The Lost History of Christianity
Introduction
When talking about the history of the church, familiar names and places come to mind. Rome, Constantinople, Eusebius, Augustine, Luther, these are the things associated with that history. However these people and places only account for part of the history of the church. It is the forgotten part that Philip Jenkins explores in his book The Lost History of Christianity. Leaving the west, he explores the spread of Christianity through Asia and Africa and the death of faith in those continents. Compelling, fascinating and revelatory, Jenkins’s work is a must read for all students of church history.
Overview
Starting off his book, Jenkins lays out the fact that Christianity was once flourishing in both Africa and Asia. He recounts briefly the rise, fall, and ghosts left behind of the churches in those continents. From there he moves on to how Christianity grew beyond the borders of the Roman Empire. To him the Persian Empire suited the cause of evangelism in the east just as well as Rome did in the west. He discusses how the Nestorians spread eastward and founded a church to rival the Orthodox Church for almost a millennia.
After laying this groundwork, Jenkins then moves to talk about the nature of these extra-Roman faiths. Specifically, monasticism had serious power in the east. “Throughout the East, Christians were entranced by the visions of saints as ascetic holy men and women, spiritual warriors who were uniquely qualified to confront the demons who threatened humanity at every stage of life” (72). In addition to monasticism, scholarship was paramount in the East. Over the first century the East’s scholars were on par with the west (78).
Moving from the nature of the church, Jenkins then begins the tale of the fall of the churches. Taking in a combination of Islam, climate changes, Shinto Buddhism and the Mongol invasions, Jenkins illustrates the fall of Christianity everywhere except Europe. He continues with how Christianity coped and lived under persecution, as well as the lasting effects the dead churches had on development in the regions they inhabited. He closes in admonishing current believers that even though the old churches are gone, “We need to recover those memories, to restore that history” (262).
Reaction
Revelatory, Jenkins’s work really opens up the world of non-European Christianity. It is amazing the breadth, diversity, and richness of the churches in Asia and Africa, and almost as shocking how little they are remembered. Areas today considered Muslim or Buddhist at one time held great Christian communities and the experiences of those lost churches should be remembered. After reading Lost History one will most certainly begin to view the history of the Church differently.
Another incredible characteristic of the book is the breadth of the topics. The breadth covered can cause one to have trouble grasping individual ideas or thoughts. Jenkins covers topics ranging from early church figures, to medieval political struggles, to modern day religious persecutions, all the while focusing on the lost history of the Eastern Church. With this diversity it would not be surprising to find sections underwhelming in their research, but this is not the case with Jenkins. His expertise is praised in reviews from the Bibliotheca Sacra[1] and, with qualifications on Jenkins theology, Trinity Journal.[2]
Evaluation
One of the main impressive features of Lost History is how Jenkins treats Muslim and Christian interactions differently than one normally finds. All too often this interaction is either shaped as a genocidal takeover or a peaceful commingling.[3] Jenkins though treats it more as what it was, at times both of those extremes but usually somewhere in the middle. Take for instance the discussion on Timothy from 780 C.E., “Christians largely flourish under that[4] authority, although subject to legal disadvantages” (16). Then later, “In fact, Christian legal autonomy might actually have increased under Muslim rule” (110). Jenkins makes it clear that at times, especially early on, Christians and Muslims did coexist. All things though come to an end.
According to Jenkins, around 1300 the tolerance changed. “For whatever reasons, Muslim regimes and mobs now delivered near-fatal blows to weakened Christian churches” (33). Then again, “…caliph Hakim launched an unprecedented systematic persecution of Christians and Jews, and three thousand churches were destroyed” (109). Jenkins tries to tell the good and bad of religious interactions without straying to either extreme. It is not easily done and his goal is admirable and also well executed.[5]
Stemming from his discussions on persecution, another interesting facet of his book was the comparative survival of churches. In chapter eight entitled, The Mystery of Survival, he examines the difference between the North African church and the Coptic church of Egypt. While close in terms of geography, their fates were completely different. “Yet within fifty years…local[6] Muslim rulers were apologizing to the caliphs that they could no longer supply Christian slaves” (228). Compared to the Coptic Church which is still in existence today, this was a fascinating section from Jenkins.
Rightly so, Jenkins points out that the difference in fate is not one of notoriety. North Africa was home to Carthage, easily one the most important early church centers of scholarship[7]. Instead he contends that the survival of the Copts revolved around two reasons: they reached the hearts of the people compared to only the upper classes, and secondly Egypt’s isolated geographical location spared the church from invasion. These two reasons to Jenkins show why the Copts survive to today.
On both counts, Jenkins defends himself well. He makes it abundantly clear that for churches to survive they must ingrain themselves with the native tongue and people. By doing so they gain permanence no matter who the current rulers are or the form of the society the church exists in. This was an accomplishment that only the Coptic Church had. Only two questions remain unanswered by Jenkins on this point. First, what happened to the Romanized Christian population of the North African churches, and where did they get driven to after the Islamic conquest? Secondly, how does one explain the survival of the Coptic Church, a native people’s church, in the face of ethnic cleanses? Something had to protect the Copts from being cleansed during their existence beyond mere geographic isolation.
On the issue of geography, it is apparent from history that Egypt had a more stable political history than most of Asia Minor. While other factors may have been at play and would also be beyond the scope of Jenkins book, geography obviously did have a part. This stability certainly would have aided establishes groups, like a church, flourish for longer periods of time. Contrasted to North Africa’s tumultuous history, stability is clearly a beneficial factor in church survival. The only weakness in this section of his book was the lack of discussion on the Crusades[8] and Mamluk Sultanate[9] both of which would have upset that region of the world.
The only glaring issue with The Lost History of Christianity lies not in the material or research, but rather in the presentation. Jumping forwards and backwards through time as well as moving quickly from Asia to Africa, Jenkins becomes difficult to follow. Often starting a point early on, Jenkins will then set it down for several chapters and resume upon it later. As noted by Thomas Carlson, “Jenkins’s history is difficult to follow back and forth through time and space”.[10] A slow and studious method of reading must be employed to stay with Jenkins. Surface or casual levels of reading will quickly become lost.
Finally, one remaining issue must be addressed before leaving the material evaluation. Throughout his book, Jenkins fails to properly address theological debates and heresies that have arisen in the church. Instead his approach is to view these as simply different strains of Christianity,[11] some even to be admired.[12] Jenkins also puts forward the possible harmonization of Islamic and Christian faiths. While many in evangelical circles might take issue with his beliefs, they are secondary issues to the main thrust of the book, namely, the lost history of the Eastern Church. The reader should be aware of this theological bent in Lost History, but it should not detract from the historical work done in the book.
Sources
In terms of quantity of research, Jenkins does himself credit. Although the book doesn’t have a bibliography per se, the notes section which contains his sources is 36 pages long. Laid out by chapter and partially annotated, all the sources are easily found and correlated. The dating of Jenkins’ sources reveals as well that his work is supplied by recent research. Most of the books listed in the note section have publication or revision dates within the past decade, and all but just a small handful are within the past two decades.[13] This lends credence to the claims made by Jenkins as they are based off of the latest findings rather than older works which have since been disproven.[14]
Now despite the number of sources used, Jenkins does have his favorite sources which must be individually considered. The two he most quotes from are: The Eclipse of Christianity in Asia[15] and Decline of Medieval Hellenism.[16] Eclipse, written by L.E. Browne is a fascinating source. Today it is out of print[17] and reviews of the book are sparse. However this work is cited frequently in scholarly papers on the topic,[18] and appears to be generally well received. Decline, on the other hand, is still in print and is more reviewed. It too has gained acceptance in its field and is a reliable source for Jenkins.
Lastly, the theological biases of his sources must be examined. Here there is variety of theological backgrounds. In his sources there are Greek Orthodox,[19] Roman Catholic,[20] Jewish,[21] secular[22] and evangelical authors. This diversity in sources is commendable and helps free Lost History from following only a single view of events. In summary, the research and sources used by Jenkins are a thorough, modern, complete, and diverse set of books. Jenkins has done exceedingly well in the research of his book.
Conclusion
Although the death of regional religion is indeed a tragedy, perhaps more so is the death of memory. The loss of the majority of believers in Asia and Africa is lamentable, but the lack of recognition of their existence is even worse. Jenkins works hard to restore the memory of those past believers so that modern day Christians can learn from their experiences. Although at times hard to follow, this book is worth the effort in reading to get to the information. Learning the history of the entire church, not just the west, should be a priority for Christians everywhere. Well researched and eye opening, Jenkins’s Lost History truly is must read for the scholar and lay people alike.
[1] Scott J. Horrell, “The Lost History of Christianity,” Bibliotheca Sacra 167 (2010): 364-366.
[2] Thomas A. Carlson “The Lost History of Christianity,” Trinity Jounral 32 (2010): 164-165.
[3] Karen Armstrong’s views, as seen in Muhammad: A Prophet For Our Time and Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths, in particular are discredited by Jenkins
[4] Muslim
[5] For an excellent overview of Jenkins methodology read “The Triumphs of Persecution” section running p. 30-31
[6] North African
[7] To understand the importance of the city and the students it produced read Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity Volume 1( New York: HarperOne), 2010.
[8] F.L. Cross and Elizabeth A Livingstone, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 439.
[9]Amalia Levanoni, “The Mamluk Conception of the Sultanate,” Internation Jounral of Middle East Studies 26 (1994): 373-392.
[10] Carlson, “Lost History”, 164.
[11] Gnosticism on page 74 is view in such a way when he says, “In fact, Eastern churches had lost virtually nothing of the ancient mysticism that so attracts many modern readers to the world of the Gnostics”. The implication is that Gnosticism held beliefs that would be attractive to modern believers, a view not many evangelicals would agree with.
[12] Carlson, “Lost History”, 165.
[13] Examples of older works are: J.B. Pratt, Why Religions Die (1940); L.E. Browne The Eclipse of Christianity in Asia (1933)
[14] A classic example of this phenomenon can be seen in the originating work by Heinrich Graetz and H.E. Ryle in the early 1900s on the Council of Jamnia. Although they initial proposed that the council closed the Old Testament, all subsequent research has shed serious doubt on the validity of that claim.
[15] Laurence Edward Browne, The Eclipse of Christianity in Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge Press, 1933)
[16] Speros Vryonis, The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1971)
[18] T.V. Philip East of the Euphrates: Early Christianity in Asia (India: CSS, 1998) - C.J. Speel, II, “The Disappearance of Christianity from North Africa in the Wake of the Rise of Islam,” Church History 29 (1960): 379-397. – J.J. Sanders he Decline and Fall of Christianity in Medieval Asia,” Journal of Religious History 5 (1968): 93-104. – Stephen Andrew Missick “The Assyrian Church in the Mongolian Empire as Observed by World Travelers in the Late 13th and Early 14th Centuries” Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies 13 (2010): 85-104.
[19] Speros Vryonis, The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1971)
[20] Raphael J. Bidawid, ed., Les letters du patriache Nestorian Timothee I (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1956)
[21] Yoram Tsafrir, Ancient Churches Revealed (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1993)
[22] Adam H. Becker, Fear of God and the Beginning of Wisdom (Philadelphia: Univ. of Penn. Press, 2006).
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