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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Christianity
You’re no idiot, of course. You know who Jesus Christ was and why Christmas and Easter are celebrated, but do you know the story of the spread of the Christian religion—in all its forms—around the world? Have faith! The Pocket Idiot’s Guide™ to Christianity takes you through the history of one of the world’s most popular religions. In this Pocket Idiot’s Guide™, you
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 9, 2009
Mistitled since it really only covers American Christianity. So thin on each entry that the one I know about, Mormonism, is distressingly wrong.
I was impressed by the mess that Christianity is in trying to keep things straight; it seemed that nothing has a real definition. Maybe that is the way it is when there is so little be start from.
I was impressed by the mess that Christianity is in trying to keep things straight; it seemed that nothing has a real definition. Maybe that is the way it is when there is so little be start from.
December 11, 2011
The title of this book should have been "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Christian Sects in America". This book only covers Christian sects and Christians in America,it doesn't even go over the basics of Christianity.I don't recommend it at all.
February 21, 2021
Of necessity, this book contains a LOT of information and the author had to make some choices about which denominations he would emphasize and which he would gloss over. I was disappointed that there wasn't more comparing and contrasting of denominations.
August 3, 2023
A great introduction to the different Christian denominations. Highly recommend!
October 7, 2015
What it is, and what it isn't
As a non-Christian moving to the US soon, I wanted a good overview of Christianity from a believer. Not the complex history and the ancient world etc, but what it means to someone today. This book was the better reviewed of similar ones on Amazon.
It is a highly detailed overview of the Protestant sects of America today and in the past. It explains the meanings of Christian rites and the differences between many sects and how they are related. In some ways, it is probably better as a reference book than one you read straight through, due to its detail. It is an excellent view of what Christians believe, styles of worship, and major points of disagreement. It also somewhat addresses the question of why Christians seem uniquely focused on whether or not someone else is a Christian.
Special sections explaining many buzzwords, such as evangelical, born-again, and fundamentalist, are highly useful. There are also sections on specifically American groups: Seventh-Day Adventists, Christian Scientists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses. I can't comment on the accuracy of those parts; sometimes it did feel like the author clearly was not in agreement, though the tone is always respectful and tries to be neutral.
That said, the book is highly focused on the American scene. Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodoxies are given light treatment relative to their populations, histories, and geographical spread (or maybe this is more noticeable to me coming from outside the US). They are often painted in broad strokes, while the slight differences between something like two kinds of Baptist may receive a whole chapter.
This book gave me exactly what I needed. Things it does not include are any kind of mysticism or personal experience anecdotes. It is not necessarily an accurate historio-sociological study of Christianity (except possibly for modern Protestant schisms), and there are certainly a few eye-roll inducing lines for the non-believer - historical accuracies are sacrificed and the Christian scriptures are presented as history a few times, and there are some pointed jabs that the "theory" of evolution isn't real, but overall a neutral tone is maintained. I wouldn't use this as an exclusive reference to Christianity, but it is a good guide to the American scene.
As a non-Christian moving to the US soon, I wanted a good overview of Christianity from a believer. Not the complex history and the ancient world etc, but what it means to someone today. This book was the better reviewed of similar ones on Amazon.
It is a highly detailed overview of the Protestant sects of America today and in the past. It explains the meanings of Christian rites and the differences between many sects and how they are related. In some ways, it is probably better as a reference book than one you read straight through, due to its detail. It is an excellent view of what Christians believe, styles of worship, and major points of disagreement. It also somewhat addresses the question of why Christians seem uniquely focused on whether or not someone else is a Christian.
Special sections explaining many buzzwords, such as evangelical, born-again, and fundamentalist, are highly useful. There are also sections on specifically American groups: Seventh-Day Adventists, Christian Scientists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses. I can't comment on the accuracy of those parts; sometimes it did feel like the author clearly was not in agreement, though the tone is always respectful and tries to be neutral.
That said, the book is highly focused on the American scene. Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodoxies are given light treatment relative to their populations, histories, and geographical spread (or maybe this is more noticeable to me coming from outside the US). They are often painted in broad strokes, while the slight differences between something like two kinds of Baptist may receive a whole chapter.
This book gave me exactly what I needed. Things it does not include are any kind of mysticism or personal experience anecdotes. It is not necessarily an accurate historio-sociological study of Christianity (except possibly for modern Protestant schisms), and there are certainly a few eye-roll inducing lines for the non-believer - historical accuracies are sacrificed and the Christian scriptures are presented as history a few times, and there are some pointed jabs that the "theory" of evolution isn't real, but overall a neutral tone is maintained. I wouldn't use this as an exclusive reference to Christianity, but it is a good guide to the American scene.
June 5, 2016
The main problem with this book is the title: It really should have been "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Christian Denominations in America" or something similarly along those lines. From what I can tell, it does do a good, respectful job of delineating the differences (and overlap) of the major groups and movements within American Christianity and their historical underpinnings (which even long-practicing Christians can get confused about), but it doesn't go much beyond that.
March 9, 2008
If you want to learn about the various denominations and get an overview, this is the book to read. I am using it to help my husband and I broaden our search for a new church and have come up with a couple of denominations that we are going to check out.
May 5, 2007
Good overall description of Christianity and the many different denominations.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews