Christianity: The Biography – Two Thousand Years Of The Global Church

Ian J. Shaw is Associate International Director of the Langham Scholars Programme and Honorary Fellow, School of Divinity, New College, University of Edinburgh. He is the author of Churches, Revolutions And Empires: 1789-1914, High Calvinists in Action: Calvinism and the City, William Gadsby and The Greatest is Charity.

Believers need to know the story of their own faith, and Christianity: The Biography is a great place to start. It covers fascinating figures, movements and trends across two millennia without ever getting bogged down or side-tracked. It is not only clear and accessible, but also inspiring and wise.
Christians today have largely lost their historical memory, and it is no surprise that as a result many are struggling to agree on the right way ahead for the church. Ian Shaw's remarkable book, encompassing in one volume the entire chronological and geographical range of Christian history, will prove invaluable in helping Christians to recover their historical memory and hence to find wisdom for the future.
I've enjoyed Christianity: The Biography enormously! What an original idea. It presents the current scholarship in church history in a very engaging way. I hope this book is widely read... An absolutely outstanding volume!
So-called 'histories of the church' are often essentially histories only of the church in the West. It is a joy to meet one that recognizes that 'world Christianity' began in the early centuries, and that the story of the Christian faith is a six-continent one. It is a joy also to find it so helpful and well written
The more we learn about Christianity's global reach, the more urgent is the need to re-frame how we understand Christian history. This book gets it right. It offers fascinating accounts of Christianity entering the ancient civilizations of Persia, India and China and its transformation of Ethiopia, Egypt and the Sudan -- even while it was reaching the wild tribes of the remote British Isles. We learn too about the rise of Islam, the modern missions movement and the rapid worldwide spread of Pentecostalism. In sum, this text is a lively treatment of a truly global faith.

Introduction: Opening Up a Life Story1: The Cradle: The World into Which Christianity Was Born2: Smiles: Early Church Growth3. First Words: Early Christian Writings4: Tears: Persecutions 5. Learning to Write6. It’s Official: The Start of Imperial Christianity7: Moving On and Out8: Reflecting Inwardly and Reaching Out9. Disagreements and Rivalries10: Deepening Thinking Capacities11. Growing, Contracting, Questioning12: Divisions13. Continuity and Change 14: Desires for Purity, Orthodoxy, and Piety15: Enlightenment16: Revolution17: Challenge and Crisis18. An Age of Turmoil19: Creeping into Old Age, or Advancing into Young Adulthood?20: Towards the Next Chapter in LifeFurther readingIndex