A review by zmb
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch

4.0

An engaging and thoughtful jaunt through an at times bewildering array of different Christianities that leaves no stone unturned and is decidedly non-polemic. Obviously it sacrifices depth for breadth in covering 3000 years of Christian history in a mere 1000 pages, though the year number is mostly putative as the sections on Greece and Israel are quite short. The author's attention to often marginalized Christianities, like the non-Chalcedonian south and east, was quite interesting, though he did seem to emphasize the uniqueness of Anglicanism at times. Overall, an excellent comprehensive introduction to the history of Christianity, both people and doctrine.

I will be pouring over the lengthy and very well commented further reading section to follow up on more specialized topics.