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

by Diana Butler Bass

Overview

“It would be difficult to imagine anyone reading this book without finding some new insight or inspiration, some new and unexpected testimony to the astonishing breadth of Christianity through the centuries.” — Philip Jenkins, author of The Lost History of Christianity

“Interesting, insightful, illuminating, and remarkably relevant.” — Marcus Borg, author of The Heart of Christianity

In the tradition of Howard Zinn comes a new history of Christianity that reveals its bottom-up movements over the past 2,000 years, which preserved Jesus’s original message of social justice, and how this history is impacting the church today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061973024
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	10/06/2009
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	900 KB

About the Author

Diana Butler Bass is the author of eight books on American religion, including Christianity After Religion, Christianity for the Rest of Us, and A People's History of Christianity. She holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Duke University, has taught at the college and graduate level, and is currently an independent scholar. She was a columnist for the New York Times Syndicate, and blogs for the Huffington Post and the Washington Post on issues of religion, spirituality, and culture. Bass is a popular speaker at conferences, colleges and universities, and churches across North America. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband, daughter, and dog. Her website is dianabutlerbass.com and she can be followed on Twitter at @dianabutlerbass.

Read an Excerpt

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

Chapter One

Christianity as a Way of Life

During the first round of research for my recent study of vital mainline Protestant churches, I sent my project associate, Joseph Stewart-Sicking, to Calvin Presbyterian Church in the small working-class town of Zelienople, Pennsylvania. Joe grew up Roman Catholic and became an Episcopalian as a student. He had never attended a Presbyterian service, much less spent a week observing the life of a Presbyterian congregation. Throughout the week he called in reports of how the people of Calvin Church—their lives and their spirituality—intrigued him.

When Joe returned to the office, I asked him, "What surprised you the most? What did you see or hear that you did not particularly expect?"

Joe thought for a moment and replied, "Gregory of Nyssa."

"What?" I asked.

"Gregory of Nyssa. Other early Christian theologians. And the desert fathers and mothers. Every time I asked them about their spiritual practices, they told me about church history."

Joe's response startled me. Not all Presbyterians are familiar with the fourth-century theologian Gregory of Nyssa. But there, in a modest church in a small western Pennsylvania town, folks had found spiritual friends from the early church, people whose ancient wisdom they embraced for today. Across the country renewing congregations like Calvin Church are becoming conversant with ancient Christian theologians, practices, and texts. From Jesus to St. Benedict in the sixth century, people are discovering the distant Christian past anew.

Back for the Future

Few periods of church history have captured as much popular attention as early Christianity. At my local bookstore the Christianity section is full of dozens of books about Jesus, the Gospels, Christianity and the Roman Empire, and ancient churches. I recently counted: other than contemporary issues, fewer than twenty books on those same shelves cover topics beyond Christianity's first four centuries. In addition, three shelves are devoted solely to what the bookstore manager tags as Hidden Histories: Gnosticism, the Gospel of Judas, and Mary Magdalene. Early Christianity is a publishing sensation.

Popular interest in ancient Christianity did not begin, however, with the current trend. Since Albert Schweitzer's Quest of the Historical Jesus appeared in English in 1910, Protestants have actively pursued the question of who Jesus really was and what Jesus actually taught. Although a German theologian, Schweitzer introduced the notion to mainstream North American Protestants that somehow the original message of Jesus had been corrupted by later interpretations and that Christians must strip away the historical accretions to find the real Jesus.¹

This notion meshed with romantic ideals of the day. Many people hoped that they could somehow recover the original purity and simplicity of the gospel and, by doing so, reform or recreate their churches.² For a century scholarly Christianity has embarked on a quest backward. The ancient faith may be the best source to renew the present. During much of the last century the focus has been on Jesus and the first decades of the Christian movement, as in Schweitzer's Quest or more recently in the Jesus Seminar, with writers such as John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg. Parallel to the interest in Jesus, a new fascination with ancient worship and liturgy took shape, and the emphasis on the primitive church widened to include the first five centuries of Christianity, not only Jesus and his immediate followers.

Will the Real Rome Please Stand Up?

In many churches today Christians can be heard to remark that our world—the world of the twenty-first century—resembles the period of the early church more than any other time in history. Typically, they mean that Christianity is no longer the dominant way of organizing life in an increasingly secular and pluralistic West, that in most Western countries Christianity is institutionally on the wane and does not command the influence and privilege once accorded it.³ With some regularity many Western believers now speak of living in a post-Christian society. As a result Christians now find themselves members of one religion among many: Christians can no longer assume that their faith is the birthright religion of the majority, and that the faithful need to adopt a missionary vision in order for their churches to survive in religiously and culturally diverse societies.

Although many Christians think such comparisons are recent, thoughtful observers noted this change around the turn of the last century. "It is unlikely that Christianity will retain so nominally exclusive a sway as it has hitherto done in Western Europe," predicted Wellesley College professor Vida Scudder in 1912. "In all probability, the day of its conventional control is passing and will soon be forgotten." She continued:

The time will come when the Christian faith will have to fight for right of way among crowding antagonists as vigorously as in the times of Athanasius and Augustine. And in thoughts like these all genuine Christians must rejoice. Without the call to high adventure, the faith has never flourished.⁴

By comparing the situation to that of the early church, modern Christians remember the religious status of their ancient ancestors as outsiders in non-Christian Rome. Because they faced issues similar to those we face, they serve as guides for us.

A People's History of Christianity
The Other Side of the Story. Copyright © by Diana Butler Bass. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

What People are Saying About This

Gary Dorrien

“With her customary lucidity and charm, this time in the mode of Howard Zinn’s historical populism, Diana Butler Bass gives us this splendid account of the grassroots movements that have kept alive the spirit and way of Jesus for 2,000 years . . . enjoyable and illuminating.”

Alan Jones

“Butler Bass invites us into a deep conversation with the past which thrusts us into the future with hope. A must for Christians and seekers of all stripes...”

Walter Brueggemann

“...immediately accessible, helped along by frequent and shrewd linkages to contemporary counterpoints. This presentation includes lots of folk along the way who never made the ‘power lists.’ Readers will resonate with this inclusiveness and be grateful to Bass for making them fellow travelers in the on-going story.”

Shane Claiborne

“Intelligent and sassy, honest and redemptive. ...a warning that if we don’t remember the blood-stained pages of the past, then we are doomed to repeat them., but also an invitation to participate in the next chapter of what it means to be the Church in this broken world.”

Sara Miles

“In this beautifully written history, Diana Butler Bass reveals the living, beating heart of love at the core of Christian faith.”

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush

“...a compelling refresher course in our common religious heritage. Bass reacquaints the reader to 2000 years of Christian voices whose faith called for social justice and radical love. By rendering their wisdom accessible, the author encourages the reader to a devotional and ethical renewal that is exhilarating and challenging.”

Philip Jenkins

“It would be difficult to imagine anyone reading thi book without finding some new insight or inspiration, some new and unexpected testimony to the astonishing breadth of Christianity through the centuries.”

Brian McLaren

“...this book is so much more than a wonderful overview of Christian history. It is also a joyful apologetic for a ‘new kind of Christianity.’ I already gave away my copy, because I knew it would help salvage the faltering faith of a disillusioned friend.”

E. Brooks Holifield

“The prose is sparkling and the insights are manifold.”

Wade Clark Roof

“A People’s History of Christianity is just that-a people’s history, describing the diversity of Christian thinking, ethics and practices over the centuries, and so important to the renewal of religious imagination today.”

Justo L. Gonzalez

“An excellent introduction to grass-roots renewal movements as well as to the various shapes that Christian spirituality has taken through the ages. ...necessary reading for any who may have thought that history is irrelevant for present-day living.”

Phyllis Tickle

“Charmingly written and refreshing to read, yet rich in details and thorough in its mapping of the major themes and events that have shaped the evolution of the Western Church, A People’s History is our story re-told with both clear-eyed affection and a scholar’s acumen.”

Daniel Walker Howe

“Diana Butler Bass presents a wide diversity of Christian experience in her gallop through two thousand years of history. The curious but hesitant reader who wonders whether Christianity just might have something in it for them will find that the answer is YES.”

Marcus Borg

“Interesting, insightful, illuminating, and remarkably relevant.”

Editorial Reviews

…sometimes subversive and often joyful: In Bass's telling, Jesus is a "religious revolutionary," who led a People's Crusade of "humility, hospitality, and love." Readers seeking a scholarly approach may want to look elsewhere; the writing here is deeply personal and airily structured. What emerges is a persuasive argument that the real traditions of the church are "faith, hope, and love entwined."
—The Washington Post

Matthew Shaer

In this panoramic view of two millennia of Christian history, Butler Bass (Christianity for the Rest of Us) attempts to give contemporary progressive (the author prefers the term "generative") Christians a sense of their family history, refracted through little known as well as famous men and women whose work within and outside the institutional church fueled sometimes "alternative" practices as they tried to follow Jesus the Prophet. "Without a sense of history, progressive Christianity remains unmoored," argues Butler Bass, a former columnist for the New York Times syndicate. Organized chronologically, each section of the book includes a chapter on religious observance and one on social justice, illuminating the author's conviction that authentic Christianity can be discovered in the practice of loving God and neighbor. Laced with stories from the author's own life and with contemporary examples of "generative Christianity," Butler Bass's version of Christian history includes familiar figures like the fourth-century church father Gregory of Nyssa and lesser-known individuals like the 19th century American abolitionist Maria Stewart. Is this truly "the other side of the story," as the subtitle proclaims? It's definitely a start. (Mar.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

What an exciting book: a history, modeled somewhat after the methodology of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, that focuses "on the moments when Christian people really acted like Christians, when they took seriously the call of Jesus to love God and love their neighbors as themselves." Columnist and teacher Bass (senior fellow, Cathedral Coll. of the Washington National Cathedral; Strength for the Journey), who has a Ph.D. in church history, calls this book's narratives "usable history, stories told for the purpose of strengthening community by deepening its spiritual practices and renewing its vision of social justice." She divides Christian history into five major parts: "The Way (100-500 C.E.)," "The Cathedral (500-1450)," "The Word (1450-1650)," "The Quest (1650-1950)," and "The River (1945-Now)." For each period, she discusses the embodiment of the titular theme, devotion, and ethics. These divisions emphasize what people, known and relatively unknown, actually did in worship and in attempting to live the Gospel. This easily read book encourages Christian activism, inclusivity, and transformed hope that can be lived. Highly recommended for seminary, public, and undergraduate libraries.
—Carolyn M. Craft

Library Journal

In a refreshing look at 2,000 years of Christian history from the bottom up, Butler Bass offers unique insights into the spirit has stirred the hearts and minds of faithful people over the centuries and brought renewal to Christianity during periods of upheaval and distress.

Christian Science Monitor

Bass presents here a fresh version of church history...a crucial book for churches today...

Sojourners

For spiritual seekers—whether inside the church or not—and for believers who feel disconnected from their roots, she points the way toward important spiritual resources that have the potential to transform lives, churches and the world as a whole if people are willing to reencounter the riches of the Christian tradition.

Christian Century

[T]he writing here is deeply personal and airily structured. What emerges is a persuasive argument that the real traditions of the church are ‘faith, hope, and love entwined.’

Washington Post

Charmingly written and refreshing to read, yet rich in details and thorough in its mapping of the major themes and events that have shaped the evolution of the Western Church, A People’s History is our story re-told with both clear-eyed affection and a scholar’s acumen.

Phyllis Tickle

Interesting, insightful, illuminating, and remarkably relevant.

Marcus J. Borg

It would be difficult to imagine anyone reading thi book without finding some new insight or inspiration, some new and unexpected testimony to the astonishing breadth of Christianity through the centuries.

Philip Jenkins

...immediately accessible, helped along by frequent and shrewd linkages to contemporary counterpoints. This presentation includes lots of folk along the way who never made the ‘power lists.’ Readers will resonate with this inclusiveness and be grateful to Bass for making them fellow travelers in the on-going story.

Walter Brueggemann

In this beautifully written history, Diana Butler Bass reveals the living, beating heart of love at the core of Christian faith.

Sara Miles

Butler Bass invites us into a deep conversation with the past which thrusts us into the future with hope. A must for Christians and seekers of all stripes...

Alan Jones

Diana Butler Bass presents a wide diversity of Christian experience in her gallop through two thousand years of history. The curious but hesitant reader who wonders whether Christianity just might have something in it for them will find that the answer is YES.

Daniel Walker Howe

The prose is sparkling and the insights are manifold.

E. Brooks Holifield

An excellent introduction to grass-roots renewal movements as well as to the various shapes that Christian spirituality has taken through the ages. ...necessary reading for any who may have thought that history is irrelevant for present-day living.

Justo L. Gonzalez

Intelligent and sassy, honest and redemptive. ...a warning that if we don’t remember the blood-stained pages of the past, then we are doomed to repeat them., but also an invitation to participate in the next chapter of what it means to be the Church in this broken world.

Shane Claiborne

...this book is so much more than a wonderful overview of Christian history. It is also a joyful apologetic for a ‘new kind of Christianity.’ I already gave away my copy, because I knew it would help salvage the faltering faith of a disillusioned friend.

Brian McLaren

Interesting, insightful, illuminating, and remarkably relevant.

Marcus Borg

...a compelling refresher course in our common religious heritage. Bass reacquaints the reader to 2000 years of Christian voices whose faith called for social justice and radical love. By rendering their wisdom accessible, the author encourages the reader to a devotional and ethical renewal that is exhilarating and challenging.

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush

With her customary lucidity and charm, this time in the mode of Howard Zinn’s historical populism, Diana Butler Bass gives us this splendid account of the grassroots movements that have kept alive the spirit and way of Jesus for 2,000 years . . . enjoyable and illuminating.

Gary Dorrien

A People’s History of Christianity is just that-a people’s history, describing the diversity of Christian thinking, ethics and practices over the centuries, and so important to the renewal of religious imagination today.

Wade Clark Roof