"Uncovering the Forgotten Legacy of Christianity: A Thousand-Year Journey Through the Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa and Asia"

Joanne Guarnieri Hagemeyer: When I first got this book, The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia—and How it Died, I was arrested by the cover.
I, so far, was very familiar with early Christianity in Europe—that would be the Holy Roman Empire. I was somewhat familiar with Christianity in Northern Africa. Three really famous theologians of the early church were African:
 Athanasius of Alexandria, Egypt (AD 293–373)
 Augustine of Hippo, Algeria (AD 354–430)
 Origen of Alexandria, Egypt (AD 185-254)
But Christianity in the East?
I mean, sure, the Middle East. But China? Really?
Really, really.
It was Christians—Nestorian, Jacobite, Orthodox, and others—who preserved and translated the cultural inheritance of the ancient world—the science, philosophy, and medicine—and who transmitted it to centers like Baghdad and Damascus. Much of what we call Arab scholarship was in real reality Syriac, Persian, and Coptic, and it was not necessarily Muslim. Syriac-speaking Christian scholars brought the works of Aristotle to the Muslim world … Syriac Christians even make the first reference to the...

United States on Aug 23, 2022

Leitor1234: Muito bom

Brazil on Aug 14, 2018

Amazon カスタマー: 東方教会についての知識は多くはギリシャ正教、ロシア正教どまりだが、非カルケドン系の東方教会の長い歴史とその広がりを分かりやすく解説している。

Japan on Apr 23, 2018

CMB: Compelling reflection of orthodox Christianity, its development and decline and especially in regards to geopolitical events occurring in todays world.

Germany on Jan 02, 2018

Calvino: Pensavo di conoscere piuttosto bene la storia della Chiesa, ma questo saggio mi ha convinto che devo/dobbiamo riconsiderare molte delle nostre convinzioni eurocentriche.

Italy on Mar 27, 2017

Mark Anderson: I bought the audio book of this title and liked it so much I've ordered the print version.

Jenkins' basic argument is that there was a thriving Christian presence, and major Christian churches like the Nestorian, Syriac and Jacobite, in the Middle East, a Christian community in India started by the Apostle Thomas, and large Christian communities in places like Sri Lanka, China, Ethiopia, Nubia and modern day Iraq, all dating from the earliest days of Christianity. The Nestorian, Jacobite, Orthodox and Syrian Christian churches once rivalled or surpassed the Roman Catholic Church in authority and influence.

But virtually all of this has disappeared. Jenkins cites the major reason for the disappearance of Eastern Christianity as "organized violence" by Muslims against the Eastern Christian churches and their followers. He backs this up with persuasive evidence.

Jenkins also refutes the claims of writers like Karen Armstrong and Elaine Pagels, who have repeatedly stated that Muslim ruled societies, like Moorish Spain (Andalusia or al-Andalus), were bastions of tolerance for Christians and Jews. Not so, says Jenkins, and provides convincing evidence to support his...

Canada on Jan 02, 2015

B. Marold: Philip Jenkins, The Lost History of Christianity The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia - and How it Died (New York, HarperCollins, 2008) Paperback

Like so many other `Histories' with a twist, this book is not a true narrative, the kind we know so well dating all the way back to Herodotus and Thucydides. It does not start at a particular time and `narrate' the ideas, events, and people who acted from that time to some other, later time, with some insights or speculations added in along the way. It does not even stay within the boundaries of the thousand years mentioned in its subtitle. To make many of its points, it reaches forward, well into the 20th century. It is also certainly not a `theological' history. In fact, it uses several terms for borderline Christian heresies such as Docetists and Maronites, which Jenkins does not bother to explain. He does give a very perfunctory definition of his two main Mesopotamian players, the Nestorians and the Jacobites, but no more than what you would find in an inexpensive paperback theological dictionary. I say all this to warn those who are looking for a straight narrative story. This is not...

United States on Mar 23, 2010