greatest story ever told, The

The greatest Story ever told

Sarah Anderson

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A.D. 2,000 YEARS OF CHRISTIANITY

edited by Christopher Howse

SPCK, L20, pp. 192

I was puzzled by this book from the moment I started reading it as I had a problem working out who exactly it was for. Is it meant for Christians who know little about the past of their religion or is it directed at those who know nothing about the last 2,000 years? Some things are explained rather simply and yet there is much substantial and fascinating detail. There are some wonderful illustrations, but when I showed it to a friend who came to dinner, he was horrified that a book on 2,000 years of Christianity should, under the title 'Christianity Today', have a photograph of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. I argued that this was no doubt a bait to entice people to read on and to want to find out more about the traditions of Christianity; and A. D. on several levels does achieve this.

Music, painting and literature based on Christianity are part of our heritage in the west; whether or not you are a practising Christian - and there are about 1,760 million in the world today - it would be almost impossible to appreciate our civilisation without some knowledge of Christianity.

One of its great strengths is that its fundamental doctrines do not alter and yet there is constant growth and change. A.D. is good on the early origins of Christianity and its evolution through the centuries into what it has become today. Charles Moore reminds us in his foreword that Hollywood called Christianity 'The Greatest Story Ever Told'. The book charts the first 2,000 years of its epic yet paradoxical history, while encouraging us to remember what we are celebrating in the millennium.

Copyright Spectator Dec 11, 1999
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved