book review the lost history of christianity

Well, that is one of the topics discussed in this well written, highly informative history. Christianity became predominantly European not because this continent had any obvious affinity for that faith, but by default: Europe was the continent where it was not destroyed. This book is particularly helpful in establishing many of the core beliefs of western Christianity in the broader and ancient roots of the church. Perhaps a quarter of the world’s Christians looked to him as their spiritual and political head. Much of the “Arab” scholarship of the time, such as translations of Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Galen, and others into Arabic, or the adoption of the Indian numbering system, was in fact done by Syriac, Persian, and Coptic (Egyptian and Nubian) Christians, often in the high employ of the Caliph. As late as 1900, the Ottoman Empire, (ruled by a Muslim sultan from Constantinople) was only 50% Muslim and 46% Christian; in subsequent years a terrible ethnic cleansing of Christians created a Turkey that is over 97% Muslim. The church’s milieu was not only Jewish and Muslim but also, perhaps more so, Buddhist, Manichaean, Zoroastrian, and Confucian. Read on my iPad. The Lost History of Christianity is of interest to students of religion (Christian and Muslim), Middle Eastern and Church history, and Christian ministry. We came to deserted villages such as Kafro, whose inhabitants had been driven out by the attacks of Turkish Hezbollah, and which were now sealed off by the military. * The Jesus of a Previous Century * The King Solomon of a Later Century: The Gospel Chart displays the evolutionary developement of the source texts that made up both the New Testament Canon and heterodox apocrypha. Well, that is one of the topics discussed in this well written, highly informative history. More importantly, Christians in the East -in the Arab World - survived for 1000 years under the various caliphates. This book could easily have been several things it is not: an academic treatise, an intemperate diatribe against Islamic violence, or an uncritical glamorization of Nestorian… By the 8th century, Nestorian Christians had established settlements in China, and Christianity was the majority religion in the Middle East until the coming of Islam, and for centuries afterward. He protested that he was not up to it, not least because his knowledge of Syriac was rudimentary. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published As late as the 11th century Asia was home to about a third of the world’s Christians, Africa another 10 percent, and the faith in these continents had deeper roots in the culture than it did in Europe, where in many places it was newly arrived or still arriving. I LIKE that. Certain groups of Christians disappeared, others lingered on as "lost groups." One, Markos, was probably a Uygur and the other, Bar Sauma, may have been an Onggud. By the eagle. The contributions of the Christians in forming the "Islamic Civilisation" are enormous and should be acknowledged. This may be the most eye-opening history book of the year. As Jenkins says, “We have forgotten a world.” The “new” globalized Christianity “is better seen as a resumption of an ancient reality.” He explores the pervasive influence of Christianity on Islam, and it is always good to see the woolly writings of Karen Armstrong and Elaine Pagels taken apart, albeit gently. He was educated at Clare College, in the University of Cambridge, where he took a prestigious “Double First” degree—that is, Double First Class Honors. In 1978, he obtained his doctorate in history, also from Cambridge. Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, Center for Substance Abuse Policy Research, First Step Act Independent Review Committee. Only because of the vagaries of history (or the inscrutable machinations of God, depending upon one's point of view) did Western and Orthodox Christianity survive, that survival feeding the myths that the heterodox sects were suppressed by the Romans and that there were no Christians of any number outside of the empire. Later, the Mongols themselves embraced Islam and turned on the Christians. Jenkins recounts how “in 782, the Indian Buddhist missionary Prajna arrived in the Chinese imperial capital of Chang’an, but was unable to translate the Sanskrit sutras he had brought” into Chinese or other useful local languages. Interesting chapters on the Christian churches in Japan, Arabia and Egypt. Booklist. He then uses this topic to speak to the larger point of the rise and fall of religions. Since 1980, he has taught at Penn State University, and currently holds the rank of Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of the Humanities. Much more information on the Eastern Churches and insights into the history of failure than my students usually get. Be the first one to write a review. The wide acceptance of Christianity and its growth in influence obscures the history of its losses. Jenkins also does a great job in showing that there were a variety of expressions of Christianity in these areas--some more indigenous than others. $ 11) tells the stories of the … Jenkins, professor of history and religious studies, Penn State University, is the author of numerous best-selling works, including The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) and The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the … But even then, you will not come away with a clear chronology. And then they died out. Book Overview "Jenkins is one of America's top religious scholars." There are no reviews yet. For 60 years there had been no Christians there, but now the diocese had sent a Christian family from a local village, who live in a small apartment in the church and try to keep it from falling apart. This book is particularly helpful in establishing many of the core beliefs of western Christianity in the broader and ancient roots of the church. Jenkins has done a great service to Christendom in writing this book on its "lost history." When the British took over Mesopotamia after the First World War, they judged the Assyrians’ situation so desperate that they considered moving them to Canada. Look, Within five hundred years of Christianity's millennial birthday, however, its reach had vanished, lost in political upheaval and newly arrived competition. I'm writing a paper on this book so I'll be giving more thoughts in it but generally this book will humble you, just read through the details of unfamiliar locations though you'll learning a lot of good world history, particularly the 13th and 14th century, but not everyone likes that stuff. I would argue that this holds true of relationships, too. By taking about the different communities that managed to survive better than others, such as the Egyptian Copts, Jenkins also discusses the factors of geography and politics that help or doom minority religions. (The Crusades were a minor sideshow.) The author gives a unique perspective on what happened to the Christian Church in Africa and the Middle East. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. It would also help students of prophecy better grasp the issues captured by John in the Revelation -- a Bible book that was written to … Once, Christians were the majority from North Africa all the way to India--and had sizable communities beyond, even to China. The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, and How it Died by Philip Jenkins is a fascinating book outlining the history of Christianity outside of Europe, especially during the first thousand years. For most of its history, Christianity was a tricontinental religion, with powerful representation in Europe, Africa and Asia, and this was true into the 14th century. An informative read for tourists/travelers to Turkey. This is an interesting look at the eastern arm of the Christian church, which survived for a thousand years under non-Christian polities (largely Muslim) and, arguably, flourished up through the 14th century AD. It seems banal even to note this. As a result, “Buddhist and Nestorian scholars worked amiably together for some years to translate seven copious volumes of Buddhist wisdom.” These same volumes were taken back home by Japanese monks who had been in Chang’an, and became the founding volumes of Shingon and Tendai, the two great schools of Japanese Buddhism. He also gave his perspectives on how religious movements start and die out. --Publishers Weekly, starred review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Find book reviews, essays, best-seller lists and news from The New York Times Book Review. This book has few weaknesses. He is also a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion. Book Review: The Lost History of Christianity. How could all this history have happened and nobody saw fit to tell us about it? In 1978, he obtained his doctorate in history, also from Cambridge. But there's no attempt to link the chunks together. Jenkins tells this story with a certain vibrancy that keeps one wanting to continue on to the next page. Since 1980, he has taught at Penn State University, and currently holds the rank of Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of the Humanities. It was mostly under "non-Arab muslims" that Christianity diminished and almost disappeared in the East, i.e., under the mongols, the mamelukes and the turks. Jenkins shows how this saying is as true for the world's religions as it is for most anything else. Though advertising itself as a history of the global church, Lost History is prin. One trigger was the Mongol invasions, which threatened Arab Islam as never before. It was also a church immersed in cultures very different from the Roman and Hellenic environments of the West. Your understanding of the advance (and retreat) of Christianity will be incomplete without this book. There are negative reasons to be a Zionist, and there are affirmative reasons. A Christian cemetery in Kyrgyzstan contains inscriptions in Syrian and Turkish commemorating “Terim the Chinese, Sazik the Indian, Banus the Uygur, Kiamata of Kashgar, and Tatt the Mongol.” The Church of the East may even have reached to Burma, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, and Korea. Quite a mouthful, I know. Highly recommended for readers of religious history. The last three chapters are worth reading carefully. left their nest, alarmed On December 22, Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) reshuffled his cabinet. John Philip Jenkins was born in Wales in 1952. Most of the book, I would say, is taken up with a) complaints that Europeans and their descendants know too little about the churches of the East and b) attempts to make the history of those churches 'relevant.' He. The church developed early, Europe became in some sense Christianized, and subsequently it set the pattern for the faith. With the discovery of America and the European voyages of exploration, as well as colonialism, Christianity then spread to the rest of the world largely as a Western export. by HarperOne, The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--and How It Died. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Quite a mouthful, I know. Brilliant book about the "lost history" of Christianity; one of my year's top ten best. In 1930 there were proposals to transfer them to South America. The real game-changer was the Mongol invasion. Christianity became predominantly European not because this continent had any obvious affinity for that faith, but by default: Europe was the continent where it was not destroyed. It would have been good to explore the major cultural effects of the different role of language in Christian and Islamic missions: the former seeking to bring the Word into the locals’ languages, the latter seeking to bring the locals the Word in Arabic. Beyond that, they managed to evangelize as far afield as China and were influential presences in some of the most surprising places - like the courts of Mongol conquerors and Indian rajahs. Beginning around AD 1300, give or take a few decades, these communities began to disappear; Jenkins chronicles their survival and offers some reasons for their eventual destruction. This is a fascinating book which shatters the myth of Christianity as simply a product of "Western Civilization." More importantly, Christians in the East -in the Arab World - survived for 1000 years under the various caliphates. The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church… In this groundbreaking book, renowned religion scholar Philip Jenkins offers a lost history, revealing that, for centuries, Christianity’s center was actually in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, with significant communities extending as far as China. Promoting American leadership and global engagement for a secure, free, and prosperous future. The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia—and How It Died. Only because of the vagaries of history (or the inscrutable machinations of God, depending upon one's point of view) did Western and Orthodox Christianity survive, that survival feeding the myths that the heterodox sects were suppressed by the Romans and that there were no Christians of, This is an interesting look at the eastern arm of the Christian church, which survived for a thousand years under non-Christian polities (largely Muslim) and, arguably, flourished up through the 14th century AD. A very, very fine read. Around 1275, two Chinese monks began a pilgrimage to the Holy land. I read this book in conjunction with another insightful book just reviewed: Transcending Mission, by Michael Stroope. Their language, Syriac-Aramaic, is as close as any living language to the one that Jesus spoke, yet they are forbidden by the Turkish government to teach it to their schoolchildren. The Mongols sought alliances with Christians, and there were Christians among them, hence local believers were treated as a potential fifth column and often massacred. In this groundbreaking book, renowned religion scholar Philip Jenkins offers a lost history, revealing that, for centuries, Christianity's center was actually in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, with significant communities extending as far as China. Jenkins' book retells the history of this oft-forgotten story of how Christianity moved east--not through the Roman Catholic church, but by Christians who rejected the Council of Chalcedon. Between 1200 and 1500 the proportion of Christians outside Europe fell from over a third to about 6 percent. The author Philip Jenkins says that much of the information presented in this work is little known except by a few scholars. Deeply erudite, sure-to-be-controversial history of the persecution of Christian churches throughout the world. Christian Alternative, $23.95 trade paper (232p) ISBN 978-1-78904-194-1 The story usually told of Christianity is that, while it certainly also spread elsewhere, its major influence and home was in Europe. Is this the first book to document Christianity began east of Rome? Most of the book, I would say, is taken up with a) complaints that Europeans and their descendants know too little about the churches of the East and b) attempts to make the history of those churches 'relevant.' What is worse, they were never mentioned in my college courses on the history of the early church. It was mostly under "non-Arab muslims" that Christianity diminished and almost disappeared in the East, i.e., under the mongols, the mamelukes and the turks. We may currently be in another such wave as Christians flee the Palestinian areas, Lebanon, Turkey, and Egypt. Philip Jenkins’s marvelous new book, The Lost History of Christianity, tells the largely forgotten story of Nisibis, and thousands of sites like it, which stretch from Morocco to Kenya to India to China, and which were, deep into the second millennium, the heart of the church. It again proved to me how complex the first millenium was and how little it is understood in contemporary times. In his latest work, entitled The Lost History of Christianity, Philip Jenkins traces the thousand-year golden age of the Church in the … Who were these Christians, what did they believe, and what happened to them? Jenkins pieces together how many Islamic traditions were borrowed from Christianity and Judaism. He does a great job of asking the questions of why things changed--and what caused the demise of Christianity in these areas; there are complex reasons & answers. It was amazing to learn the the Persian Empire of the first 500 years of the CE was just as amenable to the spread of Christianity as the Roman Empire. Although the book is less than 270 pages excluding references, it has far too much to go into detail here. If you didn't know that Christian communities existed and thrived in Asia and Africa during antiquity, you will learn about that in this book. I'm curious, and it's interesting. The Lost History of Christianity unveils a vast and forgotten network of the world's largest and most influential Christian churches that existed to the east of … where they hide in dread! The gospel had reached much of the world within just a few centuries after Christ. It would also help students of prophecy better grasp the issues captured by John in the Revelation -- a Bible … John Philip Jenkins was born in Wales in 1952. This is an extremely important perspective on Christian history that is strangely absent from most books of Christian history, … Jenkins demonstrates that this story is flat wrong—or as he more charitably puts it, “much of what we know is inaccurate.”. The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia—and How It Died 4.02 avg rating — 1,539 ratings — published 2008 — 27 editions Weekly in your inbox: book reviews, book lists, news, book trivia, and more! Christianity’s foundational belief is that Jesus was the Son of God, who died and rose again as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of a fallen world. I was incredibly impressed by his book, I've never read a history that so thoroughly convinced me that everything I thought I knew about a topic was wrong. While Christians will be particularly concerned with this story, it will be of interest to, and significant for, far more than they. The history of Christianity I was taught ran through Europe. Enter Jenkins' book, smacking me across the face and reminding me what an anglo-European-centered Christian that I am. Welcome back. Within five hundred years of Christianity's millennial birthday, however, its reach had vanished, lost in political upheaval and newly arrived competition. In prestige and authority, Timothy was “arguably the most significant Christian spiritual leader of his day,” much more influential than the Western pope and on par with the Orthodox patriarch in Constantinople. God’s Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe’s Religious Crisis (2007) found in Europe much more than fading Christianity and growing Islam. The contributions of the Christians in forming the "Islamic Civilisation" are enormous and should be acknowledged. -- Forbes magazine The Lost History of Christianity by Philip Jenkins offers … Refresh and try again. Perhaps Ephrem’s hymn and prayer will be answered: “Bring them back in peace.”, Senior Fellow, Center for Religious Freedom. Jenkins argues we need to read about and understand the history of churches in places where they didn't flourish otherwise we are too seduced by the connections between the church and power. A valuable, insightful book! He likewise shows how the evolution of Islam took place right alongside, and was partly influenced by, them. He does a great job of asking the questions of why things changed--and what caused the demise of Christianity in these areas; there are complex reasons & answers to those questions. By this time, sufficient resentment had built up and Christian communities were persecuted. This should be highlighted e. An eyeopener on a flourishing Christian community that mainstream history ignores. Moffett's goal is actually the history of the existence of Christianity in that region, whereas Jenkins focus on the question 'how do religions die' means the book is aiming at quite different questions. In 1281, Markos was elected patriarch. That figure diminished to around 3% at the end of the 20th century (the word "genocide" was coined in part to identify a different kind of crime, like the Turk's slaughter of Christian Armenians in 1915 or the Iraqi's killing of Christian Assyrians decades later). We asked him what the words meant, and he told us that the lyrics came from Ephrem himself: __Listen, my chicks have flown, The history of Christianity I was taught ran through Europe. The Lost History of Christianity is a narrative of its rise and fall, as well as a richly textured explanation of why this happened. Jenkins places the ending of this world, “the decisive collapse of Christianity in the Middle East, across Asia, and in much of Africa,” not with the initial rise of Islam but in the 14th century. You know why I care? Jenkins discusses the growth and death of these church communities in broad strokes with fairly detailed examples to help make his point. While Islam was Christianity'. What is worse, they were never mentioned in my college courses on the history of the early church. At Redeemed Reader, we’re reading ahead for you so that you can confidently choose books for your children and teens. I got this ebook as a birthday present. Yet much of the populations Asia, the Middle East, and northern Africa were Christian for a hundreds of years, if not a millennium. I've never read a history that so thoroughly convinced me that everything I thought I knew about a topic was wrong. This is my favorite type of history book. Brilliant book about the "lost history" of Christianity; one of my year's top ten best. Following massacres by Arabs in 1933, the British flew the patriarch to Cyprus for safety while the League of Nations debated moving them to Brazil or Niger. Moffett's goal is actually the history of the existence of Christianity in that region, whereas Jenkins focus on the question 'how do religions die. Timur’s subsequent invasions, among the most brutal in history, furthered the process, as did Seljuk and Ottoman advances and, further east, rising anti-Mongol Chinese nationalism. To about 6 percent were some 4 percent of the core beliefs of Western Christianity in the East -in Arab! Know this story with a certain vibrancy that keeps one wanting to continue on to the Christian church America. How could all this history have happened and nobody saw fit to tell us it. These formerly Christian majority areas is very insightful, as well as encouraging me how complex first! 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