A great conversation starter with plenty of room for more research and elaboration.
Boin (Ancient and Late Antique Mediterranean History/Saint Louis Univ.; Ostia in Late Antiquity, 2013) puts forth a different perception of early Roman Christians and their effects on the empire.
Whereas Edward Gibbon and many scholars after him have concluded or assumed that the fall of Rome came about due to Christian influence and intolerance, Boin posits that there is little truth in that finding. Whereas many view Christianity as toppling old religions in Rome in the wake of Constantine’s conversion, the author argues that the empire remained religiously diverse for many years after that event. In this brief volume, Boin especially focuses on the Christians who lived seemingly uneventful lives, separating their faith practices from life within an emperor-focused, polytheistic society. These people may not have ended up in history books, but they did drive the normalization of Christianity in the Mediterranean basin. “By virtue of their creative resilience, not their zealotry,” writes the author, “they accomplished the most fundamental thing of all: they taught their Roman friends and neighbors to see Christians in a less threatening light.” Boin hopes to convince readers that Christian persecution was sporadic and in many ways restrained by Roman standards. Furthermore, when Constantine entered the church, the effect on Christianity may have been profound, but the effect on the empire was negligible. The author provides some thought-provoking points and successfully begins a dialogue with conventional wisdom on this subject. However, considering the breadth of his subject matter—spanning four centuries, the length of an empire and every socioeconomic class—it would be prudent for Boin to embark upon a lengthier, more scholarly treatment of his thesis. Attempting to tie his arguments in with current events—such as the selection of the current pope—the author fumbles, but overall, the book is accessible and intriguing.
A great conversation starter with plenty of room for more research and elaboration.Pub Date: March 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-1620403174
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
Eve’s story is given the respect it deserves, though her case could use a stronger context.
Biblical gender roles are shaken up in the Garden of Eden.
The story of Adam and Eve is one of the most famous in the Bible. As it goes, the couple could have anything they wanted from the garden, with the exception of the forbidden fruit. But Eve was tempted by a serpent, and she gave the fruit to Adam. They ate it and were banished from the Garden of Eden forever. Much has been made about the role of Eve, the “woman” as temptress who led Adam to sin. However, Davidson delves into this biblical tale with a different tack. Through breaking down words, phrases and scripture in the Bible she sets to prove that Eve is actually the righteous character in this story and that Adam’s role needs revisiting. The author closely looks at names in scripture and what they mean. Adam is “a man or person of low degree, [a] common sort or hypocrite.” Eve is a life giver, or a person who declares or shows life. Parsing out Genesis 2:23, she notes that Adam chose to reject his name and proudly declare himself as “Man” instead, which, in this context has both negative and positive connotations, writes Davidson. Also, Adam chose a life without God, and, as a result, shows defiant qualities–he’s not the one corrupted, as many Bible stories focus on. The question remains: How much of Eve’s victimhood is factual and how much is myth told through a misogynistic culture? If the author could investigate this more deeply, she could make a real case for Eve’s role. However, though Davidson’s intentions are good, the book is often repetitive and could use more cited sources. Referencing texts other than the Bible might flesh out this tale too. But the spirit behind the book is powerful and reminds readers that famous biblical stories often need to be re-examined.
Eve’s story is given the respect it deserves, though her case could use a stronger context.Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4392-2318-5
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Well-crafted and thought-provoking.
Intriguing examination of the life-and-death difference between morality and ethics.
Gustafson contends that readers will be used to thinking of the terms “morality” and “ethics” as largely interchangeable. At the very least, most see both terms in a positive light. The author argues, however, that morality has been a misused and deadly social construct throughout the ages. “Morality and ethics differ,” says the author, “because morality supports civilization and ethics supports life.” Morality, according to Gustafson, is a civilization’s way of determining good and evil. Since morality changes from one civilization to another (and differs within civilizations), it is subject to abuse. Morality, he explains further, supports the “dominator system,” whereby everyone and everything is rated and valued according to a civilization’s arbitrary sense of good and bad. Hence “morality,” as the differentiation between good and evil, has been used throughout the centuries to condone everything from slavery, to racism in America, to the Nazi campaign against the Jews. Quite the contrary, writes Gustafson–ethics supports not a particular civilization, but life itself. Mercy and humility are examples of ethical behavior and thinking, which seek to serve those marginalized by society. The author points toward Native-American cultures as examples of ethical ones, in that they served the community as a whole as well as the natural world. Moreover, he holds up Jesus Christ as a foremost exemplar of ethics–“Jesus was not moral. He was ethical...because he rejected morality’s death-dealing function and supported life instead.” Overall, the book is well-written and pulls in a wide array of authors and thinkers. Gustafson’s work is not meant to be a treatise countering every argument, but instead introduces the concept of this morality-ethics dichotomy. In the end the author calls upon readers to be aware of the dominator system they live in, and how morality is used to support it, not life.
Well-crafted and thought-provoking.Pub Date: July 31, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-7414-5404-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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