christian book reviews

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A “marvelous” (Economist) account of how the Christian Revolution forged the Western imagination.
 
Crucifixion, the Romans believed, was the worst fate imaginable, a punishment reserved for slaves. How astonishing it was, then, that people should have come to believe that one particular victim of crucifixion-an obscure provincial by the name of Jesus-was to be worshipped as a god. Dominion explores the implications of this shocking conviction as they have reverberated throughout history. Today, the West remains utterly saturated by Christian assumptions. As Tom Holland demonstrates, our morals and ethics are not universal but are instead the fruits of a very distinctive civilization. Concepts such as secularism, liberalism, science, and homosexuality are deeply rooted in a Christian seedbed. From Babylon to the Beatles, Saint Michael to #MeToo, Dominion tells the story of how Christianity transformed the modern world.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; Reprint edition (March 23, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 640 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1541675592
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1541675599
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.6 x 2.05 x 8.3 inches
Reviewer: Sotto voce
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Mind fodder for Believers and Atheist alike
Review: Fascinating and intricate read. Holland pursues the so-called religion, broadly termed the understanding of Christianity, as a function of history and civilization. It's an intriguing angle to observe the pervasiveness of religion disguised as Christ-following. It's a dissonant read.The book has stuck in my mind for some weeks before writing this review. That doesn't happen often. The book explores rarely cited history to enable the reader to consider the actions of men of religion who perpetrate the opposite of clear biblical teaching in the name of religion. Excellent examples include the dissonance of the 4th Crusade's sack and massacre of the devotedly Christian and Roman Constantinople. The political-papal designs of the Albigensian Crusade to exterminate and erase Cathars and seize their autonomous lands in the name of a French king and papal revenue. In the name of a religion, the worst crimes of men are perpetrated in the name of Christ. A wholly corrupt institution of religion imagined repeating the Cathar extermination in opposition to Reformation. The result was the near-total destruction of Europe in 100 years of cumulative and simultaneous wars (French Wars of Religion, 80-years War, the 30-years war) to no purpose. The Spanish conquest and enslavement of Western Hemisphere peoples in the name of religion. The invention and convenience of witch trials and inquisition. Holland goes on to explore the lowest lights and logic of the deconstruction of Christ's teachings for the methods of politics, money and men.The later chapters move the issue into the modern context to consider beliefs and the nature of Christianity's effect on all aspects of morals and belief. Agnosticism and atheism and faiths in between are framed within a secular context that make the book a must-read.The kindle edition enables a profound reading experience. References can be readily followed and then followed further. I spent a couple of nights simply deep-diving into a line of thought through Holland's references. There are some very cool back alleys to explore.Holland is not an Apologetic in the sense that the Christ-following reader would notice. Some of his points will make an Apologetic wince. Don't wince. Engage the author's thought line through his references and conclude as you will. I, for one, could not determine what side of belief Holland lives in. It's thoroughly and perhaps antagonistically unbiased.Much better than expected. It's a 'must-read'.

Reviewer: Wil
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Broad sweep of history through focused, well-detailed moments that echo
Review: So, pastor Tim Keller recommended this book and if you’re curious why, there’s an extended riff on Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings near the end! I read this in a week or so, was enthralled and engaged and stayed up late to see what happened next, even though, since it’s history, you kind of expect what’s coming! I wanted more discussion of contemporary fruits of the seeds of the past, but appreciated his connecting the Beatles to ISIS (not metaphorically, by historical record!) To Holland’s credit, I’ve already picked up his book on Islam to read next.

Reviewer: [email protected]
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Helpful
Review: If you seek some assistance in trying to make sense of current times and developments, this book might be helpful to you. Also it’s a great deal of fun to read, a pot boiler in its own way.

Reviewer: William S. Pitcher
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Not quite what I was expecting
Review: I liked it all. The author is a well-respected historian, and gave great insight as to the trajectory of the church and its impact on civilization.I might differ on some of his conclusions, but his thought process was all quite rational and the book was well put together.

Reviewer: Embree Walker
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Christianity
Review: Christianity is a subject that needs to be studied and this is a nice place to start

Reviewer: David Lindsay
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Western Values are Christian Values
Review: Tom Holland has written a superb overview of the impact of Christianity on the West. He argues we in the West are moored to our Christian past and our morals and ethics derive from Christianity. Holland believes that Christian values permeate Western culture and thinking. If anything, Christianity's influence has been underestimated. Holland claims that many beliefs that we take for granted have Christian origins. He argues that George W. Bush was mistaken in assuming that Muslims shared a Christian worldview and such values are universal.Holland does not fully explain what he means by Christian values. Jesus spoke repeatedly about inequality and injustice. He spent a lot of his time helping the poor and society’s outcasts. He wanted his followers to love their enemies. The Bible suggests that God is closer to the poor than to the rich. Matthew 25 states the key test for a disciple is treating the poor and the hungry as if they were Jesus. Professor Richard Hays of Duke Divinity School believes that Christians are meant to direct their energies towards the renunciation of violence, the sharing of possessions, and overcoming ethnic divisions. Holland discusses the impact of Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, who were both students of the Bible. They preached a message of non-violence and forgiveness.Saint Paul claimed that Christ's church was open to all, slave and free, Greek and Jew, male and female. He taught that everyone is equal before God and we should love one another. These were revolutionary ideas in the Roman world and we still struggle with them today. Holland argues that because God loves each of us unconditionally, we are in turn meant to love and respect our fellow man. Holland discusses the Beatles and he claims that songs like “All You Need is Love” and “Imagine” express Christian beliefs.Holland has written extensively about Rome, ancient Greece, and Islam. He claims that the more he studied classical antiquity the more alien he found it. Holland concluded that his values were distinctly Christian. Christianity became the dominant religion in Western Europe because of the Romans. Pagan Rome was a barbaric place. It was depraved and violent. The Romans entertained themselves by having criminals eaten alive by wild animals. Rome was also corrupt and materialistic, with only the rich having any rights. Julius Caesar is fondly remembered by classical scholars but he carried out genocide in Gaul. The Romans tended to destroy societies that got in their way. The Romans and Greek philosophers like Aristotle did not care about the poor and the downtrodden, they viewed them as losers. Aristotle justified slavery as natural, claiming some humans were slaves by nature, lacking the moral reason to be regarded as the equals of free men. Christianity must have seemed an attractive option for many ordinary people in the ancient world.Holland does not believe that God exists but he was raised a Christian. He claims that we in the West have retained our Christian morals and ethics even though many of us have stopped believing in God. The book is not a history of Christianity. He mentions theologians like Irenaeus, Anselm, Origen, Marcion, and Pelagius. It helps to have some knowledge of Christian history to understand their significance.When the Britain Empire occupied a country it would usually be forced by Christians to ban practices they considered barbaric. In India, Hindu widows would sacrifice themselves by sitting atop their deceased husband's funeral pyre. The British banned this practice because of pressure from Christian evangelicals. William Wilberforce was a devout Christian, who forced the British Parliament to ban the slave trade in 1807. The Bible did not seem to condemn slavery, but British Christians knew it was wrong. As Western culture has become more liberal we have embraced behavior that the Bible specifically forbids, like divorce, working on the Sabbath, and homosexuality. We are now making our own rules, but they are still rooted in the gospels.In 2002, the World Humanist Congress affirmed “the worth, dignity, and autonomy of the individual.” Holland views this as a quintessentially Christian idea that finds no parallel in the ancient world, or in other parts of the world today. Humanists believe “that morality is an intrinsic part of human nature based on understanding and a concern for others.” Holland argues that the source of humanist values is not to be found in science or reason but in Christianity.Holland suggests that Western secular liberals are deluding themselves in believing that Western views on human rights are universally shared. Western Liberals have insisted that Afghans should embrace gender equality. Holland claims that "To be a Muslim was to know that humans do not have rights. There was no natural law in Islam. There were only laws authored by God." For some Islamic scholars, such as Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi the idea of equality between men and women, or between Islam and other religions, is “a monstrous blasphemy”. There is no such thing as “human rights” only the laws of Allah; any attempt to impose those human rights on Islamic countries is infidel heresy and will lead to friction.Holland discusses the dark side of Christian history. Over time, he writes, Christians “have themselves become agents of terror. They have put the weak in their shadow; they have brought suffering, and persecution, and slavery in their wake.” He notes, for example, that the efforts of missionaries to bring Christianity to Africa were undermined by a “colonial hierarchy” in which black people “were deemed inferior.” But he also argues that the very standard by which we condemn colonizers is itself Christian.

Reviewer: Vernon McGuffee
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Extremely insightful
Review: This is an amazing book. Part of my personal interest interest is the question, "Into what is Christianity evolving?" In many respects, Holland gives a solid answer to that question. I highly recommend this.

Reviewer: Vincent Mathew
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Its a real page turner. It does well on the impossible task of summarizing 2000 years of Christian history and also has some good summary of the Jewish religion.

Reviewer: Daniel Martins
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: O livro é bom, porque deixa claro que o Cristianismo teve um impacto sem igual no mundo. Nossa moralidade sexual, compaixão e direitos naturais são heranças cristãs. O problema do livro é que o autor nem sequer tenta separar suas avaliações de sua visão de mundo progressista. Critica a condenação de Paulo às relações homossexuais como hipócrita, ataca Donald Trump com base em alegações progressistas e exalta as militâncias de esquerda americanas. O livro não perderia nada sem isso. Pelo contrário, a avaliação teria sido bem mais imparcial e séria sem as opiniões políticas do autor.

Reviewer: JdR
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I bought this thinking it was a different book to his UK version of a similar name. It's not, though it has a nicer contents page.Tom Holland is objective.The book itself was in pristine condition.

Reviewer: Joe Ellis
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This is an enlightening read.

Reviewer: Joseph Myren
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: AWESOME