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A review by brannigan
A History of Christianity by Diarmaid MacCulloch
4.0
The word “ambitious” is thrown around a lot in reviews for this hefty volume, and with good reason. MacCulloch manages to condense 3000 years of history into 1000 pages, and the subject matter is extremely wide-ranging - because the history of Christianity is the history of a great deal of the whole world.
I decided to pick this up because, as a history fan, I realised that so many events (especially in Europe) are set against a background of religious ideology. My understanding of the development of Christianity in different parts of the world at different times was patchy at best, so it was useful to dive into this comprehensive wide-lens take on the religion.
MacCulloch is a competent guide, remaining secular at all times, sometimes intriguingly agnostic toward the ontology of a divine being, often critical of the very human flaws of characters along the way.
Of course, it isn’t quite perfect. Notably, there is a strange glossing over of the Roman Catholic child abuse scandal that surfaced toward the end of the 20th century. There is little discussion of Christian syncretism with European pagan holidays, like Easter and Christmas. The philosophical differences between diaphysites, miaphysites, nestorians, arians, chalcedonians etc etc, so central to first millennium schisms within the church and resulting in much bloodshed, left me feeling dizzy.
On the whole though, I learned tons from this book and it will take pride of place on my reference shelf.
I decided to pick this up because, as a history fan, I realised that so many events (especially in Europe) are set against a background of religious ideology. My understanding of the development of Christianity in different parts of the world at different times was patchy at best, so it was useful to dive into this comprehensive wide-lens take on the religion.
MacCulloch is a competent guide, remaining secular at all times, sometimes intriguingly agnostic toward the ontology of a divine being, often critical of the very human flaws of characters along the way.
Of course, it isn’t quite perfect. Notably, there is a strange glossing over of the Roman Catholic child abuse scandal that surfaced toward the end of the 20th century. There is little discussion of Christian syncretism with European pagan holidays, like Easter and Christmas. The philosophical differences between diaphysites, miaphysites, nestorians, arians, chalcedonians etc etc, so central to first millennium schisms within the church and resulting in much bloodshed, left me feeling dizzy.
On the whole though, I learned tons from this book and it will take pride of place on my reference shelf.