Sep
24
Written by:
host
9/24/2009 7:00 AM
A confession: History has always been my least favorite subject. In college, for example, I took, "Religion in the U.S." and "History of Psychology" -- two classes connected with my majors -- so that I wouldn't have to take general world history survey courses. When I think back on my seminary courses on Christian history, I'm embarrassed to say that I mostly just remember snoozing through lectures about popes, power struggles, and profoundly uninteresting (to me, at least) theological disputes.
My disinterest in history finally began to change a few years ago when I took a trip to Israel and started a collection of ancient Jewish coins. Gradually, I've come to realize that I most enjoy reading history books when they explore the lesser-known stories, the experiences of common people, or the ways today's issues connect with the concerns of earlier generations of people.
I tell you all of this because it's rare for me to read or recommend history books. But the latest book to grab and completely hold my attention from the first page to the last is A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story by Diana Butler Bass (2009, HarperOne, 351 pp.) Butler Bass, who holds a PhD in American religious history and who has turned her attention in recent years to explorations of progressive Christianity, has given both the history haters and the history lovers of the world a beautiful gift: an eminently readable, engaging, well-researched book that explores the ways Christians throughout the ages have pursued a faith that focused on justice, peace, compassion, scholarship, ecumenism, care for creation, communal living, ethics, and other themes important to today's spiritual progressives.
A People's History of Christianity deftly blends contemporary concerns with stories from the past 2000 years. The book's arrangement is essentially chronological, but Butler Bass weaves in personal stories and modern examples which tie together the past and present. The result is an account of Christian history that feels highly relevant to the difficult concerns we face today. I finished the book inspired to dig deeper into the writings of individuals my seminary classes barely explored.
This is definitely not a complete account of Christian history, nor are the accounts necessarily balanced in terms of their influence. For example, Horace Bushnell (a 19th-century Congregationalist minister) receives slightly more coverage than John Wesley, yet Wesley has the greater influence today. Many significant individuals and movements of the 20th century are entirely absent from the book, in order to keep the book at a reasonable length. But for any individual or book group interested in the roots of today's spiritual progressives, A People's History of Christianity is definitely a worthwhile read.
~ by Tim Gossett
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