The Lost History of Christianity
The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa and Asia
by Philip Jenkins
GoodBookStall Review:
Life was simple when I was growing up. You had the Church of England, the non-conformist churches and the Roman Catholics. In time house churches and Pentecostal churches were added into the mix but all the denominations shared a similar foundation and DNA (even if they argued mightily!) However, recent decades have seen a resurgence of interest in churches and groupings which for centuries have not had their story told.
These churches are not of a Western stamp. They are not splinters from Roman Catholicism or Protestantism, but represent other strands of Christianity which can trace their lineage back to the earliest days of the faith. And - crucially - they represent understandings of the faith which are distinctive from church in the West with its particular philosophical base.
Jenkins' book provides an accessible and fascinating insight into the history of the church which is rarely told in the West. It contains sketches from the church in the Middle-East, Asia and Africa and provides an antidote to the European/American focus which is prevalent in other histories. It considers the interaction with other faiths, and the eventual dying out of some communities. There are some good stories in there too!
This is a book which deserves to be read by all, but it might prove especially thought provoking for those who find themselves involved in the emerging or emergent churches. Here is a story of how a faith grew in a different soil to the church in this country. As such, it gives another, faithful rendering of how Christianity might be.
Reviewer: Chris Moore (04/12/09)
Life was simple when I was growing up. You had the Church of England, the non-conformist churches and the Roman Catholics. In time house churches and Pentecostal churches were added into the mix but all the denominations shared a similar foundation and DNA (even if they argued mightily!) However, recent decades have seen a resurgence of interest in churches and groupings which for centuries have not had their story told.
These churches are not of a Western stamp. They are not splinters from Roman Catholicism or Protestantism, but represent other strands of Christianity which can trace their lineage back to the earliest days of the faith. And - crucially - they represent understandings of the faith which are distinctive from church in the West with its particular philosophical base.
Jenkins' book provides an accessible and fascinating insight into the history of the church which is rarely told in the West. It contains sketches from the church in the Middle-East, Asia and Africa and provides an antidote to the European/American focus which is prevalent in other histories. It considers the interaction with other faiths, and the eventual dying out of some communities. There are some good stories in there too!
This is a book which deserves to be read by all, but it might prove especially thought provoking for those who find themselves involved in the emerging or emergent churches. Here is a story of how a faith grew in a different soil to the church in this country. As such, it gives another, faithful rendering of how Christianity might be.
Reviewer: Chris Moore (04/12/09)
| Reader review: - Ian Gibbs, TGBS Reviewer Books with the words ‘secret’, ‘unknown’, ‘hidden’, ‘code’ or ‘lost’ in their titles are best avoided, but this volume is worth getting over the unfortunate title. It also suffers from a paucity of maps and diagrams, and a few telling illustrations might also have helped. But the story it has to tell is an often tragic and heart-rending epic of Christian survival and decline. Beyond the ancient Mediterranean world, beyond the eastern-most provinces of the Roman Empire, Christians (often non-Chalcedonian) flourished, and Jenkins chronicles their expansion, exploits and influence. It should be a tale better known. |
