A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story

Wonderfully, I was able to hear Diana Butler Bass speak about The People's History of Christianity at the Washington Island Forum as she was in the final stages of writing this helpful new book. Down to earth, full of her own people's history of the church, the book reads like a conversation piece rather than the usual tome which veils the rich and complex stories of Christianity's history. At the time, I was hoping to move from a survey class on the Bible to a survey of church history. This book, so very accessible to non-professional readers, provides a framework for what to most seems a muddy and sullied tale. Butler Bass turns this history into a treasure chest of memory by challenging the normative narrative of history which she short-hands as "Christ, Constantine, Calvin and Christian America," into the generative story of flawed, but predominantly faithful people. Through early church, medieval, Reformation, modern and post-modern periods, she follows a thread of people who love God and their neighbors, often doing so in amazingly remarkable ways. Finding plenty of examples of ordinary church people who live with a full-hearted devotion to God and often heroic ethical actions to benefit both neighbors and even enemies, her book provides church people with a way to retrieve exemplary practices from this communion of the saints, that can reenergize mainline Protestant congregations who flounder in part because they have no memory of who they are and who they are called to be. The thirteen chapter book is a great resource for a small group or an adult Sunday School class. Echoing what Augustine heard at the moment of his conversion, church people would do well to "pick it up and read." -- Rev. David Milam, Pastor, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Purcellville, VA

The original reason that I requested this book was its obvious allusion to Zinn; however, much to my initial dismay, I found the book was nothing like that. My expectation was that this book would be a detailed narrative of the history of "Christianity" as it has unfolded throughout the millennia told from the perspective of those that were victimized by "Christian" history, much like Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" documented the lives and experiences of those who suffered through America's "manifest destiny." I often feel like sometimes that component of the church's collective history is down-played or ignored or considered part of the "manifest destiny" of the church by those within the church or it is the only thing associated with Christian history by those who see (sometimes justifiably) not a lot of good in "Christian" history when they look at the past two millennia. To that extent, I was initially disappointed. However, what I found was that this book is written about groups of people similarly overlooked, ignored or castigated. They faced similar persecutions by members of their own creed, were discriminated against due to ethnic differences or were martyred annihilated for their spiritual differences. They have been left out by those both who have strong-armed Christianity today and by those outside of the faith in their hold. Their stories must be told in order to gain a more perfect understanding of the History of Christianity. (I am not suggesting that some of the atrocities perpetuated by "Christian" leaders throughout the ages against their own kind carry nearly the same gravitas nor am I suggesting that those atrocities that were executed internal to the faith have the same global and trans-era ramifications. It is clear that those external expressions of religious contempt and persecution by those under the moniker of Christianity to those outside have negatively altered the state of the world and the world's perception of Christians and, thus, Christ.) If, at any point in your life, you have found some irregularities in the branding of Christianity today and what you have observed of the life of Christ and have known on some intrinsic spiritual level, this book is for you. This book is a reflection of and on communities that have enacted the spiritual life of Christ to the world by way of charity, love, hospitality, goodness and care for the poor. They have lived in small and large towns, monasteries and cathedrals. And, while the wounds inflicted by Christians throughout the ages have left scars on this planet and its people, the works and lives of the subjects in this book provide the healing and comfort necessary to introduce a sick world to the goodness, grace, mercy, peace and reconciliation of God. Visit me at [...] for more reviews and thoughts of faith.

This latest book by Diana Butler Bass continues a string of Spirit filled books that help challenge modern Christians to return to the Way taught by Christ and followed by Christians of earlier time periods. I was excited to read this book because Butler Bass's two previous books, "The Practicing Congregation" and "Christianity for the Rest of Us" were extremely useful in my own church as we attempted to develop first a Single Adult ministry and then Young Adult ministry that focused on growing and nuturing disciples of Jesus Christ through encouraging them to take up traditional spiritual disciplines utilized by Christian Spirituality from the earliest centuries of the Church but that have been seemingly lost over the last 300 years. This book does not disappoint. If you have never read about Christian history or if you engage it as a hobby, such as I do, Diana Butler Bass takes you on an exciting tour of Christian history while continuing to emphasize the spiritual practices and disciplines utilized by followers of the Way at the various time periods. Additionally, Butler Bass also paints an enlightening picture of the ethical lens employed in the various epochs of Christian history through which Christians in their historical context viewed their interaction with their neighbor as they also sought to engage and deepen their relationships with God. Interestingly, as I start seminary this Fall her book is on the required reading list for my first semester of church history! Using the tools of spiritual disciplines and ethical frameworks, Butler Bass in a most easy to read way successfully unpacks five historical periods, each full of unique challenges and obstacles, in which individual followers pursued an ever deepening relationship with the Divine. While unpacking these eras, she highlights the lessons which Christians today can learn and apply from many different Christian pioneers. Some of the individuals she highlights may be familiar to most church goers, such as Augustine, St. Benedict of Nursia, St. Fracis of Assi, or Hildegard of Bingen. Others are less familiar but shine Light into the problems faced by current followers of Christ, such as St. Martin-of-the-Field and Abelard and Heloise. She also redeems some of the figures in Christian history that I had a rather negative view of, such as Irenaeus of Lyons. ("The glory of God is a human being fully alive.") As she moves into the more complicated and fractured world from the Reformation until Contemporary times, Butler Bass does a remarkable job holding together and highlighting the ever growing tension between faith and reason, practice and relationship that faces the currently splintered Church, in which each denomination or sect holds its proprietary view of Christianity as sacrosanct while hurling hate-filled bombs of judgment at their brothers and sisters within Christianity that do not agree with their narrow point of view on issues of theology, worship, and/or practi

Gifted historian Diana Butler Bass has a knack for bringing back into focus ignored or forgotten parts of the story of Christianity. Just over two years ago, she gave us Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church Is Transforming the Faith, the story of much-ignored mainline Protestant congregations that were defying stereotypes and thriving by combining traditional worship practices with social engagement. In her latest book, she gives us an accessible and much-needed reminder of the dynamic--and often contested--nature of lived Christianity as expressed both in the lives of its people and its institutions. In our times, when churches are wrestling with a variety of issues that challenge the orthodoxies of the past, the reminder that the traditions we take for granted today represent the outcomes of struggles from the past is invaluable. This modest but powerful insight, brought home through lively examples, has the potential to humanize current debates. It moves the question from, "What was the winning argument from the past?" to "What does faithfulness for our time require?" While seminary courses delve into the material covered here, Bass makes it accessible. The importance of these insights and the accessibility of this book make it a major contribution. Dr. Robert P. Jones President, Public Religion Research (www.publicreligion.org) Author, Progressive & Religious: How Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist Leaders are Moving Beyond the Culture Wars and Transforming American Public Life