Introducing Christianity

Rating:
Summary: Perfect sized, beautiful and clear introduction
Review: This book accomplishes its goal well. It is the perfect size for an introduction to the main ideas and traditions in Christianity. It is not too short, but is certainly not overly long either; it isn't too hard to read this cover to cover. It is clear, and throughout, compares Protestant, Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, and other main forms of Christianity.

The pictures are charmingly honest and realistic, showing actual people worshipping and doing other Christian activities. I have been reading special topics in theology but needed a basic backgrounder to broadly survey Christian traditions. The book emphasizes what might be called current traditions; it has good coverage of the origins of Christianity but is not primarily about the historical development of Christianity. It is balanced and appropriate for anyone who wants to quickly survey the main ideas and traditions of Christianity.

This book would make a great gift for anyone. It is written very clearly and straight. It points out some of the most surprising aspects of Christianity such as the sudden ending of Mark with the empty tomb and no post-resurrection appearance. It provides a fair, reasonable, and unbiased comparison of the different forms of Christianity.

The book does have some incidental weaknesses, such as the glossary entries which really should each be twice as long. Given that each page spread lists relevant glossary entries, I would expect the glossary entries to be more insightful. However, the book definitely achieves its goal in a nice, glossy yet accessible format. It is physically an ideal size to handle -- not so large like a coffeetable book that it becomes difficult to handle.

I especially enjoyed the coverage of Eastern Orthodox Christianity.