Customer Reviews
Excellent, Impressive and Enthralling ! But Marred by a Wooly Liberalism and Misunderstanding of Christianity - By: Raymond Creed, 12 Jul 2010 
Introduction
If I could give this work four & a half out of five I would. The impressed emerged that the author would have loved to a gossipy court historianin the Ancient or Byzantine world. He's a worthy successor to the fourth century church historian Eusebius.
First impression
This work would be a useful door stop, I wondered whether I'd have time to read it
Strengths
The main strengths of this work are its: -
1) Considerable research & erudition
2) A skilled use of resources
3) Many fresh ideas & originality of viewpoint
4) Keen analytical qualities
5) Enthusiastic love of his subject
6) Witty, engaging & gossipy style
7) Sensitive handling of issues like the Churches responsibility of anti-Semitism
8) Display of exceptional teaching abilities that manages to blend both the scholastic & popular approach
9) Implicit awareness that it's not possible to cover every aspect of Church Historyin one volume
10) Good source notes & further reading which could help further research
Weaknesses
The main weaknesses of this work are its: -
1) Omission of some details & causal relationships (e.g. Anti-Semitism's rolein contributing to the rise of Christian Zionism)
2) Flawed liberal perspective
3) Limited grasp of Ancient Jewish Culture (MacCulloch is far better on the Greeks)
4) At times inept handling of biblical material, which conveys the impression of an author wondering beyond the area of his experise
5) Poor quality maps
Twitter
This is a book I wish I could love rather than just like & respect
Recommendation
Definitely worth buying, but beware where the author is coming from & the agenda he may be pursuing
Analysis
In his approach, MacCulloch (henceforth known as M) gets one thing very right but another thing very wrong. He rightly emphasises the importance of Eastern Christianity & the way it nearly became the defining faith of the future. By telling the story of this 'lost Christianity' to a non-academic audience M has performed an invaluable service to ecclesiastical history whilst also offering some sobering lessons for the present. He did however riskin sucumbing to backward projectionin the way he way assumed that this expression of faith was more liberalin its approach to other world faiths than it actually was. In his study the Nestorians of China come across as good liberal Anglican chaps.
This brings one to the main flaw of M's work which way its liberal bias is constantly refuted by the evidence it presents. This shows for Churches liberalism is usually a halfway house to extinction. The possible interfaith liberalism of Nestorians presented them from acquiring that strong & distinct sense of identity which is so necessary to corporate survival. The better documented case of Germany shows that its long term effect was to contribute to the creation of a spiritual vacuum which Nazism rushed into fill. The same is happeningin our own society where liberal Christianity has emptied churches & left a vacuum being filled by the worst forms of religiosity. As Malcolm Muggeridge sawin his article 'The Liberal Death Wish' it has nothing to offer the mass of people. One would have hoped that visits to a former Nazi Churchin Germany & to Auschwitz would have helped M see such connections. Unfortunately they didn't.
His liberalism also led him to convey the impression that the long term survival of Christianity depended upon having 'friendsin high places.' It doesn't! Not only did it survive three centuries of marginalisation & persecution, the faith also survived the barbarian invasions where (in Western Europe) 'friendsin high places' were few & far between. There's also the added point that some of the friends were often political liabilitiesin their often arbitrary favouritism of one faction over another. M doesn't seem to appreciate the degree Orthodox Christianity could grow on its own merits. It was able to grip the imagination & offer a better narrative structure than its heretical rivals. The turbulent life of the five times exiled Athanasius showed that it could survive & even thrive amidst the loss of imperial favour. This is a point confirmedin our own time by the resilience of Christianityin the former Soviet bloc.
His liberal approach was alsoin part responsible for his inability to see scripture through Jewish ideas. This led him into the jungle of source criticism & to imagine all kinds of contradictionsin the Ancient Text which wouldn't have been viewed as contradictions by the original readers with their love of paradox & riddles. He made the mistake of seeing scripture through the eyes of nineteenth century sceptics rather than the original audience. His attempt to dodge out of the resurrection accounts on p.93 by arguing that they represented a different kind of truth was unconvincingin its evasiveness. Christ either rose bodily from the dead or he didn't - it's simple as that. Any attempt to say that it represented a higher kind of truth is beside the point.
At heart, the author appears to be hankering after a liberal form of Christianity which will accept homosexual lifestyles. In the culture wars he describesin the last chapter M is clearly on one side of the debate. Yet he's far too an intelligent & perhaps honest man not to realize that there are serious question about the feasibility of reconciling those lifestyles with even a moderately traditional form of Christianity. This explains why he can only remain 'a candid friend' of Christianity rather than a full time adherent. Quite rightly he appears to grasp that there's a severe problem of legitimacy - one can either accept the legitimacy of homosexual lifestyles but at the price of denying the legitimacy of both biblical authority & church tradition or one can accept biblical authority & church tradition but at the price of denying the legitimacy of homosexual lifestyles. What one cannot do (without being intellectually & morally dishonest) is affirm the legitimacy of both. Trying to do that is like trying to believe two impossible things before breakfast. In M's book this is the contradiction which dare not speak its name, but it's remains there lurkingin the background.
A Masterpiece of Condensed History... - By: Spin, 06 Jul 2010 
This book is a wonderful introduction to the long & troubled history of that strange religion we call "Christianity". Starting with the basic elements of ancient Greek philosophy (which has been so influentialin the christian church) the reader is taken on an enthralling journey through all the major events, crises & achievements of one of our most ancient faiths up to modern times. To be sure, it is a condensed history, but it provides enough insight & argument for the possibility of further research on the part of the reader (I have studied religions for many years & even I was surprised at the snippets of information I was not aware of). From the outset, the author stamps his authority on his exposition by clearly stating, with the use of humour, that he is approaching the subject as an objective historian, not a christian. As such, this work reads as a true history & not as propoganda. Easy to read for the general reader but with enough depth to engage the academic, this book is truly a remarkable achievement that is long overdue.
Analysing Christianity - By: Thomas Mccarthy, 06 May 2010 This book is a major contribution to the understanding of, not only the origins of Christianity, but also of the many disruptions, derailments, & setbacksin its history. Mac Culloch's analytical, outspoken approach is a refreshing change from the traditional recounting of historical events. He captures the essence of Jesus' teachings as well as the distortions & manipulations that have complicated & confused those teachingsin the past millenia. He also provides very timely comments on the relationships of Chritianity with Judaism & Islam. Highly recommended.
A Big Book - By: Dr. Philip A. Shand, 27 Apr 2010 After all the plaudits which have been heaped upon this book, it seems presumptious of me to say anything. When I first saw itin a bookshop, I was overawed by its size, but after reading one particular review I was convinced that I should attempt it. The amazing amount of information is presentedin an accessible form & it is a joy to read. There is a comprehensive bibliography;in some cases, one has the feeling that bibliographies are added to lend credibility to what may be a dubious 'agenda' to the book, but here that is not the case. Unfortunately, without access to a university library, it can be more tantalising than helpful. The illustrations are carefully chosen, & do their purpose:they illustrate the text appropriately. Perhaps my most positive comment is to say that no-one need, or should, be detered by the size; it would not be possible to do justice to the subjectin anything less.
Simply monumental - By: Jeremy Bevan, 09 Apr 2010 This vast & almost encyclopaedic new history of the Christian faith is an incredible achievement, & a really absorbing read, despite its length (over a thousand pages). Its intriguing subtitle - `The First Three [sic] Thousand Years' - gives you an early clue as to one of its great strengths: an ability to take an unusual angle on its subject that reveals fruitful new perspectives. In setting the Christian faith firmly against a backdrop of Judaism's originsin the flight from Egypt of the Israelites (characterised,in line with some of the latest scholarship, as a weak & disparate grouping bound by common social, rather than ethnic, bonds), MacCulloch helpfully roots Christianityin humble & marginal beginnings. In his closing musings, he urges it to rediscover those roots after near enough two millennia of ambiguously successful Church/state collaboration that has arguably betrayed the founder's vision as much as, if not more than, it has enhanced it.
And those twin themes of faithfulness to Jesus' prophetic vision & its betrayal arein constant interplayin the intervening chapters. As a self-described `candid friend' of Christianity, MacCulloch is not shy of confronting the faith with a few home truths as to its shortcomings, as he roams far & wide, exploringin depth the dynamic of power & humility. The rise & fall of the churches of the East, the often turbulent progress of Orthodoxy & the rise of Western Christianity; the ever-modulating relationship of holy & secular powers through the Middle Ages; the intellectual battles of the Reformation & Counter- (or Catholic) Reformation; the worldwide missionary efforts of the churchesin the modern period against a backdrop of the Enlightenment; & the church's contemporary challenges: all are held to up for sometimes unflattering inspection. MacCulloch perhaps writes best, &in most compelling detail, on the churches of `Christendom', the Middle Ages & the 16th century, but throughout there is a wealth of fascinating & sometime surprising detail. Highlights for me included Bede's rolein defining `Englishness'; the way monastic use of the land `enserfed' the people & deprived them of its use; the non-denominational settlement of the 16th-century Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth; pockets of enlightened Catholic missionary endeavour among indigenous peoplein Latin America; discussion of the role of Spinoza, Locke & Hobbes as early supporters of religious liberty & disestablishment, an argument that continues today; church music's metamorphosis into secular entertainmentin the 17th & 18th centuries; Methodism as an established (and monarchy-founding) churchin Tonga; & the role of the World Council of Churchesin drafting the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A rich & diverse tapestry indeed.
Inevitably, the breadth of forms & expressions of Christianity as we approach the 21st century means that the author's treatment of it becomes a little more sketchyin the modern period (an account of Catholicism's rapid risein contemporary Africa was missing, for example), but the 100 pages of references & discerningly annotated bibliography will take the interested reader further. A monumental work, then, richin scholarship, replete with intelligent analysis & judicious conclusions: it seems unlikely to be surpassed as a one-volume history of Christianity for a generation.
