Saturday, March 12, 2016

Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years, Philip Jenkins

I can't imagine anyone but me would be interested in this book, but I was very, very interested. It has always fascinated me that there were all kinds of wars and assassinations over the idea of monophytism, when it seems like such an obscure fiddly little detail of Christianity. (...says the atheist Jew.) The book has a really interesting thesis about the fractures in Eastern Christianity paving the way for the Muslim invasions of the 700s. And at one point the author compares all the extremely complicated religious arguments taking place to that scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where they read the directions for the Holy Hand Grenade.

Grade: B

Originally posted 2010

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