Christianity: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #119

by Linda Woodhead

At a time when Christianity is flourishing in the Southern Hempisphere but declining in much of the West, Linda Woodhead offers a bold new overview of the world's largest religion, exploring the cultural and institutional dimensions of Christianity over two millennia.
Christianity addresses topics that other books neglect, for example the competition for power between different forms of Christianity, the churches' uses of power, and their struggles with modernity. Woodhead also considers the recent charismatic explosion of Christianity in Latin America,
Africa, and the Far East. She concludes by showing the ways in which those who previously had the least power in Christianity--women and non-Europeans--have become increaslingly central to its unfolding story.
Up-to-date, authoritative, and filled with fresh insights, A Very Short Introduction brings a vast and varied subject into sharp focus

Genres: Religion, History, Nonfiction, Christianity, Philosophy, Theology, Audiobook

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linda Woodhead MBE MA DD is Professor in the sociology of religion in the Department of Politics, Philosophy & Religion at Lancaster University. She is best known for her work on religious change since the 1980s, and for initiating public debates about faith. She has been described by Matthew Taylor, head of the Royal Society of Arts as ‘one of the world’s leading experts on religion.’

Reviews

[Darwin8u · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Thus the dominant trend in Christianity became one that submits itself to a higher power, and which strives to bring life into conformity with a transcendent standard that both inspires and judges."
-- Linda Woodhead, Christianity: A Very Short Introduction



A nice survey of Christianity. Woodhead does a commendable job at describing the basic tenets, growth, and culture of Christianity. I personally enjoyed her approach to the different types/forms of Christianity (Church, Biblical, Mystical) and how those three forms impacted growth patterns during the last two thousand years.

Linda Woodhead MBE seems to have a soft-spot for both Feminist and Marxist approaches to history. This provocative approach might turn off some readers, but I actually think gender is a huge piece of the theological puzzle that needs to be explored whenever discussing the growth, doctrine, and history of Christianity. I also enjoyed how she discussed the relationship of the growth of the Early Church to the Roman (later Holy Roman) Empire and other developments later with the Orthodox Church's relationship with Russian, etc.

This VSI wasn't a perfect capture of Christianity, but I'm not exactly sure how an historian/theologian could approach such a broad subject in such a short space without leaving major things out (aka religious traditions that seem to not fit easily within her big theory).

[Julia Curtis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Woodhead does not do a good job at keeping her own opinions out of the text. They're sneakily put in their however, so watch out.

[Abigail Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some interesting insights (biblical vs. mystical vs. church forms of "Christianity" is an interesting method of categorization that I'd like to learn more about).

Ultimately, I was disappointed with Woodhead's unfailingly cynical language, her inadequate classifications and discussions of Eastern Christian sects, and her tendency to insert her opinion into the short narratives as fact.

One anecdote that stood out to me was her insistence on using the term "incursions" to describe Christian growth in East Asia in the First Millenium (where the Church of the East was persecuted into nonexistence, mind you). In her subsequent comparison of Christianity to Islam, she writes "Christianity did nothing to challenge the existence of slavery... Islam promised more thoroughgoing reforms." The casual reader would likely (and incorrectly) conclude that Islam was an abolitionist force when it came to slavery, when it was precisely the opposite. I know this. Woodhead knows this (I hope). I wonder, then, why she included this highly misleading and evasively worded aside?

I'll ask the reader to beware of Woodhead's Standard Academic Cynicism about the Christian faith and look for books by David Bentley Hart (rather polemical, but a good writer) to balance out all of the biases that people like Woodhead carry about the religion.

[ტუნგუსკა · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a disgrace to both science and religion, seemingly accepted by neither. The author claims to discuss "the most influential, widespread, and powerful" religion, yet uses derogatory terms like "provocation" and "propaganda." It's clear the author doesn't grasp the significance of the religion she writes about, and it's equally unclear whether this book is intended for a scientific audience or a religious one. Frankly, both would be disappointed.

The author touches on numerous topics but fails to delve deeply into any of them. Her writing feels more like random, unfocused rambling than a coherent argument or insightful discussion. If her aim was to highlight the greatness of Christianity, the use of such disparaging terms completely undermines her intent. In just 150 pages, she fails to offer a single piece of information that could be considered valuable to the reader.

One of the biggest mistakes an author can make is allowing personal biases to overshadow the content, and this book is a prime example. The author's inability to keep her opinions in check is a significant flaw. Moreover, for someone who presents herself as a "professional," the book contains a disturbingly large number of errors, which are only marginally corrected by the editors. It’s baffling who would even find this book useful.

As someone who read this book with the intention of learning more about my own religion, I found nothing of note. If devout Christian readers deem this book unworthy of their time, how could someone exploring Christianity for the first time possibly feel? They’d likely abandon their interest altogether.

[Pia G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

öncelikle kitabın dili ve akıcılığı harika. akademik olmasına rağmen, woodhead karmaşık meseleleri bile sade bir dille, adeta bir sohbet havasında anlatmayı başarıyor.

kitap yalnızca hristiyanlık tarihine yüzeysel bir bakış atmakla kalmamış inanç sistemlerinin neden ve nasıl şekillendiğini, dini toplulukların iç dinamiklerini ve mezhepler arasındaki farklılıkları da öylesine sistematik ve akıcı bir şekilde ele almış ki, kendimi sürekli sorular sorarken ve bu soruların cevaplarını araştırırken buldum. örneğin, mezhep çatışmalarının tarihsel temellerini incelerken kültürel ve siyasi bağlamların ne kadar belirleyici olduğunu öğrenmek beni oldukça etkiledi. özellikle katoliklik, ortodoksluk ve protestanlık arasındaki farklar hakkındaki açıklamalar fazlasıyla bilgilendiriciydi. woodhead’in bir başka takdir ettiğim yönü de tarafsız anlatımıydı. ne övgü ne de eleştiri; yalnızca olgular, tarihsel olaylar ve kültürel etkiler üzerine bir analiz olmuş.. bu da kitabı hem akademik hem de meraklı biri için ideal bir kaynak haline getiriyor. aynı zamanda kitabın bazı bölümlerinde özellikle modern hristiyanlık uygulamalarına dair yapılan yorumlar beni fazlasıyla düşündürdü. din ve modernite arasındaki ilişkinin nasıl evrildiğini görmek, günümüz dünyasındaki dinî hareketleri anlamak için çok kıymetli. kitap benim için bir başlangıçtı, woodhead’in sunduğu bilgiler beni daha derin okumalar yapmaya yöneltti diyebilirim.

dost kitabevi’nin bu serisini çok seviyorum ve ilgi alanım olan kitapları okurken büyük zevk alıyorum. ilgi alanı olan herkese öneririm.

[Emerson Stokes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much to say about this one. Very short, tells you about Christianity but not anything profound or penetrative. It was for school though, if it was for casual reading I would be more harsh.

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Woodhead focuses on theological trends. Her categories work well, distinguishing Authority (Church, Bible) and Mysticism. She favors the latter.

[Atoosa Ryanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not gonna lie. This book made me kind of loathe Christianity. The way it was logically presented definitely presented numerous flaws of this very popular religion. Also, it was written primarily from the European point of view, which is fine and valid. I admit I would have enjoyed a deep dive into religion in America, but I also don't believe that this little book was the place for that. Maybe another VSI instead.

[Daniel Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very low-level, provides an interesting take on the subject which is probably not suitable for such a general introduction. From what else I've read of Woodhead, she seems to be almost intentionally provocative to people with views like mine.

[armin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to pick this book up because I was reading a book by Christopher Hill where he discusses various sects of Christianity in the 17th century, so I needed to grapple with their differences... Now eventually as that book moved forward it also explained the differences between different sects of Christianity but then this book was nice too and there were some points in it that can come pretty handy! It's an easy reading that you can go through in three hours! I read it almost entirely on the toilet seat so I hope Christians out there don't get mad at me on this!

[Daniel Rempel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m using this as a textbook for an introduction to Christianity course, and it’s excellent. Woodhead synthesizes theology, ecclesiology, and history to provide a great introduction to the breadth of the Christian tradition.

[Ignacio Sanvicens Zilles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely informative and well-written, a recommended read for all who want to know more about Christianity!

[Liam Prato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely stellar read

[Jc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is what it claims to be -- a very short introduction. But, I have to give the author high credit -- in only 150 pages she manages to give an amazingly detailed overview of 2000 years of christian cult evolution while still remaining very readable, not just a listing of facts and names with dates. Anyone who is a bit too orthodox or fundamentalist in their beliefs would not enjoy the book at all (as it will disrupt their ignorant bliss), but those who are curious about the actual history of the movement will get a lot out of this short work. Even those who have a fairly complete academic understanding of how the christian world developed and how it affected the history of Europe and beyond will appreciate this as a nicely done basic outline of how the religions that make up christianity evolved. For the believer who wants to understand where their beliefs came from, or the non-believer who appreciates christianity's affect on the history, sociology, politics, and philosophy of the modern world, this is highly recommended.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written, with an interesting approach that contextualizes the different types of Christianity into three groups: Church (authority-oriented), Word (Bible-focused), and Spirit (personal relation with God's spirit). It's a good method of categorizing sects and showing their similarities and differences. She does exclude a number of significant Christian movements (Christian Science, Jehovah's Witness, Mormonism, for example), probably because they don't fit neatly into her groups. While the three groups are useful as discussion tools, she should at least acknowledge the sects that don't fit her model.
I enjoyed her book, but it isn't really a primer on Christianity. It presumes significant understanding of principles, teachings, people, and history that one would expect to be covered in a "Very Short Introduction.". For me, though (life-long Christian), it was an interesting exploration of the evolution of the Christian movement.

[Tim Byron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot reading this. Most interesting for me was Linda's analysis about how Christianity had reacted to 'two modernities'. The first modernity linked to the enlightenment, lead to the rise of 'Liberal Christianity' - a process of demythologisation and emphasis on the rational & ethical. This was successful for a hundred years, but it seems now that this form of Christianity, particularly liberal Protestantism is dying. The second or late modernity, started in the 1960's was a rejection of all authority and a turn to the individual and subjective. This has been more difficult for Christianity to respond to. It seems that fundamentalist forms of Christianity are growing as a response to this new age of unfettered relativism.

Very interesting read, an overview of Christianity that is fascinating to read, I'm not sure the narrative is totally accurate - I would be interested to read a Church Historians review.

[Ahsan Sharafuddin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read for a person with a purely secular outlook. The book talks about the enormous success of the religion that to date remains the most popular of all religions. It also mentions different flavors of the religion and how they parted with the mainstream religion. It was also interesting to learn how Emperors and Kings throughout history have used the religion to solidify and extend their reign.

Despite Chritianity's enormous popularity, it is riddled with controversies, as is summed up in the following sentence --- "At its heart are a series of paradoxes: a God who is also man, a teacher who lays down no laws, a holy book which is many books, a monotheism which is trinitarian, a religion of peace which is often violent".

[W. Hartman · Rating 2 out of 5]

As usual with the “a very short introduction” series, it’s a question of hit or miss.

In this case the author has a few good hits, I appreciated the analysis of Christianity into Church, Bible and Mystical Christianity.

She has very little space to go into the enormity of what is Christian history and I appreciate the way she tries to tackle the task.

She misses the target though when her progressive ideas leak too into the text. It was unnecessary.
It’s been decades now that social scientists act as social activists.

The remark of the growth of Islam vs the stagnation of the Byzantine Empire, comparing the two using the example of slavery in christianity but suggesting Islam is some sort of liberation movement for the oppressed is a tragic miss.

[Martin Ridgway · Rating 2 out of 5]

This only sort of does what it says in the title. It presents new categories of Christianity that are the author's favourites and presents everything in those boxes.
Be warned - this isn't really a history of Chrsitianity; it's more looking at how it is (as the author sees it) today.

I really didn't get on with the tone of this book.
It says things happen or turn out that way because of Biblical authority without any distanciation, which makes it look like the author accepts that as reason enough.

I don't think that's good enough for a Very Short Introduction.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an ok introduction. I won't be using it in any of my classes becuase it's just too brief, and she uses categories that I'm not familiar with in other literature like "Church" Christianity and "Biblical" Christianity.

The chapter on Christianity in Prothero's "God Is Not One" is probably more useful.

[Ci · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent basic reference book for Christianity. It does not go into very fine details but only the essentials. That is the great benefit of "A Very Short Introduction" which is accomplished without "watering down" both the contents and the writing style.

A very useful reference.

[Mark D'Alessio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, with an original POV

Recommended! The typology of Church/Biblical/Mystical Christianity is deceptively simple, evocatively complex, and worthwhile to consider. An original point of view.

[Kathleen O'Neal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good VSI that does an excellent job of underscoring both the unity and diversity of Christianity. Recommended for anyone seeking an in to understanding the Christian faith.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent summary of the history of Christianity and how the theology continues to evolve.

[Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent short overview of the history, practices, and variations of Christianity. Woodhead maintains a very good balance between the various sects.

[Daniel Clemence · Rating 4 out of 5]

As part of the Oxford University Press's A Very Short Introduction series, Christianity: A Very Short Introduction is a good introduction to understanding Christianity as a religion. The book looks over the history of Christianity, its different belief systems and different church structures. This offers a good window into how Christianity functions and how the religion functions.

I think one thing that the book does well at is that it shows multiple different ideas and traditions within Christian religion. For example, the book outlines the different ideas to who Jesus is; whether he is just a man, man exalted by God, a unique divine being which allows others to become divine or the unique God-man. Each of these views are highly different understandings of who Jesus is and the views of Jesus became highly centralised around a high Christological position, specifically part of the Trinity which exists in most Christian churches.

Then the book describes the different Christian traditions, including Church Christianity, Biblical Christianity and Mystical Christianity. Church Christianity represents the classic High-Church Christianity of Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Biblical Christianity is that of Protestantism whilst Mystical Christianity includes monasticism and the various Charismatic churches.

The book also looks at developments of Christianity in the modern era, looking at the impact of Liberal Christianity on Christianity in the 19th and 20th century. This argues that Liberal Christianity did much to defend Christianity from modernism but ultimately declined in the 20th century. The book gave a useful paradigm to looking at different church structures, looking at authority whether it is transcendent authority, rational authority and experimental authority and looking at type of Christianity whether it be church type, biblical type or mystical type.

There are some criticisms I have of the book. A criticism that is noteworthy is that some of the claims are questionable, which is more pressing given the lack of citations which is common among the Very Short Introduction books. For example, on page 96, there was the claim that 50 percent of Britain's population went to church in the 19th century. This contradicts other sources such as historians like Hobsbawm and Thompson who gave other figures.

Having said that, this book offers a useful insight into Christianity. Worth a read if you are interested in Christianity.

[Matt Hoover · Rating 3 out of 5]

Woodhead, for what it's worth, does many things well. It feels as though her intended audience is a Martian who has never heard of Jesus Christ before, and she provides an excellent expository survey on a broad breadth of a topic (that is, the largest religion in the world), touching on some very deep ideas in very pithy ways. Additonally, she also incorporates the role of women artfully into the conversation.

However, there are also some serious flaws here. In general, she fails to distinguish very well along the battlelines between denominations. How does the Catholic view of the Eucharist differ from that of other faiths? What happened during the Great Schism of 1054? These are questions she fails to answer. She also talks about some topics without ever introducing them, such as Ulrich Zwingli, the Anglicanism, and the Baptist faith. Henry VIII is not mentioned at all in this text. Yet oddly she spends several pages on the non-Chalcedonian churches which cannot have any more than a few hundred thousand adherents. Perhaps these are issues which a good editor ought to have addressed.

In my observation, she spends a great deal of time on orthodoxis and very little on orthopraxis. There is no discussion of what a liturgy might actually look like. As a liturgy wonk, I feel my bias here is justified. What more concrete way is a faith expressed than in what an adherent might observe on a Sunday morning? Perhaps Woodhead would have done well to include a chapter on what a worship service condists of, how it is structured, the origin of practices, etc. in different denominations.

As a general theme, she tends to both over-explain and under-explain topics.Occasionally, she also glosses over complex and important topics and presumes causation where correlation only appears to exist. While Woodhead does well in what space she has, she is also seriously lacking in some areas.

[Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Charismatic Christians ... rarely have interest in political power." Perhaps this applies to only the formerly colonised areas, but it reads silly, especially b/c Woodhead uses it as a trait that differentiates it from fundamentalist Islam. We see now that even in the US, significant strains of fundamentalist Christianity are scarcely distinguishable from fundamentalist Islam in its patriarchy, willingness to marginalise women, and desire to control all of society. Their corruption is clear from their willingness to ally with Tr*mp to further their controlling agenda. And fundamentalist Christians are exporting homophobia throughout the world.

Karen Armstrong has emphasised that these fundamentalist strains are reactions to modernity, in large part, rather than returning to roots as their adherents claim. Many (or most, or all?) conservative churches have shown themselves incapable of facing hard truths within their own organisations like extensive SA and CSA. I expect similar ugliness can be found within other conservative denominations and conservative strains in other religions. Far too easy to ignore the "beam that is in thine own eye."

She does, helpfully, emphasise that the religion of many of the founders of the US was Deism. This is much more obvious in the founding documents than the modern fundamentalism the zealots claim.

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The central idea of this book is that (despite all the complexity of schisms, sects, and subsects) the various entities that call themselves Christian can be put into one of three categories: church, biblical, or mystical. These groups reflect where the adherents see the ultimate source of authority. Church Christians, exemplified by Roman Catholics, view the hierarchy of clergy as the ultimate authority. Biblical Christians, e.g. Baptists, see the Bible as the highest authority. Finally, mystics see the individual's relationship with (or connection to or oneness with) God to be what matters.

Bookending elaboration upon those three forms of Christianity, there is an opening that discusses early development of the Christian religion and the dividing lines that characterized it (e.g. whether Jesus was man, god, or a bit of both,) and there is a closing chapter about modern Christianity that explores various modern movements, such as: liberal Christianity, Evangelicalism, Fundamentalism, and charismatic Christianity.

If you're interested in understanding the various permutations of Christianity (past and present,) and how they developed and differentiated themselves, this is a fine introduction to the subject.

[Desollado · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a difficult to finish. Being objective it is precisely the lack of objectiveness what is missing in this book. The common habit of making lists of "points of view" that the author does, leaves open the question how representative or spread are the positions she quotes, almost disguising unpopular opinions as balanced by popular ones.
Also there is an almost romantic vision of Christianity in a lovely affair with other religions, humanity and science, with almost no mention of it's many historical clashes.
Maybe a religious person can agree with me that this vision is almost postmodern, in the first chapters it gives Christianity a free ticket to "anything goes" in such statements as that opposite views are reconcilable as different manifestations of the divine. This book is the mostly filled with very big "perhaps" in almost every page, as some kind of filler.
There are very detailed descriptions of rituals and no mention at all of fake relics, false miracles, church support of totalitarian regimes, the inquisition or indexes of forbidden books.