The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--and How It Died

When I first got this book, The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia—and How it Died, I was arrested by the cover.I, so far, was very familiar with early Christianity in Europe—that would be the Holy Roman Empire. I was somewhat familiar with Christianity in Northern Africa. Three really famous theologians of the early church were African: Athanasius of Alexandria, Egypt (AD 293–373) Augustine of Hippo, Algeria (AD 354–430) Origen of Alexandria, Egypt (AD 185-254)But Christianity in the East?I mean, sure, the Middle East. But China? Really?Really, really.It was Christians—Nestorian, Jacobite, Orthodox, and others—who preserved and translated the cultural inheritance of the ancient world—the science, philosophy, and medicine—and who transmitted it to centers like Baghdad and Damascus. Much of what we call Arab scholarship was in real reality Syriac, Persian, and Coptic, and it was not necessarily Muslim. Syriac-speaking Christian scholars brought the works of Aristotle to the Muslim world … Syriac Christians even make the first reference to the efficient Indian numbering system that we know today as “Arabic,” and long before this technique gained currency among Muslim thinkers.Philip Jenkins, The Lost History of Christianity, p18In fact, by the fifth century there were five Christian centers, called patriarchates, dotted throughout the known world. Only one was in Rome.The other four were in Africa (Alexandria) and the Middle East (Constantinople, Antioch, and Jerusalem). As the papacy developed, six popes came from Syria, several of them Greek natives, between 640-740 CE.Ethiopia, Abyssinia, Armenia, Nubia, Syria, all deeply Christian nations from as early as the third century.By the sixth century, Christian missionaries were evangelizing and translating scripture in the heart of Asia—the Turks, Uygurs, and Soghdians, the Mongols, Huns, and Tatars. Scripture was translated into the language of the Huns. By 635 CE, missionaries were preaching in the Chinese imperial capital of Ch’ang-and, a mission that lasted over two hundred years. In 170 CE, all four Gospels had been translated to Syriac, and combined into a single account. By the second century, Christianity was growing in southern India.So what happened?In this amazing and often heart-wrenching account, I read about the early signs of division, beginning with nuances of meaning altered in the Latin translation of the originally Greek Apostle’s Creed (the oldest of all Christian creeds). This breach was further deepened by the west’s and the east’s separate understandings of the nature of God and Christ. A “Great Schism” formed, creating the Roman Catholic Church (with one See in Rome), and the Eastern Orthodox Church (all nine of the other Sees, or centers). On the Eastern side were the Nestorians and the Jacobites, now excommunicated from the western church for what was then branded as heresies.In a chapter marked The Great Tribulation, the rise of Islam is described.What a frightful decline! Read all and you shall greatly lament … Fifty-one metropolitanates, eighteen archbishoprics, and 478 bishoprics are desolate … And not only were those metropolitanates, archbishoprics, bishoprics, the monasteries and churches desolate, but also the provinces of the three patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. Neither will you find a single metropolitan there, nor other Christian, layman, or clergy. But on the thrones of those patriarchates you will find barely a few priests, monks, and laymen. Because the churches of their provinces have been obliterated completely and Christ’s people, that is the Christians, have been utterly destroyed.—Anonymous Greek churchman, c. 1480I learned about how the Crusaders coming from the West to “rescue” the churches of the East and to re-open the Holy Land after Turkey and Palestine came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. In truth, Western Crusaders often looted Eastern churches, and sent their ancient treasures back to Rome (and also Venice).I learned about the mysterious “crypto” Christians who kept their faith hidden for centuries in such surprising places as Japan.And I learned about how early Eastern Christianity and Islam were very similar at the start.Honestly, though I am not an historian by trade, I consider this book a must-read for every Christian. Oneness in Christ is a precious unity that is easily lost when current divisions are considered insurmountable. If only those early Christians had given each other more time to wrestle with Ephesians 4, and understand that crucial apostolic teaching.Let us learn from the tragedy and horror of our past.

Valuable history! I was in the dark about the lost Christianity. Toward the end of the book he asks some very penetrating questions. How could such huge areas of "Christianity" just disappear? Doesn't God protect His church? The real answer he never touched. Why do nearly all historians trace the history of Christianity through the Catholic, the Christian Orthodox, the Jacobian, and the Nestorian churches? The Bible traces the history very differently. Rev. 12:13, 14 says that God's true Christian church hid in the wilderness. The Waldensies, the Heugonots, the Thomas Indians, the Ethiopians, and so on. The book made sense when it pointed out that the most resistant groups of Christians lived above 2000 feet. They were in the mountains. Any power that persecuted others or attempts forced conversions to their views are not true Christians. Most of Christianity violates the Sabbath commandment. "And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God [including the Sabbath Commandment] and hold to the testimony of Jesus" (Rev. 12:17, brackets mine). Sunday worship was an early adaptation to the persecution of Rome. It is not Biblical. These supposed Christian churches were apostate. God didn't protect them. Most of them were also idol worshippers and included images in their churches. With that view, the demise of the majority of "Christianity" makes perfect sense. God didn't protect Israel when they worshiped idols either.

Jenkins’ book is one of the best history works that I’ve read in a while. It is well-written, engaging, encouraging, disheartening, challenging and thought-provoking. Jenkins takes a rather broader view of Christianity than western (and especially Gospel- and bibliocentric) Christians would accept, viewing the eastern Monophysites as orthodox (in the literal sense) in their faith. The eastern Church’s commitment to spreading the Good News about Jesus Christ eastward and their success in it until the 13th century, while the western Orthodox (in the technical sense) and Roman Catholic churches turned inward, would suggest that God used them mightily for his purposes, making us shout for joy, for the numbers of worshippers from every tongue, tribe and nation (Rev. 7:9) will be even greater than we can imagine. The fall of those churches should cause us to lament and weep before the Lord, for a great witness has been lost to the ages.I believe Jenkins’ book should be read by every true Christian, as it, like the Old Testament, show the things that happened to the eastern Church “as examples, and they were written as a warning to us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1Co. 10:1 – HCSB) Especially the analysis of the factors contributing to the collapse of the eastern Church in chapter 8 as well as the difficult questions in chapter 9 need to be considered by the Church as she plants new cells and copes with changes in society around her. After nearly 1000 years of ascendancy and tolerance, the pressures falling on the European and North American wings of the Church in particular sound much like the twilight years of the eastern Church. It’s time to learn from the past and not repeat the mistakes of our eastern brothers and sisters. Jenkins’ book also encourages us to ask the hard questions about why the fellowships of our eastern brothers and sisters were allowed to be destroyed. It encourages us to question our comfortable eschatology and pushes us to remember the urgency we should have in bringing the Good News about Jesus to everyone, even and especially those who are intolerant of and antagonistic towards us.

Prof. Jenkins concentrates on the Church of the East, and its neglected history. A thorough history, though he sometimes confuses the reader with a lack of clarity about different religious groups.

Muito bom

Compelling reflection of orthodox Christianity, its development and decline and especially in regards to geopolitical events occurring in todays world.

Pensavo di conoscere piuttosto bene la storia della Chiesa, ma questo saggio mi ha convinto che devo/dobbiamo riconsiderare molte delle nostre convinzioni eurocentriche.

東方教会についての知識は多くはギリシャ正教、ロシア正教どまりだが、非カルケドン系の東方教会の長い歴史とその広がりを分かりやすく解説している。

I bought the audio book of this title and liked it so much I've ordered the print version.Jenkins' basic argument is that there was a thriving Christian presence, and major Christian churches like the Nestorian, Syriac and Jacobite, in the Middle East, a Christian community in India started by the Apostle Thomas, and large Christian communities in places like Sri Lanka, China, Ethiopia, Nubia and modern day Iraq, all dating from the earliest days of Christianity. The Nestorian, Jacobite, Orthodox and Syrian Christian churches once rivalled or surpassed the Roman Catholic Church in authority and influence.But virtually all of this has disappeared. Jenkins cites the major reason for the disappearance of Eastern Christianity as "organized violence" by Muslims against the Eastern Christian churches and their followers. He backs this up with persuasive evidence.Jenkins also refutes the claims of writers like Karen Armstrong and Elaine Pagels, who have repeatedly stated that Muslim ruled societies, like Moorish Spain (Andalusia or al-Andalus), were bastions of tolerance for Christians and Jews. Not so, says Jenkins, and provides convincing evidence to support his statements.The history Jenkins is covering here has been forgotten, ignored or overlooked by western academic historians, with a few notable exceptions like Bat Ye'or. But it's a fascinating - and tragic - history with many lessons for contemporary Western societies in dealing with many current issues, including Islamic immigration to western countries, and relations with Turkey, Iran, Syria, Iraq and other Middle Eastern and Islamic countries.Jenkins makes a few statements I disagree with. He says, for example, that the Koran does not contain anything which incites violence against Christians, Jews or other religions. I've read the Koran and it certainly does contain some pretty obvious incitements to violence against non-Muslims.But, overall, this is a very interesting, informative and worthwhile book.The audiobook version is well done. The author writes well and his style adapts well to narration. The narrator has a good voice and good presentation. The only downside of the audio book is that some of the tracks seem to change in mid-sentence, so there are occasional delays in mid-sentence while the track changes. But that's a fairly minor technical issue which does not detract from the overall quality of the book.I have a 40 minute commute to and from work and I typically spend the commute time listening to audio books. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I liked the audio book so much that I've ordered the print version as a reference book.