Why has human history unfolded so differently across the globe? And what can it teach us about our current crisis?
Jared Diamond puts the case that geography and biogeography, not race, moulded the contrasting fates of Europeans, Asians, Native Americans, sub-Saharan Africans, and aboriginal Australians.
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Now in a revised edition with a new afterword, Jared Diamond’s Collapse uncovers the secret behind why some societies flourish, while others founder – and what this means for our future.
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The original gospel proclamation that the Lord of the nations was a crucified Galilean raised from the dead and that salvation was found in vowing allegiance to Jesus of Nazareth unleashed a shock wave that turned the Roman Empire upside down. Early Christianity was subversive and dangerous—dangerous for Christians and a threat to the keepers of the old order. Most of all Christianity was countercultural. But what about contemporary American Christianity? Is it the countercultural way of Jesus or merely a religious endorsement of Americanism?
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Jesus lived and died at a critical period in the development of the Roman Empire. He spoke from the point of view of those who lost out under empire, exposing the underlying institutional violence that was held in check by the ‘scapegoating’ mechanism. And it was the Roman Empire that executed him, recognizing the danger of his subversive message.
We still live in an age of empire, so Jesus’ message remains counter-cultural in today’s world. That is why the Book of Revelation, written to urge the early Christian communities in the Roman province of Asia (modern Turkey) not to succumb either to the fear of reprisals or the seductive charm of commerce, has great relevance to all followers of Jesus today.
This eight-part course explores different aspects of this most challenging of all the books of the New Testament in terms that are relevant to life in the early twenty first century.
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