The Compact Guide to Christian History
by Stephen Backhouse
GoodBookStall Review:
The paperback edition of Diarmaid MacCulloch's A History of Christianity, published by Penguin runs to over 1200 pages. Set against this the Stephen Backhouse book, which deals with the same topic in under 200 pages, looks rather light. However, it would be a mistake to compare the two.
The history of the Church is a daunting topic as it is vast in scale and covers millennia. As a result many simply pass the subject by, or focus solely on a small part of the story of the church. This is where the Compact Guide can provide an invaluable service as it can provide an overview and enable the reader to place all sorts of snippets of knowledge into a context.
The book is in colour throughout and is richly illustrated with pictures, timelines and maps. There is a full index, and I am grateful to see that churches outside of the West are considered as part of the story. This is a volume which will reward those who read it all, but is also a good resource to be dipped into. It will, I am sure, serve to spur the reader into finding out more about those periods of history which have sparked interest, and the suggested reading section at the end is welcome.
In all, this is a great resource and well worth a read.
Reviewer: Chris Moore (18/06/11)
The paperback edition of Diarmaid MacCulloch's A History of Christianity, published by Penguin runs to over 1200 pages. Set against this the Stephen Backhouse book, which deals with the same topic in under 200 pages, looks rather light. However, it would be a mistake to compare the two.
The history of the Church is a daunting topic as it is vast in scale and covers millennia. As a result many simply pass the subject by, or focus solely on a small part of the story of the church. This is where the Compact Guide can provide an invaluable service as it can provide an overview and enable the reader to place all sorts of snippets of knowledge into a context.
The book is in colour throughout and is richly illustrated with pictures, timelines and maps. There is a full index, and I am grateful to see that churches outside of the West are considered as part of the story. This is a volume which will reward those who read it all, but is also a good resource to be dipped into. It will, I am sure, serve to spur the reader into finding out more about those periods of history which have sparked interest, and the suggested reading section at the end is welcome.
In all, this is a great resource and well worth a read.
Reviewer: Chris Moore (18/06/11)
