xii, 356 pages ; 21 cm

Hart traces the growth of the Church from Jesus' own life through to its massive impact throughout the world. Illuminates the traditions, beliefs and practices of over twenty centuries of Christianity worldwide

Includes bibliographical references (pages 350-351) and index

The abiding glory : the people of Israel -- Jesus Christ, born of the Jews -- The death of the Messiah -- The Easter proclamation -- The church of the apostles -- The growth of the early church -- The age of the martyrs -- The Gnostics -- Alexandria in the early Christian centuries -- Constantine the Great and the birth of Christendom -- Cities of the desert : the rise of monasticism -- Christianity in Armenia and India -- Ancient splendour : Christianity in Ethiopia -- One god in three persons : the Earliest church councils -- The age of the fathers -- The fall of Rome and the rise of a new western Christendom -- Western monasticism and the preservation of Western learning -- Christendom -- The formation of orthodox Christology -- The last epoch of the united Christian empire -- The "Church of the East" : the Nestorian missions -- A new power in the world : the rise of Islam -- Charlemagne -- The face of God : the iconoclast controversy -- Franks and Byzantines : the widening gulf -- The conversion of the Slavs -- The great schism -- The early Crusades -- Byzantine zenith and nadir -- The Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages -- The high Middle Ages -- Reason and superstition : medieval contradictions -- The Oriental churches in the later Middle Ages -- Byzantine twilight -- The last Caesar -- Renaissance Christian thought -- Spain and its Inquisition -- The Reformation begins -- The growth of Reformation -- The Anabaptists and the Catholic reformation -- Schism and war : early modern Europe -- Colonies and missions -- The Church and the scientists -- Deism, enlightenment and revolution -- Eastern orthodoxy in the early modern period -- The 19th century : a time of radical doubt -- The 19th century : a time of fervent faith -- The 20th century in America -- The most violent century in history -- The 20th to the 21st century : the rise of a new Christendom

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