Christianity Audiobook By Diarmaid MacCulloch cover art

Christianity

The First Three Thousand Years

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Christianity

By: Diarmaid MacCulloch
Narrated by: Walter Dixon
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Once in a generation, a historian will redefine his field, producing a book that demands to be read and heard - a product of electrifying scholarship conveyed with commanding skill. Diarmaid MacCulloch's Christianity is such a book. Breathtaking in ambition, it ranges back to the origins of the Hebrew Bible and covers the world, following the three main strands of the Christian faith.

Christianity will teach modern listeners things that have been lost in time about how Jesus' message spread and how the New Testament was formed. We follow the Christian story to all corners of the globe, filling in often neglected accounts of conversions and confrontations in Africa and Asia. And we discover the roots of the faith that galvanized America, charting the rise of the evangelical movement from its origins in Germany and England. This audiobook encompasses all of intellectual history - we meet monks and crusaders, heretics and saints, slave traders and abolitionists, and discover Christianity's essential role in driving the enlightenment and the age of exploration, and shaping the course of World War I and World War II.

We are living in a time of tremendous religious awareness, when both believers and non-believers are deeply engaged by questions of religion and tradition, seeking to understand the violence sometimes perpetrated in the name of God. The son of an Anglican clergyman, MacCulloch writes with deep feeling about faith. His last book, The Reformation, was chosen by dozens of publications as Best Book of the Year and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. This awe-inspiring follow-up is a landmark new history of the faith that continues to shape the world.

©2010 Diamaid MacCulloch (P)2010 Gildan Media Corp Middle Ages World Christianity History Ministry & Evangelism Middle East Africa Imperialism
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Critic reviews

"Assuming no previous knowledge on the part of readers about Christian traditions, MacCulloch traces in breathtaking detail the often contentious arguments within Christianity for the past 3,000 years. His monumental achievement will not soon be surpassed." ( Publishers Weekly)
"A work of exceptional breadth and subtlety." ( Booklist)
Comprehensive History • Global Perspective • Pleasant Voice • Scholarly Research • Detailed Analysis • Clear Narration

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Anyone who thoroughly enjoys Medieval and Renaissance history as I do can tell you that the history of Christianity is so bound up with it as to be inseparable. The thing is, a great many history books will give you only what's necessary specific to the topic at hand and very little else. Even books on the Crusades, which presumably center around religion, will leave the underlying faith as an accepted and understood issue, touching upon the heretical issues as they come up.

This book is specifically geared towards pretty much anyone who wants the details as well as the broad strokes. It covers the history of Christianity from the onset of Judaism as an offshoot of earlier traditions, Christianity's beginnings as an offshoot of that, and covers its evolution not just in Western Europe, but also in Greece, Russia, Africa, Korea, and all parts of the globe where the cross is held high. It goes even further as Islam splinters from that, and the history of the Middle Eastern faiths are examined as an intertwined whole. As it goes, the reader is given another portrait to absorb as the beliefs evolve in the various corners of the globe, across time and through politics or scholarly pursuits.

In short, this is the most complete picture of Christianity that I've certainly ever encountered, and it's helped my understanding of history considerably. Special kudos not only to what it covers and why, but also how, as the outline for this book is nothing short of daunting. To cover this topic so completely is nothing short of a feat.

As one might expect, a history of this depth and magnitude will likely call into question the faith of a devout individual reading this book as not everything is as tradition holds to be true in our day and age, and as that tradition may vary depending on which sect you follow. I would challenge that the scholarly will find a great deal of wealth here, and the religiously-minded will be confronted with questions fundamental to their faith. How those questions are answered will ultimately be determined by individual willingness to see past the rigid and into the changing waters of history. Some are more readily accepting of this than others, obviously, everyone has to approach the question their own way. Being a hefty monster of a tome, however, this one is most definitely aimed at the serious scholar, regardless of the historical or spiritual approach.

The Evolution of a Religion

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I tried to make it to the end of the audio, out of sheer stubbornness, but about 2/3 of the way through I bailed, and finished the print (e-book) version. The history, and even the theology, were fine, but the Middle Ages/Renaissance begins a heavy emphasis upon philosophy; I tried fast forwarding through that, which proved ineffective. The historical aspect resumes after the French Revolution (for those interested).
Narrator does a good job with material that becomes highly technical (I won't quibble with "dry") at times, but he just couldn't carry the conversational tone for several dozen hours.
Recommended on audio only for those truly into theology and philosophy, rather than history and sociology. Perhaps because I agree with the author's point-of-view, but I didn't have trouble with "bias", not minding his asides particularly.

Too thorough for audio perhaps?

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What did you like best about Christianity? What did you like least?

I enjoyed the first few chapters about the early church, especially the analysis of Origen and Augustine's theology, and the effects of neo-Platonism on Christian thinking. After that, however, I lost interest for different reasons: while the chapters on the variants of the eastern church were too detailed and sometimes just plain dull, subsequent chapters on the medieval and especially the renaissance church seemed rushed and raised more questions than they answered. The author seems more concerned with the "what" than the "why," which isn't unusual for a historian, but I would have liked more explanation of, for example, why the ideas of Lutheran and reformed theologies were so appealing to people at the time. Unfortunately when the author does explain the appeal of ideas, he's frequently reductive, as when he tries to explain iconodulia as a result of the need for certainty and tangibility in troubled times. I guess it would be an impossible task to achieve in a one volume history, but I wish he'd given as much play to the importance of ideas in later chapters as he did in those concerning the early church.

Would you recommend Christianity to your friends? Why or why not?

Maybe to those who want an overview. It's certainly a jumping off place for further reading.

Which scene was your favorite?

I liked the chapters on the early church. There's a feel in those chapters for how compelling the new theology must have seemed to its early adherents and teachers. I also enjoyed hearing about the application of Platonist ideas to scriptural interpretation and to the development of theology.

Could you see Christianity being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Hasn't the BBC already done this?

Any additional comments?

The narrator deserves a lot of credit for his stamina and for the majority of times his pronunciation of foreign terms was correct. A few quibbles about the ancient Greek, but altogether an excellent job. I hope he got a lengthy vacation after narrating this work.

Massive Scope Works Against It

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The narrator mispronounces names and words, which I found irritating. And the author does allow his personal feelings to bleed through. An example is his antipathy for Paul.

History with a spin

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What made the experience of listening to Christianity the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed the narrator's conversational and attention-holding manner, and the fluid and appealing way the author writes of the Roman Empire's version of Christianity versus the flavors of the other Christian rites.

What other book might you compare Christianity to and why?

I've not read such a comprehensive approach to this subject, before, so I would not compare it at all.

Have you listened to any of Walter Dixon’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, I have not.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

Any additional comments?

A quality book with an outstanding narration

Explore the underpinnings of Christianity

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