What Has Christianity Ever Done for Us?

How It Shaped the Modern World

By Jonathan Hill

(hardcover)

Product Details

Line: IVP Academic
Length: 192 pages
Size: 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches
Binding: hardcover
Published: July 2005

ISBN-10: 0-8308-3328-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-8308-3328-3
IVP Order Code: 3328

"The book is a welcome contribution to the debate about the role of religion in a secularized West, this at a time when the leaders of Europe decided to omit any reference to Christianity in the newly adopted European Constitution. That is a misguided view of what makes Europe distinctive and deserving of universal admiration, as Pius XII pointed out in 1939 on the occasion of his elevation to the papacy. In this book Jonathan Hill offers a clear and lively portrait of Christianity's impact on Europe, showing how without the religion Europe would be unrecognizable and undistinguished at the same time. His open-minded presentation is animated by a profound contemporary issue; namely, what should the present generation of people undertake in response to the perennial challenge of Christianity? In other words, what Christianity has done for us places us under obligation to do something in the name of Christianity. The question Hill asks demands and deserves a pastoral response by the church and by individual Christians."

"Jonathan Hill provides an entertaining and instructive answer to his provocative question, 'What has Christianity ever done for us?' He glides over two thousand years of history with a sure yet light touch, and what he tells us is always intriguing, never dogmatic."

"It is often said today that Christians should not be too much involved in culture. But what about those spheres of life that have already been fundamentally formed by Christian influence? Jonathan Hill traces how Christianity interacted with Greco-Roman, Renaissance and Enlightenment thought to shape Western art and architecture, science and psychology, economics and politics, morality and law, plus colonialism and liberation. And he points out encounters with religions and societies beyond the West. To avoid or deny these influences denies the legacy of our forebears in faith and ghettoizes the church. The book is loaded with insight and nuance, written with style and wit, and offers a compelling view of the intellectual and social impact of Christianity. One gets an education from such a book!"

Debates over the this-worldy effects of Christianity cannot be decided on a balance scale, but here's a book that deserves to be weighed when such debates take place.

In a day when the church is often blamed for doing harm, it is refreshing to read about important instances when Christians got things right.

Catholicism and Protestantism in this book approaching all aspects of human enterprise from the standpoint of how Christianity has influenced us and how the teachings of Jesus have molded and shaped academics. The book is well written, challenging, and ecumenical in spirit.