Book Review

    Why did Christianity turn out the way it did, with relatively strong churches in the United States, declining churches in Europe, fast-growing churches in African and other southern hemisphere countries, and almost no churches in vast stretches of Asia?

    That's another way of asking why the church that started with a small band of disciples in Jerusalem spread mostly to the north and west, and not to the east and west. Or, more personally, why were you and I born into a western Christian society instead into a western society praying toward Mecca or worshiping the natural world?

    These and similar questions are answered in Mark Noll's recently revised book, Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity. Professor Noll, a historian at Wheaton College, Illinois, has picked out a dozen "turning points" in the history of Christianity and described each in a separate chapter.

    Here are the first half dozen, very much oversimplified:

    1. The destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by Roman legions, which pushed the fledgling Christian church out into the wider world where it began to fulfill its Master's command to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

    2. The Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325., which produced the Nicene Creed, emphasizing the divinity of Christ.

    3. The Council of Chalcedon, A.D. 451, which clarified orthodox Christian teaching, especially about the nature of Christ as "one person" consisting of "two natures."

    4. The rise of monasteries, which “rescued” the church by providing a haven for the development and continuation of learning in the turbulent Middle Ages, especially through preserving, copying and studying the Scriptures.

    5. The coronation of Charles, king of the Franks, as Charlemagne, ruler of the Roman empire, in 800 A.D. by Pope Leo III, which symbolized the union of church and state.

    6. The “Great Schism” or split between the Eastern church (“Orthodox” church), centered in Constantinople, and the Western Church (Roman Catholic), centered in Rome, in 1054 A.D.

    And the rest of the turning points? You can read all about them by ordering this fascinating paperback from Excelsior Bookstore in Middletown (published by Baker Book House, $18.99), or wait until it shows up on the shelves of our church library, when you can read it for free.