Let me say at the outset that I try to be a rationalist and am an atheist. I came to this book looking to understand Christianity, which like any other religion inspires in me a quiet unease, given its reliance on faith in the supernatural rather than seeking a rational understanding of our world. I have found that although called a religion 'of the Book', Christianity cannot be understood by reading the Bible alone (as I have), because that tells you nothing about its evolution or how it is actually practiced in the world today... or about the concerns and issues that face its adherents.
To say I'm happy I read it is an understatement. It is a slog, being of a size normally reserved for the door-blocks belted out by authors of high fantasy. It took me (a reasonably fast reader) over three months to read properly. I took plenty of breaks for long trawls on Wikipedia, when persons or subjects explored in the book caught my fancy though.
The style of the book is lucid yet academical. While it reads more like a story than a textbook of history, there are copious footnotes that make up nearly half the volume of the Kindle edition I read. There is also a well curated selection of photographs/ plates that add to the reading experience. I mean it as a compliment when I say that while reading it I wasn't sure if the author was himself a believer or not because he's found the right mix of passionate story-telling, dispassionate description, and at a times, tongue in cheek jibing.
As the sub-title suggests, this covers about 3000 years of history from the pre-Christian era to the final chapter that looks at the period from the 1960s to the George W Bush presidency in the US. That is a vast span, which the book nimbly covers.
It starts in the pre-Christian era, and describes the Greek (and Roman) influences alongside the Jewish heritage that went into the melting pot of ideas that was the early Christian Church. Without dwelling too much on the historicity of the life of Jesus, it covers what few facts of his life are known, and moves on swiftly to matters of doctrine and creed and dogma. It lays before you an array of beliefs - sects, prophets, heresies, ideas come and go and Christianity swiftly evolves into several branches - the 'Catholic', the Orthodox, and eventually the smorgasbord of Protestant faiths.
To my delight as a etymology fan, along the way it shows the origin of such words as "Presbyterian" (from the Greek presbytoros or elder) "Episcopal" (from the Greek episkopos or overseer). It also delighted me as a trivia fan by revealing quirky things like the "Jesus Messiah Sutra", authored in the local sutra style by some of the first missionaries in China.
There were a lot of surprises for me as I read through the book, the sutra being just an oddity. The presentation of Rome, Istanbul, and Moscow as the three centers of Christianity one after the other was a surprise, as was the overall history of the Orthodox Churches of the East, and of such other lesser known (to me) churches such as the Bulgarian. Each variant (from the earliest schisms at the Council of Chalcedon to the modern phenomenon that is Mormonism) finds mention and some explication in this book; no mean feat in itself.
My only complaint was that this book did not spend more time discussing the 20th and 21st century. Although it mentions or name-drops every 'hot topic' I had expected to find mentioned - be it the abuse of children by priests, or the Evangelical interest in the Israel/ Palestine issue - I found myself wanting more discussion and elaboration on some of the points. That said, I do understand that in a work that covers 3000 years of history, such a focus might be puzzling, even off-putting to some.
I think this is a must read for anyone interested in history or religion. It is one of those books that informs and changes your world-view. I have more respect for some aspects of Christianity after reading it, but reading the long and blood-soaked history, when so much of the blood was shed on what seem to me inane questions, was depressing. My exhilaration at learning so much was therefore tempered. So what if the author closes on a hopeful note?
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Reviews with images
The book is in bad shape.
After the book was cataloged and made shelf ready, the pages started falling out. The paperback copy we received is not put together well at all. I would like to return it, but it has been too long. No one has had a chance to even check it out.
Top reviews from other countries
Perry Anderson
A non-partisan well researched review of the first three thousand years of Christianity.
Reviewed in Canada on December 24, 2022
Kindle Customerls.l.s.botero
Well documented and thorough account
Reviewed in Germany on September 7, 2016