Summary

Starting with Christianity's origins as a Jewish sect, and progressing chronologically, this illustrated history demonstrates how Europe was converted, and then traces the subsequent spread of the faith to the Americas, much of Africa and parts of the Far east. Chadwick discusses the effects of the faith on the lives of believers throughout two millenia; the mutually uneasy relationship of the early Christians with the Roman state; the rise of the great monastic tradition, the different holy orders and their role in spreading the faith; the Reformation; the decline of Christianity in Europe, but its expansion into the rest of the world; and such 20th-century issues as the emancipation of women, birth control, Muslim fundamentalism, Nazi racism and Marxist atheism. Church architecture, ritual, music and art are also examined.