Christian / Church History

How did an obscure personality cult come to be the world's biggest religion, with a third of humanity its followers? This book describes not only the main facts, ideas and personalities of Christian history, its organization and spirituality, but how it has changed politics, sex, and human society.

The book deals with the origins of the liturgical year - the feasts, fasts and seasons. It is accessible to the general reader and to students, while being a serious academic text.

In 50 brief chapters, originally delivered as public audiences to the faithful in St Peter's Square, Benedict XVI offers absorbing, perceptive, and often edifying sketches of some of Christianity's greatest thinkers and writers. The historical circumstances and theological ideas of each are explained.

Based on a series of lectures given to the Newcastle Diocese Reader and Ordained Lay Ministry Training Course, this book introduces the reader to church history in an accessible and relevant way, with an emphasis on key periods that have made the church what it is today, and on what we can learn from past experience for mission and ministry today.

The Christian Belief for Everyone series comprises five guides to the basic ideas of the Christian faith. The first volume, Faith and the Creeds, concentrates on the nature of faith and the history and relevance of the Creeds, in a reflection on what we really mean when we say 'I believe'.

Bernard looks at the structure of the church, the nature of royal control over it, the clergy and bishops, the intense devotion and deep-rooted practices of the laity, anti-clerical sentiment, and the prevalence of heresy.

In lucid and non-technical prose, Young demonstrates how and why the two most familiar Christian creeds - the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed - came into being. She aims to bring the creeds back to life again in the challenging and demanding contexts of contemporary life.

Canon Andrew White is a peacemaker, who has saved hundreds of individuals and communities. This book is based on his insights.