Story of Christianity: a celebration of 2000 years of faith.

The Story of Christianity A Celebration of 2,000 Years of Faith

by Michael Collins and Matthew A. Price Oxford University Press 240 pages 9 x 12 hardcover, $35.00 ISBN 0 1954 1496 9

The Story of Christianity combines superb illustrations with lucid and readable text to convey the sweep of Christian history through 2,000 years. Though each could successfully stand alone, together they show powerfully why -- for Christian and non-Christian alike -- the Christian faith "has affected every sphere of life, from morality to politics, from art to literature, from science to philosophy."

The co-authors are an Irish Roman Catholic priest and an American Protestant Evangelical historian and book publisher. Together they have produced a book that presents Christian history in all its diversity -- in good times and bad -- concerned not only with the leaders in each era, but for its role in the lives of ordinary people.

Contemporary quotations, maps, charts, photographs and works of art give an immediacy and relevance to the narrative. One of the most striking photographs is of the heelbone of a young first century man with the nail used in his crucifixion still protruding. The accompanying text gruesomely describes the violence of that method of execution.

As it traces the various stages of Christian history, the book also examines the development of doctrine through the centuries. Every page offers lavish illustrations, and there are small side articles highlighting interesting, curious, or useful aspects of the story. There is a helpful glossary of terms from all traditions, making the book useful for cross-denominational study by persons of high school age and up, together with a good index.

The controversies are treated, in the main, even-handedly, neither minimizing nor exaggerating their effects. The survey of the Reformation period -- both from the Protestant side and its effect on the Roman Catholic Church, is especially helpful. The background article on the sale of indulgences -- a key issue of the reformation -- takes on new relevance with the recent publication of the Vatican's latest catalogue of indulgences available today. On the other hand, the authors' dismissive handling of the "three selfs" movement of Chinese Christianity perhaps reveals a convergence of right wing evangelical and papal attitudes toward the Chinese revolution of 50 years ago.

Stories of corruption and authoritarian repression, of wealth spent on soaring cathedrals instead of feeding the hungry, are balanced by those of Christian care for the poor, sick, homeless, and aged; by the fight against slavery, and the Christian belief in equality before God.

The closing chapter suggests that present controversies in the church stem less from the old Catholic-Protestant divide, but between liberal and conservative -- where the like-minded find oneness across denominational lines rather than in their own historic church allegiances.

The common thread running through this presentation of the Christian story is the ability of the church repeatedly to correct itself. It is summed up in a quotation from Christian author G.K. Chesterton: "Christianity has died many times, and risen again."