These stories, he concludes, bolstered Christian belief that their god wanted the empire to be Christian. Most importantly, they help explain how, after a century of trumpeting the power of their god, Christians were able to deal with their failure to protect the city of Rome from a barbarian sack by the Gothic army of Alaric in 410. Augustine's magnificent City of God eventually established a new theoretical basis for success, but in the meantime the popularity of miracle stories reassured the faithful -- even when the miracles came to an end. A Century of Miracles provides an absorbing illumination of the pivotal fourth century as seen through the prism of a complex and decidedly mystical phenomenon"--Jacket flaps.
Bibliographic references
Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-305) and index.
Contents
Historians and the miraculous
Theodosius's miracle
Constantine's miracle
Miracle doctors
The miracle of the cross
Jews in miracles
Miracle in the desert
Miracles on trial
Failed miracles
Alaric, Augustine, and the end of a century of miracles
Epilogue: the story of Titus.
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ISBN
9780199367412 ((hardcover))
0199367418 ((hardcover))
9780197541388 ((paperback))
0197541380
LCCN
2017010324
OCLC
975367721
Other standard number
40027434189
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