The Other Side of the Story For too long, the history of Christianity has been told as the triumph of orthodox doctrine imposed through power and hierarchy. Butler Bass persuasively argues that corrective--even subversive--beliefs and practices have always been hallmarks of Christianity. She brings to life the movements, personalities, and spiritual disciplines that have always informed and ignited Christian worship and social activism.
"Intelligent and sassy, honest and redemptive. ...a warning that if we don't remember the blood-stained pages of the past, then we are doomed to repeat them., but also an invitation to participate in the next chapter of what it means to be the Church in this broken world." -- Shane Claiborne, author of The Irresistible Revolution
"Western Christianity is suffering from a bad case of spiritual amnesia," Diana Butler Bass writes in her illuminating new history. The barb is aimed not at conservatives -- "those asserting certainty" -- but liberal Christians, assailed by "secular humanists and their self-assured religious cousins" and caught between "rejecting the past and bearing its weight." Bass's primary goal in this book is to restore what she calls "Great Command Christianity," a reference to the tale of the Good Samaritan and Jesus's subsequent admonition to "go and do likewise." Bass explores the myriad ways in which that teaching has been interpreted and embodied. The result is sometimes subversive and often joyful"--Matthew Shaer (Washington Post's Book World) |
