xvii, 1161 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : 25 cm

The early twenty-first century could be characterized as a time of tremendous religious awareness, when both believers and non-believers are deeply engaged by questions of religion and tradition. This book ranges back to the origins of the Hebrew Bible and covers Christianity around 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. The book follows the Christian story to different corners of the globe, filling in often neglected accounts of conversions and confrontations in Africa and Asia. The author also covers the roots of the faith that galvanized America and charts the rise of the evangelical movement from its origins in Germany and England. This book introduces the stories of monks and crusaders, heretics and saints, slave traders and abolitionists, and reveals Christianity's essential role in driving the Enlightenment and the Age of Exploration, and in shaping the course of World Wars I and II

Originally published as: A history of Christianity : the first three thousand years. London : Allen Lane, 2009

Includes bibliographical references (pages 1017-1112) and index

A millennium of beginnings (1000 BCE - 100 CE). Greece and Rome (c. 1000 BCE - 100 CE) ; Israel (c. 1000 BCE - 100 CE) -- One church, one faith, one Lord (4 BCE - 451 CE). A crucified messiah (4 BCE - 100 CE) ; Boundaries defined (50 CE - 300) ; The prince: ally or enemy? (100 - 300) ; The imperial church (300 - 451) -- Vanishing futures: east and south (451 - 1500). Defying Chalcedon: Asia and Africa (451 - 622) ; Islam: the great realignment (622 - 1500) -- The unpredictable rise of Rome (300 - 1300). The making of Latin Christianity (300 - 500) ; Latin Christendom: new frontiers (500 - 1000) ; The west: universal emperor or universal pope? (900 - 1200) ; A church for all people? (1100 - 1300) -- Orthodoxy: the imperial faith (451 - 1800). Faith in a new Rome (451-900) ; Orthodoxy: more than an empire (900 - 1700) ; Russia: the third Rome (900 - 1800) -- Western Christianity dismembered (1300 - 1800). Perspectives on the true church (1300 - 1517) ; A house divided (1517 - 1660) ; Rome's renewal (1500 - 1700) ; A worldwide faith (1500 - 1800) ; Protestant awakenings (1600 - 1800) -- God in the dock (1492 - present). Enlightenment: ally or enemy? (1492 - 1815) ; Europe re-enchanted or disenchanted? (1815 - 1914) ; To make the world protestant (1700 - 1914) ; Not peace but a sword (1914-60) ; Culture wars (1960 - present)

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