Introduction: Opening Up a Life Story 1: The Cradle: The World into Which Christianity Was Born 2: Smiles: Early Church Growth 3. First Words: Early Christian Writings 4: Tears: Persecutions 5. Learning to Write 6. It's Official: The Start of Imperial Christianity 7: Moving On and Out 8: Reflecting Inwardly and Reaching Out 9. Disagreements and Rivalries 10: Deepening Thinking Capacities 11. Growing, Contracting, Questioning 12: Divisions 13. Continuity and Change 14: Desires for Purity, Orthodoxy, and Piety 15: Enlightenment 16: Revolution 17: Challenge and Crisis 18. An Age of Turmoil 19: Creeping into Old Age, or Advancing into Young Adulthood? 20: Towards the Next Chapter in Life Further reading Index
Ian J. Shaw is Associate International Director of the Langham Scholars Program and Honorary Fellow, School of Divinity, New College, University of Edinburgh. He is the author of Churches, Revolutions and Empires: 1789-1914; High Calvinists in Action: Calvinism and the City; William Gadsby; and The Greatest Is Charity.
Believers need to know the story of their own faith, and
Christianity: The Biography is a great place to start. It covers
fascinating figures, movements and trends across two millennia
without ever getting bogged down or side-tracked. It is not only
clear and accessible, but also inspiring and wise.
*Timothy Larsen, McManis Professor of Christian Thought, Wheaton
College *
Christians today have largely lost their historical memory, and it
is no surprise that as a result many are struggling to agree on the
right way ahead for the church. Ian Shaw's remarkable book,
encompassing in one volume the entire chronological and
geographical range of Christian history, will prove invaluable in
helping Christians to recover their historical memory and hence to
find wisdom for the future.
*Brian Stanley, Professor of World Christianity, University of
Edinburgh *
I've enjoyed Christianity: The Biography enormously! What an
original idea. It presents the current scholarship in church
history in a very engaging way. I hope this book is widely read...
An absolutely outstanding volume!
*Ian Randall, Senior Research Fellow, Spurgeon’s College *
So-called 'histories of the church' are often essentially histories
only of the church in the West. It is a joy to meet one that
recognizes that 'world Christianity' began in the early centuries,
and that the story of the Christian faith is a six-continent one.
It is a joy also to find it so helpful and well written
*Professor Andrew F. Walls, University of Edinburgh, Liverpool Hope
University and Akrofi-Christaller Institute, Ghana *
The more we learn about Christianity's global reach, the more
urgent is the need to re-frame how we understand Christian history.
This book gets it right. It offers fascinating accounts of
Christianity entering the ancient civilizations of Persia, India
and China and its transformation of Ethiopia, Egypt and the Sudan
-- even while it was reaching the wild tribes of the remote British
Isles. We learn too about the rise of Islam, the modern missions
movement and the rapid worldwide spread of Pentecostalism. In sum,
this text is a lively treatment of a truly global faith.
*Professor Joel Carpenter, Nagel Institute for the Study of World
Christianity, Calvin College, Grand Rapids *
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