Christianity: A Very Short Introduction 2/e

I've always enjoyed reading Linda Woodhead's work and this book confirms her stature as a writer. She provides a very clear and well structured introduction to the Christian faith, highlighting its key doctrines, practices, diverse forms of expression and some of the challenges that face it in the future within an increasingly secular society. The author is clearly an expert in her field and writes in a highly accessible way for a broad audience. It was an excellent book and I would recommend it very strongly to anyone wanting to know more about the Christian religion.

Fast professional P&P. Great book for Open University Course on Religion. Slim, compact and easy to read book on the basics of Christianity, highly recommended.

In an important sense writing a very short introduction to Christianity is virtually impossible. The books on Christianity in a University library run into thousands (with many on the New Testament, Contemporary Theology, the Crusades, Reformation, ethics, the Inquisition, patristics, martyrology, ecclesiology and so on); condensing this kind of information into a meaningful little book is an immense task as it involves a high degree of selection and omission; also, what is included is unlikely to receive much treatment; the Reformation, for example, has three and a half pages. Linda Woodhead manages to strike a good balance though whilst also raising relevant questions. In discussing the significance of Jesus, she touches upon the synoptic problem and introduces the idea of there being many other 'gospels' of a more 'gnostic' or even feminist, nature. She also has very good discussions on the way that divine power is transmitted from God, through a male priesthood in the traditional types of Christianity (the theme of gender runs all through the book). Her main thesis is that Christianity can be braodly analysed into a typology of three types: Church Christianity, Biblical Christianity, and Mystical Christianty. This typology is helpful I think as it is hard to think of many traditions that fall entirely outside of it, though some will contain elements of all three. Her section on gender is the most engaging I think as she discusses ways in which a traditionally male dominated religion might be attractive to women; all quite provocative. Woodhead seems to have a very broad view of mysticism that even included Pentecostalism. I felt that this was quite far from the mark. Also, when discussing the Holy Spirit, she lapses into referring to the Spirit as 'it'. The concern is not whether or not the Spirit exists or whether she believes, it is simply not the way the Spirit is conceived to be within the tradition. She also says that for charismatics and pentecostals, salvation is sealed by the baptism of the Spirit and the reception of spiritual gifts; this is simply wrong; they accept all the fundamentals of an evangelical Church. But I want to praise the book, not bury it. It is an excellent introduction and really quite an achievement.

All the very short introductions series are brilliant and informative

I ordered this to help with my university degree. Arrived in super time, full of interesting information about Christianity.

price/seller was good. text itself ok for college

interesting and extremely informative

Compact and concise without losing anything important - excellent series of books.

Ich bin sehr, sehr zufrieden mit dem Buch und NATUERLICH auch sehr, sehr zufrieden mit eurem SUPER service Viviane Gaub

Creo que es una visión sintética del Cristianismo de una gran calidad. Cómo si hubiera sido capaz de elegir cada palabra, la adecuada, para este fin. Me ha gustado mucho y su lectura es altamente recomendable

very good little book, with all the important information in it and very interesting different focus on main themes. excellent.

There is no better introduction to Christianity imaginable. The author demonstrates an authoritative view on the phenomenon of Christianity as a whole, including both spiritual as societal and political developments. This book is a crucial tool to understand the basic tensions behind contemporary western culture. It liberates the reader from the narrow views on the christian religion that dominate most of the contemporary debates about ethics and spirituality. Also the view on Christianity as a global phenomenon is of special value in our post-colonial world.

A concise, elucidative, informative, helpful, and unbiased overview of the Christian faith, types of churches, and categories of Christians over the past 2 millennia