Readers will perhaps do a double-take at the title of Diarmaid MacCulloch's new book, Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years.The author, professor of the history of the church at Oxford University, chose the subtitle quite deliberately, and asks readers to recognize that Christian ideas "lived" before the appearance of Jesus on the human stage and, at the same time, to consider the future possibilities for Christianity.
Divided into seven sections, Christianity begins with an examination of the religion's roots in Greek philosophy and Judaism. The story begins in Greece, MacCulloch informs us, because "In the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1), the Greek Logos.
This phrase, and all that it implies, serves as a reminder of the important role that Greek thought and culture played in the development of Christianity.
Although the religion's roots in Judaism are more evident, the author recounts the story of ancient Israel - its history and its religion - and explains how a small Jewish sect used sacred literature and the stories of the Tanakh, a collection of sacred writings, as it began to develop into a major world religion.
Chapter 3, "A Crucified Messiah," focuses on Jesus, Paul, and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70. Although MacCulloch reiterates the importance of Good Friday and Easter Sunday in the development of Christianity, he does not attempt to verify the Resurrection from the perspective of history.
Indeed, it is impossible for historians to verify this event, he contends, because "it is a different sort of truth"; it remains, however, the central tenet of the Christian faith.
The author devotes three chapters to explaining the development of Christianity from a small group of believers in Jesus the Christ to a church with prescribed beliefs and a sophisticated organizational structure.
Early church leaders built a "Catholic," i.e., universal, faith by determining a canon (a list of sacred texts later generations would know as the Old and New Testaments), creating a ministerial structure (bishops and clergy), and agreeing upon doctrines that defined the beliefs of practicing Christians.
The most controversial doctrinal questions focused on the person and nature of Jesus. What did it mean to be the Son of God and God?
How was the Son related to the Father, and how was the Spirit related to both Father and Son?
The answers to these - and related - questions were constructed at a series of church councils beginning in 325.
In that year, the Council of Nicea introduced the term homoousia - "one substance" - to Christianity's lexicon. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are of the same substance, or essence. Discussions on Christology, the study of Jesus as the Christ, culminated at the Council of Chalcedon held in 451.
Although important details were left unresolved, participants at Chalcedon accepted an earlier statement issued by Leo the Great, and defined Christ as fully God and fully man, a belief still accepted by Roman Catholics; Greek, Romanian, and Slavic Orthodox; Anglicans; and mainstream Protestants.
MacCulloch does not leave readers with the impression that early church councils led to complete unanimity within Christianity, but includes the stories of churches in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, such as the Egyptian, Syrian, and Armenian, that rejected Chalcedon's faith statement on the nature of Christ.
MacCulloch rightly recognizes the importance of discussing Christianity from the perspective of three major groups: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant, and successfully convinces the reader of the importance of each tradition's role in the larger picture.
He weaves their stories together whenever possible; for example, one finds the Crusades in a chapter entitled "Orthodoxy: More Than an Empire."
The following chapter, "Russia: The Third Rome," however, is centered primarily on the development of the Eastern church in that country and includes a discussion of the type of Eastern saint known as the Holy Fool, hermits, and the place of Moscow in a church reeling from the loss of Constantinople.
No text purporting to trace the rise and development of a major world religion can do it all, and Christianity is no exception. MacCulloch does at least touch on many important representatives of events, movements, and doctrinal developments.
Topics as diverse as the teaching on Purgatory, Eucharistic doctrine, and evangelicalism are explained and placed within the context of major events such as the Reformations (Protestant and Catholic), the Enlightenment, and the culture wars of the 20th and 21st centuries.
In addition, the author attempts to incorporate the role of Christian women into the larger history, and includes figures as diverse as the mystic Teresa of Avila; Angela Merici, foundress of the Ursuline nuns, the first active women's religious community; and English Protestant feminist Mary Astell.
MacCulloch is not afraid to tackle topics that present Christianity in a somewhat unfavorable light.
Sexuality and the reluctance of Christian churches to condemn the institution of slavery are discussed from the perspective of a professional historian, and readers will not be subject to polemics on issues that are or have been controversial in organized Christian denominations.
One caution for those interested in exploring McCulloch's work: This book is not light summer beach reading.
Indeed, at more than 1,000 pages, it would not be easy to carry from home to the beach!
Despite its size, however, Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years is an excellent book, and I suspect it will quickly become the go-to book for those seeking information on this major world religion.
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