Christianity

The First Three Thousand Years

By: Diarmaid MacCulloch

Narrated by: Walter Dixon

Length: 46 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

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

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)

A book that you'll have to listen in episodes

If you think this is a sit-back-and-relax kind of book, you will be disappointed in it. It is not a book that you can listen in one go... but all that said, Diarmaid MacCulloch history of Christianity is probably one of the best works on its history.

Previous histories would focus on Western Christianity, MacCulloch includes the various forms of Eastern Christianity, orthodox and not so orthodox. This makes it probably one of the most complete histories in the last few decades.

One thing that does hinder when listening to the book is the conceptualising of the dates and eras. I think Audible can give some or other download that might help with it. MacCulloch also seem to make a few irritating sidelong remarks, about historical figures en situations, that made me wonder what the basis for these remarks are.

The person reading the book does a decent job of the whole. It is however important to remember that he is reading an academical work.

This book is meant for academics and people with a big interest in the history of Christianity and the Christiandom throughout the ages.

Christian Faith and Change

This is a one volume history of Christianity. That’s not an easy task, even in a volume with 1184 pages. The author succeeds in it, beginning with the origins of christian faith (greek and judaic thought) and examining the constitution and development of the Christian Church in the West and in the East. Diarmaid MacCulloch argues that the longevity and success of the Christian Faith is derived in great measure to its capacity to accommodate change. Dogmatism and fanaticism, history shows, didn’t always prevails. The book emphasizes the main facts in christian’s history and explains the history’s backgrounds of their development. This
is an enlightening work, specially for the students of Christian Church and beliefs.

What a splendid way to learn!

I have read a lot of text books on this subject, but this is told in such a way that it keeps your attention while explaining the nuances! Thank you for making avaliable to us in audio form. I also have the book. Hearing it helps me digest the information.

Unbiased

Author treated the subject matter professionaly and as unbiased as he possibly could. Good read

An impressive work

Only a specularly learned scholar could have produced a book of such breadth and understanding. Many topics, of course, necessarily had to be dealt with somewhat summarily. I wish a little more attention had been paid to the development and history of textual criticism and its impact on various branches of modern Christianity. I also wish that a British narrator could have been employed who could have handled French words better.

Very comprehensive history

The author presents thousands of years of Christian history in the world with understanding and without obvious bias. If any particular aspect was missed, I can’t think of what it could be! This is my new favorite text on the history of Christianity, and I will certainly return to it for reference.

A Very Interesting Read/Listen/Watch

What did you love best about Christianity?

This is a book worth reading or listening to. It is very broad in the coverage of the various Christian communities. It covered some that I never knew existed. What is particularly nice is the 6 DVD video series that accompanies the book. The DVD set is available through Amazon or Netflix. The material covered is interesting and the writer knows how to present the material. I would highly recommend this book/video/recording to anyone interested in the topic.

Good, But Worth The Time?

This book is pretty much exactly what I thought it was, and what I wanted. I can say that I didn’t learn anything earth shattering though. It is absolutely packed with facts and seems to be well researched, but it is pretty clinical in its conclusions, so much so, that it feels fairly liberal in its presentation of the facts. There were several places when talking about modern religions that the facts were right, but the way it was presented made the conclusion not accurate at all. That makes me wonder how a Catholic or Protestant would see the book. It’s a proven historical fact that lots of death and torture happened in the name of Christianity, by both Protestants and Catholics. Great facts in this book, a little dry, and certainly some spin on the stated facts. Overall, I liked it.

Thorough and Accessible

I am not yet finished with this book. It is thorough and accessible and very well written. What an ambitious project! It is definitely a history of “Christianity” and not “Christians.” What was religious life like for an average peasant in Charlemagne’s empire? What was religious life like for a “higher-up” of the same era? Were there any atheists? What about diet and morals and work as they relate to religious practice? The emphasis is obviously theology, as it should be, but I wouldn’t have minded another five hours on the way people experienced their faith. Will Durant’s The Age of Faith covers much of that, but Durant’s book is 70 years old.

Great Book; mediocre narration

This is a splendid and worthy tome from a world-renowned historian of the Reformation. It is unfortunate that, once again, Audible could not be bothered to ensure that their narrator pronounces names properly - Bonhöffer, Habsburg, Alsace(!!!), etc. etc. are mispronounced throughout - and distractingly so. This is understandable in every day life, but not at all acceptable in a professional production.