Cover of A History of Christianity

A History of Christianity

First published in 1976, Paul Johnson's exceptional study of Christianity has been loved and widely hailed for its intensive research, writing, and magnitude—"a tour de force, one of the most ambitious surveys of the history of Christianity ever attempted and perhaps the most radical" (New York Review of Books).

Read more

In a highly readable companion to books on faith and history, the scholar and author Johnson has illuminated the Christian world and its fascinating history in a way that no other has. Johnson takes off in the year 49 with his namesake the apostle Paul. Thus beginning an ambitious quest to paint the centuries since the founding of a little-known 'Jesus Sect', A History of Christianity explores to a great degree the evolution of the Western world. With an unbiased and overall optimistic tone, Johnson traces the fantastic scope of the consequent sects of Christianity and the people who followed them. Information drawn from extensive and varied sources from around the world makes this history as credible as it is reliable. Invaluable understanding of the framework of modern Christianity—and its trials and tribulations throughout history—has never before been contained in such a captivating work.

Audience
adult
Length
long · 576 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked A History of Christianity? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked A History of Christianity. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Saint Paul Shares religion, christianity, theology
  2. Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus Shares history, religion, christianity
  3. AD 381: Heretics, Pagans and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State Shares history, religion, nonfiction
  4. The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity Shares religion, history, christianity

“People who read A History of Christianity tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Death On A Friday Afternoon: Meditations On The Last Words Of Jesus From The Cross
  2. Why Catholics are Right
  3. Music of Silence: A Sacred Journey Through the Hours of the Day
  4. The Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love, and Terror in Algeria

“If you want more of the same (history about religion), start with these.”

  1. The Lost Apostle: Searching for the Truth About Junia
  2. The Early Church
  3. The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston’s Catholic Culture
  4. The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia—and How It Died

“If it was the religion that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom
  2. The Reformation: A History
  3. The Faith: A History of Christianity
  4. Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews, A History

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Jesus and the Gospels
  2. St. Paul: The Apostle We Love to Hate
  3. Apostle: Travels Among the Tombs of the Twelve
  4. The Jesus Sutras: Rediscovering the Lost Scrolls of Taoist Christianity