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

by Philip Jenkins Narrated by Tom Parks

Overview

The fifth-century political battles that forever changed the church.



In this fascinating account of the surprisingly violent fifth-century church, Philip Jenkins describes how political maneuvers by a handful of powerful characters shaped Christian doctrine. Were it not for these battles, today's church could be teaching something very different about the nature of Jesus, and the papacy as we know it would never have come into existence. Jesus Wars reveals the profound implications of what amounts to an accident of history: that one faction of Roman emperors and militia-wielding bishops defeated another.

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal

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

Booklist (starred review)

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

Christianity Today

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.

The Economist

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

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172858345
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	06/08/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged

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