Christianity - General & Miscellaneous, General & Miscellaneous Church History, Civilization - General & Miscellaneous
Log in to track your reading progress.
Overview
Honored in 2006 as a "Year's Best Book for Preachers" by Preaching magazine.What has Christianity ever done for us?
What value is there in seeking to preserve its influence today?
In this book, Jonathan Hill answers these questions with some questions of his own. For instance, why do we seal wine bottles with cork? Where did musical notation come from? How did universities get their start? And why was the world's first fully literate society not in Europe, Asia or North America?
As Hill tells the story of the centuries-long entanglement between Christianity and Western culture, he shows the profound influence that Christianity has had--from what we drink to how we speak, from how we write to how we mark the seasons. Employing a rich, narrative style packed with events and people and illustrated throughout in full color, he describes the place of Christianity both in history and in the present day.
What Has Christianity Ever Done for Us? is an enlightening and often humorous tour of culture and thought, the arts, the landscape, education, society, spirituality and ethics, and social justice. Here is a rich, entertaining and informative read.
Editorials
Library Journal
This short but extensive new book by Hill (Faith in the Age of Reason) focuses on the far-reaching and positive heritage of Christianity as well as its impact on Western culture. With his impressive knowledge of religious history (he holds an M.Phil. in theology from Oxford), Hill highlights Christianity's early interaction with philosophy and its continuing influence on education at every level, along with its effects on literature, art, and morality. In the context of historical events, he describes how Christianity shaped the cultures and institutions of the world and explains how it continues to address issues of persecution, race, hunger, health, and human rights today. The four-color illustrations are well chosen, and the index will be particularly helpful to students who encounter the people and events covered here in other material. Recommended particularly for college and university libraries.-George Westerlund, formerly with Providence P.L., Palmyra, VA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.Book Details
Published
August 20, 2005
Publisher
Downers Grove, Ill. : InterVarsity Press, c2005.
Pages
192
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780830833283