Christendom

The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300

By: Peter Heather

Narrated by: Peter Heather

'A fascinating story about a religion in a surprisingly precarious position' Dan Jones, Sunday Times

'Superb storytelling ... captivating and profound' Literary Review

'A page-turner' The Spectator

*A major new reinterpretation of Christendom, by one of our foremost medieval historians*

In the fourth century AD, a new faith exploded out of Palestine. Overwhelming the paganism of Rome, and converting the Emperor Constantine in the process, it resoundingly defeated a host of other rivals. Almost a thousand years later, all of Europe was controlled by Christian rulers, and the religion, ingrained within culture and society, exercised a monolithic hold over its population. But, as Peter Heather shows in this compelling new history, there was nothing inevitable about Christendom's rise to Europe-wide dominance.

In exploring how the Christian religion became such a defining feature of the European landscape, and how a small sect of isolated and intensely committed congregations was transformed into a mass movement centrally directed from Rome, Peter Heather shows how Christendom constantly battled against both so-called 'heresies' and other forms of belief. From the crisis that followed the collapse of the Roman empire, which left the religion teetering on the edge of extinction, to the astonishing revolution of the eleventh century and beyond in which the Papacy emerged as the head of a vast international corporation, Heather traces Christendom's chameleon-like capacity for self-reinvention and astounding willingness to mobilize well-directed force.

Christendom's achievement was not, or not only, to define official Christianity, but - from its scholars and its lawyers, to its provincial officials and missionaries in far-flung corners of the continent - to transform it into an institution that wielded effective religious authority across nearly all of the disparate peoples of medieval Europe. This is its extraordinary story.

'Sweeping and engaging history ... a non-triumphalist history of the triumph of Christianity, and all the more powerful for it' Financial Times

Well organized and incredibly researched

Loved how easy it was to follow the scope of changes Christianity has gone through. Peter Heather does a fantastic job exploring all of the societal and political pressures that shaped and organized the faith through ten pivotal centuries. Really pulls you into the historical reality of conversion as a cultural process that shapes itself even as it shapes the world around it.

Good book

Fascinating, objective take on the origins of the Catholic Church from the conversion of Constantine to the fall of Rome to the rise of the papacy and Lateran IV

Comparative perspective

This excellent work is a complete and coherent explanation of how a small and despised religion became one of the great world religions. The author’s gravitas is leavened by lithe writing and the reader hits the perfect tone. It’s dense and cutting edge but still accessible if you put your back into it :-)

Comprehensive & Accessible

A comprehensive and accessible read covering the indicated period. For a 5-Star review I would have appreciated a little bit less focus on the period around the fall of the Roman Empire in the West (it being understood that this is the Author’s special field of expertise) and less use of counterfactuals (in particular the one concerning Julian the Apostate was not really convincing).

What I Thought I Knew…

This book was an experience. A journey into the past that opened a bit of an understanding what led us to this day. Thank you!