Moynahan hopes “to have caught something of the essence of the faith” on his vast canvas. But it is never clear exactly what...
An overlong, underinterpreted chronicle of Christianity by a veteran British journalist.
There is no dearth of one-volume histories of the faith on bookstore and library shelves, and this latest survey by Moynahan (Rasputin: The Saint Who Sinned, 1997, etc.) is not likely to rattle the competition. Beginning with the gospel accounts of the ministry of Jesus and ending in a 21st-century world of troubled ecumenism among the churches and intense religious conflicts without, Moynahan tells a familiar story of martyrs and emperors, conquerors and crusaders, inquisitors and witchfinders, popes and mendicants, monks and missionaries, slavers and colonizers, reformers and counter-reformers. He flings his net as wide as possible, and although his own writing is undistinguished, he has a fine ear for the apt quotation and an eye for the odd and eccentric. But he lacks a coherent view of his subject or a mastery of its primary sources, and he is sometimes unreliable in detail. Moynahan has a tabloid journalist’s preference for the sensational, indeed the quasi-pornographic; he never averts his gaze from the tortures, burnings, and massacres that disfigure Christian history. Sex, politics, and greed also draw a great deal of his attention; other aspects of his subject are less fervently treated. He has little to say of theology—which, judging by his summaries of Paul, Augustine, the doctrine of transubstantiation, Luther, and Calvin, is probably a good thing. He has little empathy with religious thinking or spiritual practice. But most frustratingly, for someone offering a history of Christianity, he has no sense of the network of relationships that constitute a meaningful history. Instead, he simply presents one blessed thing after another.
Moynahan hopes “to have caught something of the essence of the faith” on his vast canvas. But it is never clear exactly what that essence might be. Readers in search of a historical understanding of the faith have many better places to look.Pub Date: April 16, 2002
ISBN: 0-385-49114-X
Page Count: 816
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2002
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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