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Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years
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$ 35.10
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$ 45.00 |
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$ 9.90 (22%) |
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| Item Number |
1430999 |
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Item Description...
Overview
We live in a time of tremendous religious awareness, when both believers and non-believers are deeply engaged by questions of religion and tradition. This ambitious book ranges back to the origins of the Hebrew Bible and covers the world, following the three main strands of the Christian faith, to teach modern readers how Jesus' message spread and how the New Testament was formed. We follow the Christian story to all corners of the globe, filling in often neglected accounts of conversions and confrontations in Africa and Asia. And we discover the roots of the faith that galvanized America, charting the rise of the evangelical movement from its origins in Germany and England. We meet monks and crusaders, heretics and saints, slave traders and abolitionists, and discover Christianity's essential role in driving the Enlightenment and the Age of Exploration, and shaping the course of World Wars I and II.--From publisher description.
Publishers Description
The National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of The Reformation returns with the definitive history of Christianity for our time
Once in a generation a historian will redefine his field, producing a book that demands to be read-a product of electrifying scholarship conveyed with commanding skill. Diarmaid MacCulloch's Christianity is such a book. Breathtaking in ambition, it ranges back to the origins of the Hebrew Bible and covers the world, following the three main strands of the Christian faith.
Christianity will teach modern readers things that have been lost in time about how Jesus' message spread and how the New Testament was formed. We follow the Christian story to all corners of the globe, filling in often neglected accounts of conversions and confrontations in Africa and Asia. And we discover the roots of the faith that galvanized America, charting the rise of the evangelical movement from its origins in Germany and England. This book encompasses all of intellectual history-we meet monks and crusaders, heretics and saints, slave traders and abolitionists, and discover Christianity's essential role in driving the enlightenment and the age of exploration, and shaping the course of World War I and World War II.
We are living in a time of tremendous religious awareness, when both believers and non-believers are deeply engaged by questions of religion and tradition, seeking to understand the violence sometimes perpetrated in the name of God. The son of an Anglican clergyman, MacCulloch writes with deep feeling about faith. His last book, The Reformation, was chosen by dozens of publications as Best Book of the Year and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. This awe-inspiring follow-up is a landmark new history of the faith that continues to shape the world.
At GoodNews Christian Bookstore, we have possibly the lowest prices anywhere! Discount on books and bibles is 25%. Checkout our church supplies page! We are cheaper than Lifeway and Family Christian. Shop with confidence! Blessings, Bill |
Item Specifications...
Pages 1184
Dimensions: Length: 2.75" Width: 6.5" Height: 10"
Weight: 3.6 lbs.
Binding Hardcover
Release Date Feb 1, 2010
Publisher Viking Adult
ISBN 0670021261
EAN 9780670021260
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Availability 5 units.
Availability accurate as of May 25, 2012 01:39.
Usually ships within one to two business days from Commerce GA.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | Encyclopedic and insightful May 31, 2010 |
If you are in the market for a comprehensive 1000 page overview of the history of Christianity this is the one. Diarmaid MacCulloch has written a masterful synthesis. He covers all that one might reasonably expect in such a volume -- moving from ancient Greece, Rome, and Israel up to the contemporary culture wars, including the Orthodox East as well as the Latin West. He transitions seamlessly from topic to topic and is almost never merely superficial. He successfully balances the need to relate relevant details with the virtue of concision. His interpretations are often stimulating and characteristically judicious.
The book either can be read profitably straight-through (for those with strong attention spans) or used a reference source as the occasion arises. It helpfully contains extensive source endnotes, suggestions for further reading, and an index, plus page references for inter-related topics are noted parenthetically throughout the text.
That the development of Christianity might be treated historically at all may seem heretical to some. History seldom consistently comforts belief. MacCulloch points out, for example, that right off the bat "one of the greatest turning points in the Christian story" may have been that the last days, as apparently expected by many early followers of the movement, had not arrived by the end of the first century CE.
He emphasizes that certain major historical outcomes were contingent, not inevitable. For example, the victories of Christian over Islamic forces in 678 at Constantinople and in 732-33 near Poitiers helped shield the West from Islam and "preserved a Europe in which Christianity remained dominant, and as a result the centre of energy and unfettered development shifted west from its old Eastern centres." Later, he believes, the Church's response to Luther was unnecessarily heavy-handed, further dramatically re-shaping the West (not surprisingly, he is especially strong on the Reformation, the subject of his earlier well-received major work).
MacCulloch does not shy away from lofty theology, often a turn-off to some readers of religious histories. Indeed, he seeks to demonstrate how seemingly rarified theological controversies have sometimes stirred the masses. He provides ample discussion of the doctrine of the Trinity, the Chalcedonian controversy, disputes regarding the Eucharist, and the like, but never to the point of tedium.
He traces how theological emphases shifted over time, including the emergence of elements of Christian belief that had little or no Biblical foundation. For instance, he calls the concept of Purgatory, which had taken root by the 1170s, "one of the most successful and long-lasting theological ideas in the Western church. It bred an intricate industry of prayer: a whole range of institutions and endowments," financing priests to devote their time to saving souls.
MacCulloch attends to Christianity's engagements with worldly power and with political and societal issues. He provides plentiful material for readers to construct their own balance sheets of where Christians have stood through history regarding, for example, the roles of women, slavery and race, war and violence, concerns for the poor and the oppressed, religious tolerance, and (more recently) Fascism and Nazism.
MacCulloch points out that "doubt is fundamental to religion. One human sees holiness in someone, something, somewhere: where is the proof to others?" He notes, for instance, that while the nineteenth century is typically seen as a period of skepticism, it was a period "crowded with visionaries both Catholic and Protestant" when Christianity ambitiously spread its global reach.
Christianity has never been uniform. Its ability to mutate is one of its great strengths, particularly its ability to accommodate syncretist variations in non-European cultures. MacCulloch concludes with the observation that, "It would be very surprising if this religion, so youthful, yet so varied in its historical experience, had now revealed all its secrets." | | |  | Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years May 31, 2010 |
Had to have it just by the title~and
the heard-segment on it on NPR.
As received, a quick scan reveals what
appears to to be a full treatment of
the three thousand years as advertized.
So, it goes on my reference-book shelf
to consult on specific time-periods and
events within.
A front to back reading
will have to wait until I am bed-fast,
if ever, but I am glad to have such a
tome at hand. Price as "used" was a
plus. | | | | Acceptable overview May 15, 2010 |
| Given the author's academic pedigree and the pre-press reviews, I must say I'm mildly disappointed. There is little here that any educated person with more than a passing interest in the topic wouldn't be familiar with, though many will welcome the sections on Orthodoxy. Some too will find MacCulloch's inability to mask his distaste for Roman Catholicism to be both mildly irritating and a source of concern regarding his general level of objectivity... I won't read it twice. | | | | A lot of information in a very clear presentation May 14, 2010 |
| I plunged into this massive volume with fear and trepidation. But reviews I had read were accurate - it IS well constructed and clear. Having a keen interest in the history of Christianity, though premarily the early centuries of the faith, I found this a perfect, thorough but not too technical, review of the entire tradition. I'd recommend it to anyone who wonders how we got to today's various churches from the original handful of followers of a charismatic peasant from Nazareth. The author knows his stuff, and presents it with an openminded, and often gently humorous, touch. Expect to digest it a little at a time, but to finish the book satisfied. | | | | History of Christianity skilfully unraveled in readable masterpiece May 11, 2010 |
I bought McCullogh's extensive work after watching the BBC series 'History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years', presented by McCullogh. The book was written while the program was recorded. Just like the series, the book covers the history of Christianity worldwide and from its very beginnings, including an educated guess about the future of this faith (as the subtitle suggests). The book has several sections with beautiful illustrations and even a cover that continues to look great in my living room.
The book is both comprehensive and comprehendible, although it helps to have a little background in Christian history. With a lot of subtle humour and a great deal of knowledge and insight, McCullogh unravels many, many interesting aspects of this world faith. Parts of the book tend to be enumerations of complicated theological debates, but generally, McCullogh puts these dry bits in their historical context to put things in perspective. The author's excellent writing skills will also help readers to grasp most of the book in one reading. The book contains many details, so it is a very useful reference work with an extensive index. On the other hand, because of its readability, it is also very inviting to be read entirely. The book also contains useful suggestions for further reading.
The author is a historian and calls himself 'a candid friend of Christianity'. This background influences the way in which he renders Church and Biblical history. After a careful introduction of his views, McCullogh critically evaluates the historical credibility of the Bible as we know it by using scientific standards. He respectfully acknowledges that it is not possible to make any scientific claims about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which therefore remains a matter of faith. | | | Write your own review about Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years
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