Heretics: The Bloody History of the Christian Church

Rating:
Summary: This kind of book is no longer relevant
Review: A parishioner gave me a copy of this book. She had many questions concerning its truth, which I will not speak to. I will say simply that there are some things that are better left unknown. We do not know, nor do we demand to understand the mysteries of our faith. It is enough to know that we are loved and comforted in our trials and our times of despair by the one God who loves us all. The history of our faith has not always been one of social responsibility, and there have been times in the distant past that not all of those representing God's church have performed their duties as well as they might have. We cannot, like Dr. Davis simply look back on these very different ages and decide on right and wrong. It is not for us to decide, for we do not know God's ultimate plan for us. Nor does Dr. Davis know it. He reports, with more than a little caustic style that the Christian church has a great many skeletons in its closet. I do not believe that there are any historical aspects of the Church, at least the Roman Church, that are hidden from anyone who wishes to know it's history. Yet why should modern Christians wish to relive the errors of those men so long ago? Faith is about moving forward, not backward. To dwell on the mistakes of mortal men of ages past does all a disservice. We must not become mired in the past, but look to the future. As a history book, which has a very narrow focus, this book is accurate in detail and scope. But for the faithful, it is a temptation better left to atheists and agnostics than to complicate the modern believer. I do not agree personally with the direction of this book: some things are better left unknown. I cannot give this book a lower rating, as it is an honest work and well written, if not more than a little misquided.

Rating:
Summary: Great for what it is.
Review: First let me explain why I bought this book. I am an evolutionary psychologist and I am designing a course on skepticism and pseudoscience in addition to teaching evolutionary psychology. I am doing a great deal of reading about the Christian myth because it seems that the Christians, as a whole, are the group that is most vociferous about their opinions on the facts regarding evolution. I felt that I needed a few more arrows in my quiver to deal with the (sometime outlandish) confrontations that I recieve or have yet to recieve.

Heretics was a wonderful read for what I needed. It is a short concise journey from about 400bc when the existing bible was written (or at least editied by the Romans) through present day Christianity. Sumner Davis pulls a few punches, but I felt that mosty he was presenting a chronological path that included all the horrors of Christianity and the church, that was free from opinionated bias.

It was an easy read that was clear and easy to understand. It was not full of Bible quotes and obscure historical information, just a well ordered introduction to the history of the Christian religion.

This book is a great one to start with since it is so short and concise. It will provide a good adjunct to further reading on the topic and I think ultimately it is further clear evidence that man is behind religion 100% and that if there was a god it would never condone the behavior that the Christians have portrayed throughout their violent,ignorant, and abusive history.

Rating:
Summary: Look, it's a history book., not an English primer
Review: Having writen this book some years back while in seminary (my dissertation was in Koine Greek and was edited fine thank you). I wrote it pretty much as a personal exploration that ended up published. It was not something I set about to get put in book form. I have had literally 1000's of letters about this book since it came out, and perhaps 10 or 20 have been negative. Either they did not like what I said, or how I said it, and some uptight folks who could not follow the history took to examining the sentence structures--it would seem they lost sight of the forest for of the trees. If you enjoyed this book, as a great many people have, I am pleased. If not, well that's fine too, we are all different. It has recieved great reviews from many sources (radio, journal, internet, newspaper) and has brought me to the attention of radio talk and magazine articles I never planed. To be sure, as a Dyslexic, my editing skills are far from perfect (which is why for my next book I have emplyed the services of a professional copy editor) but my intention was to lay the history of a social group bare for examination: not to ensure my verbs and nouns agreed in number and gender. Those who could get past the (accordong to one person who probably never wrote a book) "numerous gramatical errors", found it, as one historian said "A gloves off, no holds barred look at the Church of our fathers." It is odd that the professors who are using this text to teach pseudoscience and church history have not made mention of the bad "verbs" and naughty "nouns." Perhaps they are simply being kind? Nonetheless, I guess we all have something to work on. My special thanks again to Mr. Dorion Sagan for a really great intro that spelled out the "gist" of the book, and to the many people who have requested signed copies. I promise you that once I learn to spell my name, I will of course send them on to you happily.

Thanks again

W. S. Davis

Rating:
Summary: Heretics is a book you should add to your list.
Review: I came across the author of this book on an agnostic discussion web site. I liked what he had to say, and in the direct way, he said it. I contacted him and was frankly surprised when he responded to my questions. I have read the reviews on this book (Heretics) here and on many other mediums including magazine articles, web zines and the like. I find it telling that some reviewers (both here and at other web sale sites) have focused on a few punctuation errors, perhaps as there was nothing of substance for them to argue with and point out? I really did not see any until grammar issues until my second reading (I guess when I read a book on history I try not to do so as an exercise in "find the spelling problem"). I also find it telling that this book has been recommended by a number of well known and highly respected historians, and having become a text for more than one college course on history, having read literally thousands of books on many topics over the past 60 years, I found Davis' book very accessible. I bought the book after reading the reviews that focused on the material and the writer, and knew I could wade through any "un-clarity" as one reviewer here suggested. I found, perhaps as I am not college gradate, that for me the book was direct, the information laid out concisely, and an overall joy to read. I also liked Mr. Sagan's anecdotal introduction which it would seem has been lost on some reviewers. In closing, I am very grateful for Dr. Davis' books, especially this one as it explains the who, the what, the where, and the why of Church history. Moreover, does so in a manner that will not require me to keep a dictionary by my nightstand to look up every other word. It is a book well worth owning, and one I plan to read again.

Rating:
Summary: This Book is more relevant than the Bible
Review: If you are lover of truth and a supporter of free inquiry then Heretics: The Bloody History of the Christian Church is a must-read. After reading this book some, being intellectually blind has resorted to "I will say simply that there are some things that are better left unknown" or state something as infamous as "We cannot, like Dr. Davis simply look back on these very different ages and decide on right and wrong" If fact The Bloody History of the Christian spells out to the reader how these credulous institutions of so called pious men has persecuted, even unto death, the wisest and the best.

This book chronicles the actions of the church that stayed and stopped the onward movement of the human race and poisoned the fountains of learning and misdirected the energies of man.
Come, read and learn how the Church and its ignorant creeds sowed the seeds of hatred in families and nations, fed the flames of war, and filled Christendom with hateful, cruel, ignorant and warring sects. As Dr. Davis will show how the Church taught men to kill their fellows for religion's sake, funded the Inquisition, invented the instruments of torture, built the dungeons in which the good and loving languished, forged the chains that rusted in their flesh, erected the scaffolds whereon they died, piled fagots about the feet of the just and drove reason from the minds of millions.

It a well-known fact that the Church lighted the fires that burned "witches" and "wizards," filled the darkness with ghouls and ghosts, and the bodies of men and women with devils. Heretics: The Bloody History of the Christian Church will bring to light the events that made credulity the greatest of virtues, and investigation the greatest of crimes. As lovers of truth and supporters of "telling it like it is" Christian or not we must not forget our pass.

It will not do to fall back on "why should modern Christians wish to relive the errors of those men so long ago"? If we forget our pass, we will be bound to repeat it.


Rating:
Summary: Not looking and yet I found it.
Review: It is odd, really how I found this little book. I am an avid fan of Mr. Sagan's books that he penned with his very famous mother Dr. Margulis, and had done a web search to see if he had written anything new, when I came across Heretics, The Bloody History of The Christian Church. As a Roman Catholic, I hesitated at first, although the book certainly looked interesting. After looking at several other possibilities, I told myself I had nothing to loose, so I ordered a copy. I convinced myself, and rightly so, that any book Mr. Sagan though highly enough to introduce must be worthy of a read. It certainly was. As most everyone knows, there are a number of historical events and ideologies that are not taught in Catechism classes. As I am only 34, I do not remember the pre-Vatican days, although my mother certainly does. After reading this book a second time, I mailed my copy to her. She was not very happy with me, and made sure I knew. This book has reopened some issues for me. I had always been concerned with problems pertaining to the history of my faith, and these topics, while not "taboo" were certainly not discussed, nor their interest encouraged by the sisters at the schools I had attended. I can now see why. Davis' book made me very angry almost from page one. I became determined to find what I had convinced myself were the many historical errors in Davis writing, and I worked diligently to reveal his flawed thinking. I had imagined an entirely different review that I would someday write about this book. I had convinced myself after reading the last page; Davis had embellished much of his work. Things could never have been nearly as bad as he portrayed them. As a researcher at a small private college, I had convinced myself that all I need do was investigate the work of other historians to dispatch him. No "genuine" and by this I mean to say secularly educated historian seemed to disagree with Davis. In fact, many had read this same book and though highly of it! It turned out that, far from embellishing his work, I discovered he had actually been very lenient. I had learned more about the history and politic of my faith in the few hours it took to read this book, the resulting research, and the correspondences from some of his other readers, than in all the Faith Formation classes and every spirituality workshop I had attended in my adult life. It would be easy to blame this book for causing a "crisis of faith" but it would also be dishonest. I had always wondered, never questioning, perhaps because I lacked the real historical background as to exactly what it was that bothered me so much. Now I have many of the answers I had been discouraged from seeking. Many pulled from this book. My friends now ask, "Where is your faith." I agree with Davis: a faith untried is no faith at all. At least after reading this book I can understand why I was so uncomfortable with my faith. I truly enjoy Mr. Sagan's wit and charm, and I hope he forgives me for reserving space on my shelf for the rest of Davis books. This book may very well open your eyes to a whole world of truths as it has my own. On a side note, I e-mailed the author, and much to my surprise, he e-mailed me back.

Rating:
Summary: Hard to imagine a more poorly-written book
Review: Let me begin by saying that I have never written one of these reviews before, but I felt compelled to try keep some other unwitting reader from spending his or her hard-earned cash on this illiterate bit of waste. Within 10 minutes of opening the cover of _Heretics_, I realized that I was in for a terrible disappointment, not because of the subject matter, but because of the carelessness and total incompetence of the writer. From Dorion Sagan's foreword (which includes the sentence "You got to have it" [sic]) through the remainder of Sumner Davis' tortured, disorganized, and meandering exposition, this book reads like the rough draft of a junior high school history essay. The rules of grammar and punctuation, consistency in tense, subject-verb and noun-pronoun agreement, parallel structure, the use of COMPLETE SENTENCES--none of these hold any meaning for the author. Here are just a few examples of the quality of the text (although trust me: many other examples could be drawn from any page of the book).

"Should one read a bit further, they will see . . ." (p. xvii).

"Perhaps one of the most intolerant of the early Christian leaders was named Ambrose" (p. 29. Perhaps he was named something else?).

"Athanasius believed that God the Father and God the Son was the same thing" (p. 27).

"Not just civil intolerance, but an extremely homicidal intolerance of all other religions" (p. 30; and, yes, that's the whole "sentence").

"In his debate in the Roman senate with Ambrose, the pagan Symmachus argued eloquently for religious tolerance, Ambrose reputed that there was one and only one 'correct religion' and all others should be viciously and quickly stamped out!" (p. 29).

I'll stop there. Are you getting a little sense of what I mean about incompetent writing? It just goes on and on and on like that. Where was the editor? Did anyone even proofread the manuscript? Did "Dr." W. Sumner Davis write his dissertation with the same, uh, style?

If you love to read, you love good writing. You won't find any such thing here. Save yourself. Look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Not clear? Give me a break.
Review: While there should be no doubt that Dr. Davis knows this material well and clearly has a point in mind, his writing skills are insufficient to lucidly express that point. With an unclear time line, grammatical errors, word omissions and typing errors, this book is very hard to follow. In addition to an extreme lack of organization, this work consistently makes statements which are unsupported by documented fact, ambiguous and generalized. Without a bibliography, it is impossible to tell whether the author is reciting fact or merely dictating opinion at any given point.
I would very much like to see these ideas written in a more lucid and timelined manner. Perhaps Dr. Davis should enlist the help of an established writer and a more diligent editor for his next publication.

Rating:
Summary: Bloody good read
Review: With punch and scholarship, Dr Davis tells the remarkable -- and shocking -- story of the Christian church�s tyranny. Once on the last page, you will wish you had known about the book earlier -- not all books with big ideas come from the big publishers. Another reader has commented upon production errors -- if they were there, I did not notice them, but then Dr Davis has put together a history, that many would prefer went unread. But we must read and witness this history. This darkside to Christianity must never be airbrushed out. We are lucky folk: we are free to hold our own beliefs. Many in the modern world still cannot (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan etc) -- this book reminds us that religious dictatorship in the name of Christ likewise straight-jacketed the freedom of millions once in own Western societies. Read Dr Davis� book and give thanks for living in a free society.