The Faith : A History of Christianity

Rating:
Summary: Christianity as page-turner
Review: Brian Moynahan's "The Faith" is many things -- a history of Christianity, a look at 2000 years of Near Eastern, European, and American history, an almanac of gore resulting from the splits within a growing religion, an object lesson in the dangers of letting men control God.

The writing is lucid and impressive considering the scope of the subject. At times I felt like I was reading a page-turner, which is a feat even before you consider that this dictionary-sized book is over 700 pages long. Even given its heft, I read the book in a week.

The subject is hard to beat. From its origins (as detailed in Acts) as a startup cult, to its history altering co-option by the Roman emperor Constantine (there's no way of knowing how limited the scope of Christianity might be today if it hadn't been sanctioned as Rome's state religion) Christianity has been a force as influential as it has been destructive. "The Faith" covers it all -- from the papal decadence that lead to Luther's reform, to the devastating effects of the Inquisition, to the centuries old conflict between Islamic and Christian warriors. The book's chapters are more or less chronological (although there is some doublebacking) and only a few of them are less than fascinating.

This is as good a book as any if you want to learn about the history of Christianity. "The Faith" is really a history of what belief in a particular God has done to people -- the passions that lead to philosophic partings of the ways, the corruption of institutions, the neverending different interpretations of biblical texts. What can we learn from 2000 years of a particular religion? And how can this knowledge change the way Christians worship, and live their faith, today?

Rating:
Summary: Nice overview of Christian history
Review: In this book, Brian Moynahan provides a nice overview of Christian history. Starting with its humble beginnings, the author traces the major events and people of the Christian faith over the last 2000+ years. Overall, I enjoyed this book and felt it was well worth the time commitment it took to make it through the 800 pages. Oddly enough, I have to commend the author for attempting to cram so much history into less than 1,000 pages. It is a difficult thing to do, and he mainly succeeds, although I felt he did exclude some things that I would like to have seen discussed in more detail.

The author writes in a style which is easy to follow, and I liked the balance he uses. Some Christian history I have previously read is a little on the dry side because so much theology is discussed, and the reader starts to get lost in some of the "hair splitting" that has taken place over the years. Some tend to forget that the story of Christ's church is a mixture of both people and ideas. The inclusion of too much theology can make for a pretty boring read. I felt that Mr. Moynahan does a decent job of telling the story of the Christian Church without boring the reader to death.

My one main complaint is the same as a previous reviewer. The author tends to jump around a bit much for my taste, and some of the transitions between chapters is pretty rough. Also, I felt like he practically blows through the last 300-400 years of Church history, and the book starts to take on a little bit of a "text-book" tone during the last 100-150 pages. Once the reformation is done, the author seems like he is in a rush to reach the end.

If you are interested in reading a solid overview of the Christian faith, this book is a good starting point. It will take some time to work through, but I think it is well worth the effort.

Rating:
Summary: Popping the clutch
Review: To read this book is rather like riding in a stick-shift car whose driver is used to an automatic: the smooth sailing is punctuated with sudden jumps and jolts that sometimes leave one breathless. What I mean is that Moynahan's history has some startling gaps in it, as if he's popped the clutch and either jumped ahead of where he should be or landed someplace he really shouldn't be.

There's almost no treatment in this book, for example, of the Orthodox tradition, much less (except for a rather dismal late chapter on "Missions") of Christianity with a non-Western face. (I say that the missions chapter is dismal because it's primarily written from the perspective of Western missionaries.) No more than a page and a half is given to Vatican II. No consideration is given to recent ecumenical or interfaith developments in Christianity. And very little discussion of Christian doctrine or theology is included. Yet how can one write a history of Christianity without a consideration of the evolution of its beliefs?

At the same time, an inordinate amount of space is devoted to elements in the history of Christianity that seem tangential. Is it really necessary, for example, to devote an entire chapter to witch hunts and still another one to Mormonism? One can't but suspect that the detailed discussions of such topics were motivated at least in part by their popular appeal.

None of this is meant to condemn Moynahan's book. He's taken on a big, probably impossible task. Read as a quick and spotty survey, his history is okay. But for those readers who would like a more inclusive portrait, perhaps a work like Jaroslav Pelikan's multi-volumed (and entirely entertaining and accessible) history of Christian doctrine should be considered.

Rating:
Summary: Popping the clutch
Review: To read this book is rather like riding in a stick-shift car whose driver is used to an automatic: the smooth sailing is punctuated with sudden jumps and jolts that sometimes leave one breathless. What I mean is that Moynahan's history has some startling gaps in it, as if he's popped the clutch and either jumped ahead of where he should be or landed someplace he really shouldn't be.

There's almost no treatment in this book, for example, of the Orthodox tradition, much less (except for a rather dismal late chapter on "Missions") of Christianity with a non-Western face. (I say that the missions chapter is dismal because it's primarily written from the perspective of Western missionaries.) No more than a page and a half is given to Vatican II. No consideration is given to recent ecumenical or interfaith developments in Christianity. And very little discussion of Christian doctrine or theology is included. Yet how can one write a history of Christianity without a consideration of the evolution of its beliefs?

At the same time, an inordinate amount of space is devoted to elements in the history of Christianity that seem tangential. Is it really necessary, for example, to devote an entire chapter to witch hunts and still another one to Mormonism? One can't but suspect that the detailed discussions of such topics were motivated at least in part by their popular appeal.

None of this is meant to condemn Moynahan's book. He's taken on a big, probably impossible task. Read as a quick and spotty survey, his history is okay. But for those readers who would like a more inclusive portrait, perhaps a work like Jaroslav Pelikan's multi-volumed (and entirely entertaining and accessible) history of Christian doctrine should be considered.