Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 years

by John Philip Jenkins

Overview

The Fifth-Century Political Battles That Forever Changed the Church

In this fascinating account of the surprisingly violent fifth-century church, PhilipJenkins describes how political maneuvers by a handful of powerful charactersshaped Christian doctrine. Were it not for these battles, today’s church could beteaching something very different about the nature of Jesus, and the papacy as weknow it would never have come into existence. Jesus Wars reveals the profoundimplications of what amounts to an accident of history: that one faction ofRoman emperors and militia-wielding bishops defeated another.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061768934
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/08/2011
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	523,953
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Philip Jenkins, the author of The Lost History of Christianity, Jesus Wars, and The Next Christendom, is a Distinguished Professor of History at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion. He has published articles and op-ed pieces in The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Washington Post and has been a guest on top national radio shows across the country.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments v

Introduction: Who Do You Say That I Am? vii

Terms and Definitions xvii

Maps xx

1 The Heart of the Matter 1

Part 1 God and Caesar 39

2 The War of Two Natures 41

3 Four Horsemen: The Church's Patriarchs 75

4 Queens, Generals, and Emperors 103

Part 2 Councils of Chaos 129

5 Not the Mother of God? 131

6 The Death of God 169

7 Chalcedon 199

Part 3 A World to Lose 227

8 How the Church Lost Half the World 229

9 What Was Saved 267

Appendix: The Main Figures in the Story 279

Notes 289

Index 319

Editorial Reviews

Are you hungry for a rip-roaring tale of theological intrigue filled with conspiracies, Byzantine plots, murder, and mayhem? Or are you longing for a solid, informative, and accurate history of the development of Christian orthodoxy? If your answer is yes to both, Philip Jenkins’s Jesus Wars...is your book.” — Christianity Today

“Jenkins...has done a remarkable job of documenting this little-understood slice of history. There’s lots of excitement and plenty of intrigue, and Jenkins does a fine job in his recitation of this strange story.” — Publishers Weekly

“In showing general readers how he finds fresh ideas and the resurrections of past teachings invigorating to religious studies, Jenkins provides an accessible book . . . the book enlightens readers on the backstory to current Christian divisions . . . ” — Library Journal

“Jenkins condenses centuries of church and imperial strife with admirable clarity...” — Booklist (starred review)

“Jenkins manages to explain very clearly why people in the early Christian era were so passionately concerned with issues of high theology.” — The Economist

From the Publisher

Jenkins condenses centuries of church and imperial strife with admirable clarity...

Booklist (starred review)

Are you hungry for a rip-roaring tale of theological intrigue filled with conspiracies, Byzantine plots, murder, and mayhem? Or are you longing for a solid, informative, and accurate history of the development of Christian orthodoxy? If your answer is yes to both, Philip Jenkins’s Jesus Wars...is your book.

Christianity Today

Jenkins manages to explain very clearly why people in the early Christian era were so passionately concerned with issues of high theology.

The Economist

"Jenkins condenses centuries of church and imperial strife with admirable clarity..."

Booklist

Jenkins (history & religious studies, Penn State Univ. & Baylor Univ.; The Lost History of Christianity), a well-seasoned scholar of Christianity, focuses here not only on the theological definitions of the nature of Christ, promulgated by various Christian political and ecclesiastical leaders from the fourth through the seventh centuries, but also on the political machinations, violent persecutions, and scheming that made "wars" of these debates. Jenkins includes many helpful tools for the general reader—he's writing here chiefly for interested general readers—listing the many emperors and church councils of the time, along with their chief concerns. An appendix describes important participants in these doctrinal struggles. Jenkins shows that views (e.g., on God's suffering) became somewhat silenced, only to regain vigor, especially in the 16th century and thereafter, which resulted in ancient heresy often becoming modern orthodoxy. VERDICT In showing general readers how he finds fresh ideas and the resurrections of past teachings invigorating to religious studies, Jenkins provides an accessible book, and one with mild suspense and intrigue. Although there is some overgeneralizing, the book enlightens readers on the backstory to current Christian divisions and realignments. Seminary libraries would do well to acquire this as well.—Carolyn M. Craft, emerita, Longwood Univ., Farmville, VA

Library Journal