Reddit reviews Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years
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Penguin Books
There's "Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years" by Diarmaid MacCulloch.
https://www.amazon.com/Christianity-First-Three-Thousand-Years/dp/0143118692
> I come from a very rural area of England but in my town alone we have an Anglican (High Church) church, a Catholic church, a Methodist church, a Baptist church, an Eastern Orthodox church, potentially some others I do not know about, and also there is a society of friends here.
Why not visit them all?
> However Works of Mercy are also an important part of the Catholic Church, so that point alone doesn't really help me decide, even though to me it's important that I am involved with a church which values Works of Mercy.
Works of Mercy should be something all Christians agree is important!
> The biggest issue in choosing which church to go to is that because I was not brought up religious at all and my family are so anti-religious I really don't know much about it, and have not explored my faith at all with anyone else so don't really know how I stand on a lot of the important divides between the denominations.
I suppose step one is learning what all these different groups teach, then. This is a surprisingly good introduction. For something more in depth, Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years is very good. If you really want to go in depth, A History of Doctrine (this is volume one of five) is pretty much comprehensive.
Of course, you shouldn't just sit in your house reading books. Get up and go visit all those churches you've mentioned. Speak with the priest/pastor/minister and ask them your questions about their church and it's teachings!
I remember really liking Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch. I've only read through the Reformation (which isn't even halfway, somehow), but that could have been a book on its own. He does a reasonably good job of talking about Christianity everywhere, not just in the former Western Roman empire, which was one of my disappointments with the much-touted Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez, who spends a rather meager chapter on Eastern Christianity in the first volume (Early Church to Reformation).
Eventually, I really want to read The Church in History, a series on Church History written from the Eastern perspective.
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch. Content wise I think this is more or less what you're looking for, but it is a bit dry.
Alternatively, The Teaching Company offers a variety of lectures by Bart Ehrman. This one, "From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity", is particularly good. They're easy to digest, but it's a bit pricey. If you search around online you may be able to find places to access it for free.
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years
Very thorough, written from a secular perspective, but with respect for Christianity.
>Any good places to get an unbiased look into the history of the world's largest religion?
If you're (really) serious about the broader scope of this question, Christianity: The First 3000 Years comes highly recommended. It's pretty hefty though. Like, don't drop it on pets or small children.
It's actually really interesting that you state that location and time frame because that's probably where Christian communities had the least interaction after the Destruction of the Temple in 66 CE.
Diarmaidd MacCulloch's Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years is a great reference and a really easy read. It's a big ol' tome, but he sections it really well. His take is that during the first Jewish revolt in 66 the early Christian Jews fled Jerusalem since they didn't have as much of a stake in Jewish Nationalism. After that point they never really returned to Jerusalem until communities like St. Jerome's monastery moved in in the 4th century. (There was a small community there. Jerome's emigration from Rome to Jerusalem was seen as a major imposition by the then Bishop of Jerusalem.)
Anyways, back to the main question. Before around 40 CE the two communities were fairly indistinguishable. The Synagogues served as the locus of both Christian and Jewish religious life. This makes more sense if we think of the Synagogue less as a specific place with a specific congregation and more as a "community center." It was (like its name suggests) a gathering place for study and discussion. The book of Acts (which covers a timeframe from around 36-60 CE.) frequently shows this not going well. In Acts 7 Stephen (regarded by the Church as the first Martyr) preaches in the Synagogue of the Freedmen and almost immediately afterwards they stone him. We can't take that as a broad-spectrum statement on how relationships were across all communities, but it was certainly something that effected early Christian communities. Acts records Paul frequently speaking in Synagogues and it doesn't always end badly. Acts 17 is a microchosm of mixed responses, and that's probably a fair way to look at the whole situation, it was a mixed bag.
By the time of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 its pretty clear that we're talking about two separate communities doing two separate things with a general disregard for one another. By this point the Christian communities are starting to form distinctive forms of worship and self governance.
To see what Christians thought about Jews in the 2nd Century I'd highly recommend reading Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho. Its written in the form of a classical dialogue with a straw-man interlocutor but its a fair assessment of what Christians thought of Jews in the 2nd century.
Hope that helps.
Edit: I should say that most of what I was talking about Geographically was happening in Asia Minor and Southern Greece. Also, I don't mean to give the impression of taking Scripture as purely historical fact, but I think its a fair way to get a feel for what early Christian Communities thought about the situation, which is more helpful for your question anyway.
I'm vaguely familiar with some references to early Christianity in the Talmud, I'd be really interested to hear about this from the perspective of a Diaspora Scholar.
This looks to be the least biased book I could find. Written by Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford and a thoroughly ordained Deacon.
> think of them?
That they were rejected for good reasons.
> changed your view of Christianity?
Well, together with other discussions of complexity of history of Christianity, the story of various rejected texts helps one appreciate that it's, well, a complicated history.
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years is an in depth look. Christopher Hitchens recommended it just before he died; and I own it... it's very good.
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch is supposed to be very good - I haven't read it yet but plan to. The author is a Professor of History of the Church at Oxford.
There's also a DVD series narrated (and written?) by him on the same topic.
The First Three Thousand Years sounds quite up your alley.
Diarmaid MacCulloch's Christianity: The First 3000 Years was pretty thorough and well written imho.
It starts with the understood origins of the Jewish faith to show its evolution into Christianity, thus the 3000 years.
Amazon link
The 1 star reviews are pretty wonderful if you have a moment to read some of them.
Early Christianity was still pretty focused on egalitarian and communitarian principles. Once the Roman elite began adopting it, however, they had to find loopholes that allowed for Christians to be rich while their neighbors were poor. They made all manner of justifications (e.g. rich people are stewards of the poor like Adam was to the animals in the Garden of Eden, or the poor are necessary because they allow for others to act charitably and thus express their Christianity). Their mental gymnastics are pretty mind-boggling.
Source: Diarmid McCulloch's Christianity: The First 3000 Years.
Reza Aslan's Zealot gives a good overview of this, or for a (much) longer read Diarmaid McCullogh's Christianity. The short answer is that the difference between the proto-Christians and the other followers of Messianic Jewish preachers was that the Christians had Paul who reworked the message to be inclusive of Gentiles. This changed Christianity from just another wild Jewish fringe sect to a contender for the hearts and minds of people who perhaps were not quite fulfilled by the existing social structure (for example, women- it's quite notable just how many women actually are referred to in Acts of the Apostles cited as prominent members of the early church, considering that this was a society in which women were almost totally sidelined from the mainstream)
Christianity: The First 3,000 Years has a lot to say on this topic. The text is scrupulously footnoted and written by an academic but it is intended for general readership.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0143118692?pc_redir=1397182538&robot_redir=1
http://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/zealot-reza-aslan/1114795531?ean=9781400069224
Do you...not understand how history works? Are you...twelve years old?
Jesus the man's existence is fact among scholars. You gonna tell me the dinosaurs don't exist next?
Highly unlikely. There's not even good evidence most of the apostles were martyred. Furthermore, the beauty and utility of marterdom was also a core idea of Second Temple Judaism, and despite people trying to get themselves martyred, it happened much less than you probably think. There's only about 5 named individuals we're confident in, and, for example, one of the most preminant scholars of early Christianity (Rodney Stark) estimates the total at less than 100.
Also, we have records of exactly nobody claiming to have seen Jesus in the flesh, only people claiming many years later that other people claimed to have seen him, and Paul claiming a spiritual vision.
I highly recommend picking up one of Stark's books to get a sympathetic but rigerous view of the actual history of early Christianity and why it grew, which will help you understand your religion quite a bit more. Diarmaid MacCulloch's Christianity, The First Three Thousand Years is another good history, though IMHO not quite as informative as it doesn't follow the sociological factors quite as closely. Those are both solid books by excellent historians who are more positive toward Christianity than average for experts in the field, and I think you'd find them useful.
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years
Triumph: The Power And Glory Of The Catholic Church
You might try Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, and I know there is a documentary series of the same name. (warning: it is a huge book!)
The writings of Bart Ehrman will cover the early Christianity period and the apocrypha, but I don't believe he goes so far as Constantine onward. I'm not really an NT person, but it sounds like you are looking to dig up some dirt on deciding on the canon, so I'm afraid you are going to be disappointed in that regard. My understanding is that they pretty much just ratified the books that were already in common usage.
Here's a link to other Early Christian Writings. Off the top of my head, the Epistle of Barnabas and The Shepherd of Hermas both appeared in our earliest bibles. (IMO, the Infancy Gospels of Thomas and James are definitely worth a read!)
Two books that I can personally vouch for:
You may also enjoy the AskHistorians Book List
A combination of the fact that I'm a historian working on medieval Christian thought, so reading this stuff is quite literally my job, and that I'm just interested so I read a lot of stuff on the side. There are a ton of books out there, I've heard that this is very good.
You might want to read more about Eastern Orthodoxy and the Middle Eastern traditions, especially their monastic traditions. I grew up among Baptists too, and also used to think of Christianity almost entirely in terms of the narrow worldview I was raised with, which was something along the lines of "Apostolic era, martyrs, evil Catholic church, yay Protestant Reformation hurray Baptists"...
If you're interested in more info about these churches, here are their Wikipedia articles:
Eastern Orthodox
Oriental Orthodox
Church of the East
Also, if you are still interested in learning more about Christian history, I'd really recommend picking up a copy of this book from Amazon. Even though I'm not really a believer anymore, I've gained tons of understanding and respect for the depth of Christian traditions, largely as a result of this book and research I've done online.
I've yet to read it, but Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch has been on my list for awhile. I read his book on the Reformation and thoroughly enjoyed it.
"Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years" by Diarmaid MacCulloch
http://amzn.com/0143118692
This is the definitive history of the Christianity. As unbiased and authoritative as you're going to find.
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch
Don't let the fact that the author is a Gay, former Christian scare you. This book is one of the best books I have read in church history. It reads very nicely.
Temporarily unavailable... Are you familiar with Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, by Diarmaid MacCullogh?
I haven't found anything yet that is a good in-depth narrative of the split. At a high-level, it happened over several centuries and was driven by geographic separation, linguistic and cultural differences (Greek vs. Latin), the Pope's claim to primacy, the rise of icons in the eastern church, and the western church's addition of the Filioque clause to the Nicene creed. Honestly, Wikipedia has some good stuff (search for "The Great Schism" and "Filioque") for an introduction to the issues.
The Orthodox Church touches on the issues from an eastern perspective and is a great introduction to Eastern Orthodoxy.
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years is a great single-volume work covering many aspects of church history. It's a large book, but a great place to start if you're a history buff.
Diarmaid MacCulloch, Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years
I think you would enjoy this book Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years
Your professor probably taught a lot of what is in here, but I found it to be a fascinating read.
Diarmaid MacCulloch's Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. It's a real beast, but worth every minute. It's readable and yet very well-researched. And you don't have to read it all at once if you don't want. I read it in theological school, and it helped me understand the false foundations of Christianity. On Amazon.
If history's your thing, this is a good broad-scoped history of Christianity.
If you're less ambitious and just want to check out the history of the early church, this book is quite a bit shorter and very readable.
This is a huge topic that I can't (nor can anyone) rightly do justice to in a reddit post. There's a huge amount that the Church (sometimes particular churches, sometimes the whole of Christianity) has done throughout the ages, both good and bad, though you're right in saying that the modern narrative is quite heavily weighted against it. To give a few examples of the good however:
If you're really interested in Church history, here are a few recommendations I can offer:
if you want a nice little book to read i reccomend
https://www.amazon.ca/Christianity-First-Three-Thousand-Years/dp/0143118692
or the two volume set
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JOGB2DU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
https://www.amazon.com/Story-Christianity-Reformation-Present-Day-ebook/dp/B00JOGB276/ref=pd_sim_351_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=V8M4VV04NQ9QNT8QRV1Z
i've read both and they provide an easy(ish) to read concise history of christianity
https://www.amazon.com/Christianity-First-Three-Thousand-Years/dp/0143118692
Not OP, but audible might have Elaine Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels. Some of her other books touch on Gnosticism as well.
If you like podcasts, The Secret History of Western Esotericism, has a few episodes on Gnosticism, although the whole podcast is really interesting. History of the Papacy also discusses Gnosticism in the context of the church's history. In Our Time also has an episode. Links for the others in my academic podcast/free uni class list.
You might also ask for recommendations in r/AskBibleScholars or r/academicbiblical.
Edit: just noticed you were looking for old sects in general. In that case, you'll find a lot in the list I linked — it's what got me interested in the historical criticism of Christianity in the first place. :) I'd also suggest Christianity: The First 3,000 Years. It's pretty popular, so there might be an audiobook. Iirc there's also a documentary.
If you go by the bible, which is literally the only source you can go by for this topic (Roman/Jewish historians only offhandedly mention Jesus's existence and execution, obviously don't talk about the theology of the situation), then Jesus did fulfill the prophecies.
So far, I've explained to you that early Christianity was literally made entirely of Jews that accepted Jesus as the messiah; they followed Jewish law, kept kosher, etc. I've also explained that, in spite of the fact that being a Christian could get you killed, so converting to Christianity was dangerous to your health, it became the dominant religion in the region, and later the empire. But here's another thing: Jews had a special status for religions in the Roman empire. They did not have to bow to the emperor or acknowledge him as a god, as all other religions did, because the Romans respected that the Jewish tradition went back more than a thousand years and was older than the Roman faith. When a Jew converted to Christianity, they lost that status; Christianity had no tradition, the Romans had no respect for it. When a Christian refused to bow, they were killed. Christians were accused of being witches, cannibals, cowards, and just generally dishonorable scum.
Of course, I'm assuming you didn't read that far into the comment because no matter what I say you just repost the exact the same sentence.
Its literally impossible to prove that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy and I can't even begin to try because the only source is the Bible and I am much more of a religious historian than a theologian. But what I have told you (and you've chosen to ignore) is that Christianity went from being a small group of Jews that accepted Jesus as messiah, to a large group of Jews, to a large and persecuted minority within the Roman empire, to the largest religion in the world. The number of people that accepted Jesus as the messiah has outnumbered those that don't for around 1900 years. The Bible, which is the only source you can go by for religious information, says that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies. So the core of your argument is basically "The Bible is a giant lie" and there's not really a way that I can dispute that, nor am I going to try to.
Sorry that it took me a day to respond to you; I'm sure you were holding your breath. My phone died when I just as I finished typing this yesterday and I finally got bored enough to type it again.
Here are some sources, in case you actually are interested in the history that I've been talking about:
Diarmaid MacCulloch, Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years
Any primary sources references in that book will be found in: John W. Coakley and Andrea Sterk, Readings in World Christian History, Volume 1: Earliest Christianity to 1453
Free online Bible, in many different versions including audio book
The late great Christopher Hitchens recommends, "Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years," by Diarmaid MacCulloch. I absolutely adore this book.
you can find it here
I think the book that you're looking for is A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch. Slightly intimidating (it's over 1100 pages!) but it's very well written, very thorough, and written in an academic style rather than from that of a believer.
http://www.amazon.com/Christianity-First-Three-Thousand-Years/dp/0143118692