'(the) analysis is subtle and perceptive'

At a time when Christianity is flourishing in the Southern hemisphere but declining in much of the West, thisVery Short Introduction offers an important new overview of the world's largest religion. Exploring the cultural and institutional dimensions of Christianity, and tracing its course over two millennia, this book provides a fresh, lively, and candid portrait of its past and present. Addressing topics that other studies neglect, including the competition for power between different forms of Christianity, the churches' uses of power, and their struggles with modernity, Linda Woodhead concludes by showing the ways in which those who previously had the least power in Christianity--women and non-Europeans--have become increasingly central to its unfolding story.

At a time when Christianity is flourishing in the Southern hemisphere but declining in much of the West, this very short introduction offers an important new overview of the world's largest religion. Exploring the cultural and institutional dimensions of Christianity, and tracing its course over two millennia, this book provides a fresh, lively, and candid portrait of its past and present. Addressing topics that other studies neglect, including the competition for power between different forms of Christianity, the churches' uses of power, and their struggles with modernity, Linda Woodhead concludes by showing the ways in which those who previously had the least power in Christianity - women and non-Europeans - have become increasingly central to its unfolding story.

Linda Woodhead is Senior Lecturer in Christian Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at Lancaster University. Recent books that she has edited include: Religions in the Modern World (Routledge, 2001), Religion in Modern Times (with Paul Heelas) (Blackwell Publishers, 2000) and Diana: The Making of a Media Saint (I. B. Tauris, 1999). She is currently completing an Introduction to Christianity for Cambridge University Press.

2006-10-15 An overview of Christian diversity

This is an excellent introduction to the sheer diversity of Christian faith and practice in the world today. Linda Woodhead suggests that it is helpful to explore this diversity by exploring the three main traditions of Christianity within a historical context: those which emphasise the primacy of church authority (Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism); those which place emphasis on the authority of the bible (most mainstream protestant churches such as Lutherans and Methodists) and the much smaller tradition of those wich emphasise the primacy of the spirit (of which the Society of Friends is a good example.) Like all attempts at a typology, the reality is that the edges of blurred as these emphases are not mutually exclusive.
This is not a book for those who want to read a defence of Christianity nor does it "come down" on the side of any one view of Christianity, which has clearly annoyed one previous reviewer. It is a book written by a first rate scholar of religion who wants to provide an easy to read, engaging, sympathetic book about the origins, growth and diversity of perhaps the world's largest religion. She has achieved her goals magnificently!