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History of Christianity: book recommendations needed

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  • 18-02-2010 11:57am
    #1
    Dionysus
    Registered Users Posts: 3,420 ✭✭✭


    Hi,

    I'm looking for some good recommendations for books on the History of Christianity. I do not want a Rome-centric, Anglo-centric, Constantinople-centric or otherwise history. I really would be offended by some preachy partisan bible-thumping account. It also must have a lot of footnotes - that's absolutely essential. I suppose I'm looking for a book on Christianity's history that does for that history what E. H. Gombrich's The Story of Art has done for our understanding of the history of art.

    I'm really trying to develop a context for the evolution of Christianity that includes schisms, main initial differences between the various strands, the real political and economic factors in splits, the context within which new dogma was developed and enunciated, and so forth.

    Additionally, I've only discovered recently that there are many different versions of the bible and that each denomination includes and excludes books according to their respective beliefs. That's ground-breaking new info for me. Does anybody know of an account which explains why this happened. A general account of how the books of the bible were decided upon, and in what century, would be very helpful.

    I know, I know, I know I'm not looking for much - mar dhéa - but I'm expecting this to be a big book. :)

    Thanks.


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    #2
    hivizman
    Registered Users Posts: 1,163 ✭✭✭hivizman


    May I recommend Diarmaid MacCulloch's A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (London: Allen Lane, 2009)? This meets most of your criteria. It's not particularly partisan, because MacCulloch is a lapsed Anglican who describes himself as a "critical friend of Christianity" rather than as a practising Christian. It's long and comprehensive (over 1,200 pages), and though it isn't riddled with footnotes, it has a very substantial bibliography. I'd rate this as the best single-volume history of Christianity currently available.

    MacCulloch had a TV series late last year in the UK linked with the book, and I provided summaries of each episode in a thread in this forum. I see from Amazon that the DVD of the series is now available.


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    #3
    Canis Lupus
    Registered Users Posts: 9,893 ✭✭✭Canis Lupus


    As an atheist even I enjoyed that programme. I was surprised in the end when he pointed out he was only a friend of Jesus.


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    #4
    PDN
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,686 ✭✭✭✭PDN


    One volume histories have a tendency to be strong in some areas rather than others. To really get an overall picture of the stuff you mention I would recommend three or four books - all of which are very readable and enjoyable (and easily obtained from amazon.com)

    1. For the formation of the Canon of Scripture, including how and why certain books were included and excluded, a classic text is "The Canon of Scripture" by Frederick F. Bruce. F.F.Bruce was Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at the University of Manchester. He was a committed Christian (a member of the Brethren Church as far as I recall) but nobody could, even in their wildest dreams, call this meticulous scholar a Bible basher.

    2. There is an abundance of histories written from a western and eurocentric perspective. One very readable example is Paul Johnson's "A History of Christianity". Johnson, a journalist and a Catholic, is a former editor of The New Statesman. Despite the fact that he used to be a columnist for the Daily Mail (which should be printed on toilet paper so it would be good for something) his history is surprisingly fair and balanced.

    3. A wonderfully entertaining account of Eastern Orthodox history is Lars Brownworth's "Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization". He also has some great lectures on the same subject that are freely downloadable as podcasts at http://www.12byzantinerulers.com/ and are a genre-defining top-50 podcast (whatever that means). Brownworth was a US high school history teacher who has done more to stimulate interest in Byzantine history than any professional historian, possibly because he includes tidbits like the fact that Arius (key figure in the dispute that led to that formulation of the Trinity at the Council of Nicaea) died while having an extraordinarly large crap behind a pillar in Constantinople the very day before he was supposed to be readmitted to the Church! I have no idea of Brownworth's own religious faith - if indeed he has any.

    4. Finally, "The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia and How It Died" by Philip Jenkins, fills in the gaps by studying all the other varieties of Christianity in the East (nestorian, Jacobite etc). These forms of Christianity are not just a historical curiosity - I recently found myself sitting beside the leader in Ireland of the Jacobite Indian Church during a service to celebrate the week of prayer for Christian Unity. Jenkins is a History Professor, and his own religious views (whatever they are) don't intrude into his work.

    So, sorry for recommending 4 books instead of 1. But I don't think you'll be disappointed with any of them.


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    #5
    Dionysus
    Registered Users Posts: 3,420 ✭✭✭Dionysus


    Thanks to everybody so far.

    Diarmaid MacCulloch has a fairly unforgettable name for an English anglican minister who was born in 1951 (most Irish people in that year would still be using the old spelling of Diarmuid!). Curious man! He was one of the standard historians on the English reformation in college. I've just put that book onto my Amazon shopping list.

    The more recommendations the better so keep them coming.


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    #6
    Dionysus
    Registered Users Posts: 3,420 ✭✭✭Dionysus


    There are currently no new copies of "The Canon of Scripture" by Frederick F. Bruce available on Amazon.co.uk. Will definitely like to read that but will wait until new copies become available.


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    #7
    Tim Robbins
    Registered Users Posts: 8,959 ✭✭✭Tim Robbins


    PDN and the other regular posters here, can you give us your thoughts on Diarmaid MacCulloch's book if you read it?


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    #8
    PDN
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,686 ✭✭✭✭PDN


    Tim Robbins wrote: »
    PDN and the other regular posters here, can you give us your thoughts on Diarmaid MacCulloch's book if you read it?
    Sorry, haven't read it (I'm waiting for it to be available on Kindle). I thought his TV series was very good, though obviously limited since what you can say in 1 hour of TV only equates to a few pages in a book.


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    #9
    santing
    Registered Users Posts: 671 ✭✭✭santing


    Dionysus wrote: »
    There are currently no new copies of "The Canon of Scripture" by Frederick F. Bruce available on Amazon.co.uk. Will definitely like to read that but will wait until new copies become available.
    Get it at ChristianBook.com


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    #10
    Plowman
    Registered Users Posts: 2,630 ✭✭✭Plowman


    This post has been deleted.


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