Category: Diana Butler Bass

Book Review: Diana Butler Bass’ ‘A People’s History of Christianity’


Diana Butler Bass, A People’s History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story,New York: Harper One, 2009. 310 pages.

Often when I read books by church historians I get a sense that the important events are those related to the spread of the faith, doctrinal debates, and atrocities in the name of Christ. Diana Butler Bass has written a book that fills in the gaps. She goes to great lengths to show how Christians–some with little recognition in most circles–have done all they can to honor the Great Commandment of Christ to love God and our neighbor as ourselves.

If you or someone you know dismisses Christianity because of the crusades, or the inquisition, or bad popes, this may be a book that should be read. The author divides church history into five parts:

1.The Way: Early Christianity, 100-500
2. The Catherdral: Medieval Christianity, 500-1450\
3. The Word: Reformation Christianity, 1450-1650
4. The Quest: Modern Christianity, 1650-1945
5. The River: Contemporary Christianity, 1945-Now

In each section she details the grassroots movements that sought to live the faith absent of a struggle for power and recognition. She shows how average Christians struggled to work for the Kingdom. And she shows how the more recognizable names–like Augustine of Hippo, Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and others–sought to live for Christ in there era.

While I would not say, at all, that Diana Butler Bass ignores the importance of Christian doctrine, I do think the only weakness may be that some of the erroneous thought of people throughout church history is given a bit too much credence without a critical evaluation. On the other hand, she does not make very many critical evaluations, so this is understandable. Also, I wonder why Pentecostalism was never acknowledged. I think it is an important part of church history.

I recommend this book. I think it is a great read. It is informative. It is uplifting. It brings hope. Even where you may disagree with the author, or dislike the direction she seems to be going, you do see her point and her reasoning. Again, I think this is the ideal book on church history for those who have become disenchanted with the church because of our history.

For information regarding the reception of this book go here.

Diana Butler Bass Podcasts


I am reading through A People’s History of Christianity by Diana Butler Bass. The Ooze sent me a review copy and I am almost finished. I will review it soon. In the mean time, I want to recommend the following podcast:

Diana Butler Bass on ‘The God Complex’ Podcast (with my friend Bruce Reyes-Chow): here.

Diana Butler Bass on the ‘Nick and Josh’ Podcast: here.

The Reformation: A Success or a Failure?


Diana Butler Bass wrote this interesting paragraph in A People’s History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story:

Even though Protestants view the Reformation as a success, the events of the sixteenth century unleashed a host of problems with which Christians had to grapple. To say, for example, that the Word of God acted as spiritual and theological authority for life created problems: Whose interpretation of the word was correct? How could a believer adjudicate between conflicting view of scripture? What happened when those in authority contradicted each other? And even worse, when those authorities–all claiming to be Christian–persecuted or went to war with each other, what then? The Reformation eroded traditional sources of authority and unity in Europe, opening Christian communities to questions and concerns unimagined by the medieval church. As the questions provoked many different answers, they also provoked warfare. Catholic kings challenged Protestant princes over territorial claims, and those in authority–whether Protestant or Catholic–crushed heresy and heterodoxy within their own borders. (p. 213)

Alister McGrath has dedicated an entire book to answering a question like this one when he wrote Christianity’s Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century. It is a question of hermeneutics, of the authority to interpret the Scriptures. It may be the most poignant criticism of Protestantism that we have splintered the church into pieces over various interpretations of nearly every next imaginable. Should we still consider the results of the Reformation a success?