In Search of Christian Origins: A Timeline of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

by J. Steven Paul

Overview

There is the accepted, often-repeated version of Christian history—and then there’s the real story. In this gripping volume, author J. Steven Paul uncovers the little-known details of the world’s largest religion.

How did Christianity originate? Who created its earliest writings? Who decided which books would be in the Bible? Where did the ideas of heaven and hell originate, and when did people begin taking the Bible literally? How did Christianity evolve and fracture into the many forms it takes today? From fascinating background on its central tenets to curious details that have been largely swept under the rug, this comprehensive overview traces Christianity from ancient practices through its centuries-long rise in popularity, power, influence, and dominance.

Paul’s detailed account sheds light on doctrine, dogma, and traditions, observing Christianity’s interaction with related faiths, including Judaism, Islam, “heretical” Christian sects, and atheism. Paul outlines how this once-tiny religious cult has shaped centuries of Western civilization and inspired great acts of compassion and kindness. But, in the process, it also viciously attacked its enemies, legitimized the practice of slavery, and collaborated in colonialism and imperialism while shaping the way communities continue to view social and scientific issues.

To understand Christian history is to unearth the roots of our current divisive American culture—and hopefully find the tools to fix it in order to grow into a more cooperative society.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940165851490
Publisher:	J. Steven Paul
Publication date:	06/21/2022
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

J. Steven Paul was sometimes devout and at other times simply a cultural Christian. Despite his connection to the religion, he struggled for sixty years to understand the rationality of the Christian message. No matter how simple his ministers tried to make the concepts, they never were satisfying or sensible to the author's way of thinking. Finally, he decided to take a deep dive into the history of the religion to see if he could make a more serious connection with it, or maybe even leave it behind completely.

This book is his unbiased investigation of Christian history, identifying the development of its traditions, its key turning points, and its influence on the world throughout the last two millennia. It isn't so much a study of their beliefs, but instead, stories about the various ways Christians have acted based on different interpretations of their scripture.

Multiple topics — from the creation of the religion and its scripture to religious wars, heresy hunters, inquisitions, witch hunts, slavery, colonization, the Enlightenment, the Holocaust, and even recent, twenty-first century events— are traced chronologically through the centuries to understand how they shaped our current Western civilization.

Editorial Reviews

2022-07-05
An amateur historian tells of questioning his Christian faith in this exploration of the religion’s history.

Since his days as a Boy Scout, where he earned the “God and Country Award,”Paul found that his church discouraged conversations that questioned Christianity’s positive role in world history or entertained skepticism regarding the fundamentals of Protestantism. He found it difficult to reconcile the teachings of Jesus with his growing realization that “Christians can be horrible people.” In this debut book, he offers a lengthy and nuanced history of Christianity featuring events and details that are well known to historians but are often glossed over by Christians of various denominations. The 21 chapters each represent 100 years of Christian history from the first century through the 21st. Each chapter is essentially an annotated timeline that walks readers through a year-by-year survey of major occurrences, thinkers, and developments. While emphasizing that “the story of European Christianity is in many ways the story of world Christianity,” due to relentless colonialism, the book also does an admirable job of reminding Western readers of the robust origins of Christianity in the Middle East and Africa. Though many chapters are straightforward and encyclopedic in their writing style, the book’s introductory and concluding material make clear its underlying belief that an unbiased history calls into question core arguments of evangelical and conservative Christianity, including the notion that the United States is a “Christian nation.” A self-described “average man” without formal training in history or theology, Paul writes in a style effectively geared to evangelical laypeople who, like him, are uncomfortable with what they see as their church’s pat answers to difficult questions. At more than 700 pages in length, the book would have benefited from more concision, but it will nevertheless provide evangelical and traditionalist Christians with an historical overview that explores its subject matter in a meaningful way.

A comprehensive account of Christianity’s varied history.

Kirkus Reviews