This book challenges some long held beliefs about Christianity as we know it, detailing a great divide between Jesus of Nazareth's teachings and Christianity extending into the Middle Ages. With comprehensive historical research over a twenty year period Thomas Kessler analyzes the power and class struggles in the church. He shows how clergymen continued to choke life out of the Christian community. The reality is insidious, the horrors startling, and some church officials even committed genocide. No, the church has not been perfect throughout its history. Knowing the facts about it grounds us in reality, the starting point of any true Christian commitment. This is a true People's History of Christianity in the tradition of Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States and one that will have you seeing Christianity in a brand-new light. Thomas Kessler is a former Capuchin Franciscan friar and priest. He studied at St. Anthony Friary and Capuchin Seminary in Marathon, Wisconsin, and conducted independent research t Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley and in Assisi, Italy. His interests include Christian history, philosophy, theology, Greek and Latin.