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A History Of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (2009)

by Diarmaid MacCulloch(Favorite Author)

4.07 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0713998695 (ISBN13: 9780713998696)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Allen Lane

review 1: A broad history - as anything of such title must be - MacCulloch still addresses major themes. Separations between churches, theological arguments that recur, questions of authority, leadership, freedom, and equality, and where wrong-doing has been in the name of faithfulness are all pursued. A great storyteller, MacCulloch makes these issues, which can often be so very difficult to understand, comprehensible and lively, so that the reader knows why they mattered and may still matter. This is a fine text for serious lay religious education, something that would make for a year-long course of study. Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists will be pleased to know something of their history is included (a rare occurrence in such broad histories).
review 2: This boo... morek is a real tour de force. It requires real discipline to go through it, as it is not an easy read. The breadth of material that he has covered is stupendous. This is not an easy history, and is quite complex. The focus of the book is very much centered around the developments in the West,with not too much mention of the developments in Africa and Asia. Personally, I can live with this, as I see Christianity as a Western religion. The manner in which he has laid out the chapters is marvelous, and I think that he has, by and large, managed to keep a rather neutral tone through the book. This is really good, and is not easy to do. The amount of material that he covers, and the amount of material that the reader has to cover is tremendous. While I read the book rather slowly, the sheer amount of material, and the complexity of the movement of Christianity did sometimes leave me a bit bemused as to what was happening. However, this is a really good read. I was not aware of the strong Greek influence on early Christianity, and this came as a surprise. Hence, the first 3,000 years.There is a decline in church going in Europe, and I wonder what he feels about the future of the Church. This has not been covered and could be the subject of a next book. less

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