The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity

Extending from the earliest Christian communities, marked by a strong sense of being "called out" from the surrounding society, to the 20th century, a "reversion to an age of persecution of Christianity," this superb, authoritative chronicle recreates the sense of the sacred as it was experienced by Christians in particular times and settings. Led by McManners, professor of ecclesiastical history at Oxford, a team of 19 historians explores the decisive role of Christianity in shaping the Germanic West, the intricate tapestry of Eastern Christendom, the historic failure of Christians to accommodate Jews and Muslims in their midst. Chapters deal with the Reformation and the new lay spirituality of the Enlightenment, missionary expansionism (1500-1800) and modern developments in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the U.S. and Europe. Hundreds of illustrations range from paintings by El Greco, Botticelli and Edward Hicks to an Ethiopian miniature, a drawing from a ninth-century psalter and photographs of key figures.