Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clearly Written, Well-Organized Presentation of a Fascinating Topic, December 20, 2006
This review is from: Religion in the Roman Empire (Blackwell Ancient Religions) (Paperback)
This fascinating, well-written book provides a clear, and at times lively, introduction/overview of religion in the Roman Empire from Caesar to Constantine. James Rives walks the reader through the variety of beliefs/worship practices from North Africa to Britain, explores the ways in which local deities and practices travelled through the empire and how Roman deities were thought to interact with them, explains the differences among practice, myth, belief and art, and considers Roman imperial attitudes toward the multiplicity of religions under its rule. He does such a smooth job of organizing that it feels as if the information naturally falls into the categories he provides, and while this certainly isn't pop history it is very clearly written, with no jargon, and with interesting details and accounts of people's interactions with their gods/goddesses/lares/sacred sites. He concludes with an account of early Christianity that is remarkably unbiased--this is not a triumphal narrative of the rise of monotheism by any means--and he leaves the reader to consider what was lost, and what has been misunderstood, about a world where caves, groves and rivers were places where anyone could pause and talk to the sacred without intermediary. He also provides an excellent glossary of assorted deities and a very complete bibliography, as well as annotated bib. notes at the end of each chapter for further reading. I'd recommend this to anyone with an interest in the subject; as said, it's not a pop history, but certainly accessible to the educated lay reader (it reminded me a bit of Reuther's Goddesses and the Divine Feminine in terms of readibility/historically informed assessment of non-monotheist religion, and might appeal to anyone who enjoyed that book).
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A nicely presented introduction to religion in the Roman Empire, January 8, 2008
This review is from: Religion in the Roman Empire (Blackwell Ancient Religions) (Paperback)
Religion in the Roman Empire by James B. Rives allows readers to glimpse the colorful menagerie of the various beliefs that saturated the lands of the Caesars. Rives is well-organized and clear in his presentation, all the while covering large swaths of the Empire, from North Africa to Gaul and everywhere in between. He begins rightly by creating the context with which to study ancient polytheism, that is, to leave our modern pretensions about religion and piety out of the academic arena, and meet the Ancient Romans on their own terms and by their own definitions. The rest of the work does great justice to this view as Rives approaches each subject with respect and objectivity. He covers the basics: the views of the divine and their relationship with mortals, the imperial and mystery cults, the mobility and inclusion of foreign gods, Roman religious policy, and finally, the dominance of Christianity. This last subject is not seen with bias but is also considered on its own terms with some insightful suggestions by Rives.
This book being an introduction that covers such a huge array of material, no single item is given great detail. However, what it lacks in detail it provides in perspective and equips the reader well for further study.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well written, open-ended exploration of Roman religion, June 24, 2010
This review is from: Religion in the Roman Empire (Blackwell Ancient Religions) (Paperback)
This book is no ordinary introduction to the study of Roman religion. Instead James Rives takes the approach of presenting problems to the study of the topic, plus apparent differences to modern approaches to religion. Often he will present conflicting schools of thought as a way of setting the reader off on a quest to find the truth.
Additionally, chapter 2 in this book is quite valuable for the information it presents on outlines of various known religious traditions in various areas of the Roman Empire. This chapter makes it possible for people to begin to ascertain the Semitic influence on Anatolia, for example, or the overall theological structure of non-Jewish Semitic cultures within the Roman Empire. This itself provides a window into comparative religion that I haven't finished digesting yet.
The book is otherwise organized into chapters discussing various challenges, problems, or topics concerning Roman religion. Each chapter largely stands on it's own, and what cross-referencing does occur does not necessarily follow a linear form. This is refreshing because one is left with a sense that this is an incomplete study which seeks to help define some approaches rather than put the author's understanding forward was the single, correct viewpoint.
Finally I'd note that there were many times when the author suggested that specific practices might be seen as unusual or strange today and I could immediately think of close modern equivalents. I think the author's view here is that these equivalents are somehow less religious but I'm not quite so sure. At any rate, if one thing could be added, it would be a chapter on the the problem that such continuities pose to the study of the topic.
All in all, this is a very well done book and I'd highly recommend it.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
