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A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years
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The 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. Ambitious, it ranges back to the origins of the Hebrew
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Hardcover, 1016 pages
Published
May 5th 2010
by Allen Lane
(first published October 1st 2009)
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Start your review of A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years
‘What religion am I?’ asks Homer Simpson in one episode of his family's eponymous cartoon. ‘I'm the one with all the well-meaning rules that don't work out in real life…uh…Christianity.’ One of the many pleasures in Diarmaid MacCulloch's amazingly comprehensive book is getting a handle on what historical basis there is for the rules and doctrines of this prolific and mercurial religion, which nowadays seems characterized by extreme reactions of either perfect secular indifference or increasingly
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This book should have been called Christianity: A Speculative History from a Somewhat Antagonistic Viewpoint. I only read the first 150 pages, plenty far enough to understand how MacCulloch feels about Christianity. Most of the book is, by nature, extrapolation based on a very fragmented set of documents and conflicting histories, but MacCulloch is always overanxious to undermine Christianity by taking huge leaps of speculation and is never, at least that I saw in the first 150 pages, willing to
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It took three library renewals to get through this book (and thanks to an ice storm, the fifth this year!, I still owe the library a one day fine, a whole nickel that they thank you for and dump in a desk drawer with a bunch of rubber bands, and I love living in the country and having that library), and then work kind of slammed me a little, so it’s just been sitting there languishing on my currently-reading shelf for two weeks. And in all that time I still haven’t come up with something deeply
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This is a monumental piece of work by an erudite scholar. It covers the whole range of Christian history from its roots in Judaism to modern day.
As a starting point it delves into the Old Testament contrasting it's God jehovah -a jealous and vengeful God - with the loving God that sacrifices his son in the New Testament.
It shows the rise of Christianity from an obscure Jewish sect, through the rebranding by St Paul, and on to an established state religion. It is a truly astonishing journey. ...more
As a starting point it delves into the Old Testament contrasting it's God jehovah -a jealous and vengeful God - with the loving God that sacrifices his son in the New Testament.
It shows the rise of Christianity from an obscure Jewish sect, through the rebranding by St Paul, and on to an established state religion. It is a truly astonishing journey. ...more
This book is seriously insane! I'm only halfway through and we've already covered: Rome, early popes, African christians, the Orthodox Church, the beginnings of various brotherhoods and convents, ways to pray, Constantine, early theologians and philosophers, pergatory, the energy of God. I can't list everything. The only issue I have is that it's just too much at once. This is the perfect book for someone studying theology.
The Virgin Mary, the Tartars, the reformation and restoration, Martin ...more
The Virgin Mary, the Tartars, the reformation and restoration, Martin ...more
This is a very good history. It depresses me a bit because it is written in the cynical, anti-establishment style which is typical of the educated elite today, but it is valuable for its quality and the insight which it offers regarding the multitude of different takes on Christianity (most of them sincere and justified, none of them isolated from political expediency) which were the fruit of the early Church. Its quite humbling for those who maintain 'the correct doctrines' and at the same time
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MacCulloch makes reading exhaustive history exhilarating rather than exhausting, and although everyone will have a favourite nit to pick - mine being the dubious treatment of Hegel, and the absence of anything about Erigena - only the most die-hard partisan could claim that this is anything other than brilliant. Ignore anyone who tells you it's anti-(insert your own sect here), and read it. Take your time. And I'm sure you'll be mining the 'recommended reading' section at the back of the book
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As a double priests kid (both my parents were Anglican clergy) an assumption was usually made that I knew quite a bit about Christianity. This was not accurate as I neither had much interest in the subject, nor access to a decent history about the faith. MacCulloch has rectified this with A History Of Christianity. Detailed yet readable, he takes an unbiased look at both the good and bad of the religion, never apologizing for either. He also doesn’t ignore the spiritual, faith aspect of his
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I'll begin my review this way: there are a few reviewers who did not like this book due to the secular (but by no means anti-Christian) perspective most educated readers would expect from a serious church historian. (Naturally, many of these reviewers associate MacCulloch with the atheistic academic left, which I'm sure would come as a surprise to the author, given his background in the Church of England.) If Christian apologetics masked as church history is what you are looking for, then I have
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Nov 19, 2011
Erik Graff
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Christians
Recommended to Erik by:
Kelly Kingdon
Shelves:
religion
This book may be too ambitious. It claims to cover three thousand years of global history, but it does so sketchily, most of its focus being on, first, the Middle East and, second, Europe and America. The Britishness of the author is clear as is the fact that he himself is not a Christian. The content ranges from the breezy, as in his descriptions of modern trends, to the dense, as in his treatment of the controversies animating the earliest church councils. Most readers will find parts of it
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Exactly three months later, I'm done! Review obviously to come.
The title provides an early indication that the Ancient Greek and Hebrew roots of Christianity are covered by this book in addition to the past two thousand years that are more commonly accepted as the era of Christianity. That's a very long span of history, in fact too broad of a scope to cover in great detail even with 1184 pages (actually 1000 pages plus table of contents, notes, bibliography, index and illustrations). Nevertheless, the author does a good job telling the story in a free
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I was looking for a straight forward, unbiased and thorough history of Christianity so when I found this book at my local bookshop and read the title I assumed that exactly what it was. Unfortunately, after reading the first 300 pages I decided to put it down. This book is certainly thorough, however, it is neither straight forward or unbiased. Firstly, the author's style of writing is very "busy". Points and ideas that could easily be made in 1 or 2 sentences usually takes the writer 4 or 5 to
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Christianity is complex. After having had read this book two years earlier, I had to reread this book in order to understand why I didn't understand it the first time I read it. The first time I had read this book I was trying to make sense of the Trinity and how it developed and caused differentiation between sects of the Christian faith. I realize now that was a mistake. Whether it be one person, one nature, and one will; or two people, one nature, and one will; or ....... doesn't make sense
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I'm what you might call a slightly bewildered agnostic, but I've always had a particular interest in Christianity. So much of its own history - fragmented, argumentative and hypocritical - has always seemed to be at odds with much of Christ's core message, and I've never quit understood how so many Christians can fail to see that contradiction in their own faith's history. But this book, which is surely destined to become a classic in the field, goes a long way to explaining why Christianity has
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A thorough history of the christian religion from an Oxford don and the son of a Church of England parson whose background and upbringing give the whole book a flavour of what has made the Anglicans or the C of E such a distinctive part of Christanity. His deep learning and understanding of his subject are set with an elegant and flowing prose style so the book is both a pleasure to read and a means of understanding most of the hows, whys and wherefores of Christianity. It is a large book but if
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MacCulloch is so uptight PC he must squeak when he walks. The first tipoff is his use of CE and BCE instead of Anno Domini (AD) and BC. CE refers to a "common era". The terms he uses are used by certain publishing houses and writers to "avoid offending non-Christians". The use of these terms seems ludicrous considering the subject of his book. His survey of Christianity seems to me to not be dispassionate or objective. It gets more PC the closer he gets to our time. The book is over 1,000 pages
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Well, I'm currently reading this, and probably will be for some time. This is my go-to book at bedtime. It's rich with explanations of periods and time that my education skipped over—oh, let's be frank, my education didn't even go faintly near, periods like the entire history of the Eastern Christian Church and the millenium of Byzantine history.
Where I come from, the midwest of the 1950's, it just didn't happen, right?
Trying to make up for that now, I'm discovering whole worlds of thought and ...more
Where I come from, the midwest of the 1950's, it just didn't happen, right?
Trying to make up for that now, I'm discovering whole worlds of thought and ...more
MacCulloch's history of the Reformation, which I read a few years ago, was powerful, informative, engaging, and even inspiring in places. I had high hopes for his one-volume Christian history with its intriguing title.
He spends hundreds of pages on the roots of the Christian tradition (that first one thousand years) beginning in Greece and not the Ancient Near East. While it seemed a pretty standard presentation of these ancient histories, it was primarily a history of ideas, which intrigued me ...more
He spends hundreds of pages on the roots of the Christian tradition (that first one thousand years) beginning in Greece and not the Ancient Near East. While it seemed a pretty standard presentation of these ancient histories, it was primarily a history of ideas, which intrigued me ...more
to read 1100+ pages of christianity's history is to read 1100+ pages of world history since christianity has been a prime mover of human history. every continent and every religion has found a place of clarity in this book. it does not disappoint. whereas it is true that to cover 3000 years of human and religious history, the writer must default to an inch and a half below the surface and some readers may be disappointed in that factor, i decidedly was not. the sheer breadth of the work, by
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http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2021907.html[return][return]This magisterial and thorough book goes through Chrstianity's roots in Judaism and Greek philosophy, the life of Jesus and the immediate aftermath, and then the historical development of the movement that his followers became. I learned a lot; MacCullough's broad historical focus took us to places I had not really thought of before, like the early history of Christianity in Asia (including China), and explained to me stuff I thought I
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A massive book--over 1000 pages. It was not easy to finish just because of the size of the book, though the style was very readable and engaging. I didn't get bored throughout; quite the opposite--I was eager to read and learn more. This history helped connect lots of other historical events and developments for me, as if the religious aspect provided a key element to understanding the past two millennia of Western history, an aspect that has been neglected in other histories.
Other than ...more
Other than ...more
This is probably the best one-volume history of Christianity that you can find. So if you want an overview of church history, and don't mind wading through a 1000 page book (though, with 2000 years of history to tell, how much shorter could such a book be?) this book is for you.
I have to admit, MacCulloch almost lost me in the early part when he said the biblical book of Philemon was later used to support slavery by Christians. Admittedly, me disagreeing on this is like a flea barking at a pit ...more
I have to admit, MacCulloch almost lost me in the early part when he said the biblical book of Philemon was later used to support slavery by Christians. Admittedly, me disagreeing on this is like a flea barking at a pit ...more
Mar 18, 2019
Corey Wozniak
added it
This book was, sadly, too learned for me. I listened to 30/45 hours, but at least half of that consisted of names and dates and movements I have already forgotten. I’d like to pick this book up again in 5-10 years, after I have read more broadly and have a better foundation in history, geography, and theology, to see if I can get the better of this tome next time.
I really wanted to know more about the history of Christianity, but this book got a little too much into the weeds, for me; I need a ...more
I really wanted to know more about the history of Christianity, but this book got a little too much into the weeds, for me; I need a ...more
This kind of book is exactly why the adjective "magisterial" was invented. It's so learned, engaging, and comprehensive that by the time you finish it your mind feels full. It's nothing less than an attempt at a truly "ecumenical" (pun intended) history of Christianity, covering not only its temporal history, which as you can tell by the subtitle goes back much farther than the BC-AD line, but also all of the different denominations, their doctrinal disputes, the major figures, philosophical
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An ambitious and massive work. The title alone should tell potential readers that they are in for an interesting journey.
Three thousand years in even 1000+ pages is pushing the limits for any topic. For the history of Christianity and its pre-history (the other 1000 years) in many places it is eclectic and only mars, not scratches the surface. MacCulloch does bring a lot of interesting if not probably important nuggets to the surface. The decisions about what to include and not alone are worth ...more
Three thousand years in even 1000+ pages is pushing the limits for any topic. For the history of Christianity and its pre-history (the other 1000 years) in many places it is eclectic and only mars, not scratches the surface. MacCulloch does bring a lot of interesting if not probably important nuggets to the surface. The decisions about what to include and not alone are worth ...more
A great reference book on the topic. I would not say it is an easy read as MacCulloch does cover almost all the major traditions and their philosophies within the history of the Christianity. Because of the vastness of the subject, the book at times reads like witty encyclopedia rather than a monograph. Yet such scope, along with MacCulloch's meticulous use of existing literature on differing subjects, make the book a welcome addition to any (e)library.
4 STARS FOR "A HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY: THE FIRST THREE THOUSAND YEARS" BY DIARMAID MACCULLOCH
Simply put, whether you're religious or not, you cannot deny the importance and impact religion (Christianity, specifically) has had on the world. Researching and studying the different religions and cultures helps us to gain understanding and respect for the world that we now it, and the kind of world that it was shaped from. Diarmaid MacCulloch approaches Christianity (and some of the other ...more
Simply put, whether you're religious or not, you cannot deny the importance and impact religion (Christianity, specifically) has had on the world. Researching and studying the different religions and cultures helps us to gain understanding and respect for the world that we now it, and the kind of world that it was shaped from. Diarmaid MacCulloch approaches Christianity (and some of the other ...more
This thousand page tome is excellent, with all the limitations of a single-volume work on such a large topic. The writing is excellent and the narrative coherent, but it is very dense. Don't expect this to be a quick read. It is heavily documented, but as usual the notes are stuck in the back instead of at the bottom of the page. (Okay, I'll stop ranting now.) The author begins a thousand years before the birth of Jesus and comes right up to the beginning of this millennium. He pays as much
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Whew! What did I learn? I don't know how much I can remember but there's a whole lot of very interesting information packed into this book - 1100+ pages. I read MacCullough's The Reformation a few years ago and was very impressed. This book isn't quite as tight as the former but the scope of this book is 10 times as long and many continents broader.
MacCullough covers it all - from the works of "David" to Islamic terrorism. From Jerusalem to New York, China and Africa. From the Israelites to ...more
MacCullough covers it all - from the works of "David" to Islamic terrorism. From Jerusalem to New York, China and Africa. From the Israelites to ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great book, but taking forever for me to finish! | 11 | 43 | Sep 24, 2016 04:48PM |
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