This is an interesting read, with lots of fascinating and out of the way information. It is also very readable. I was, however, left with real misgivings about it. There were two aspects to this.
First, in those areas where I have more specialized knowledge, the author’s treatment seemed to me poor, and it led me to wonder what he might have done in other areas of his discussion with which I was less familiar. For example, his discussion of ideas about human rights by the UN treated it as if it was simply continuous with older Christian ideas about natural law. This is really not the case: the story is a lot more complex. Second, Marx’s ideas were presented by stressing the parallels in his work with religious ideas. This is an idea that has been much discussed; but it is superficial as a reading of Marx and, in the end, not really helpful in understanding the character of Marx’s work.
Second, my real worry – and why I think that the book is, in the end, rather silly - was that the author tends to treat almost everything that has come up during the course of Western intellectual history as ‘Christian’. The problems with this are that, on the one side, for an idea to have content, it has to rule out other things; but for Holland to call something ‘Christian’ becomes almost without content just because what he includes is so promiscuous. On the other, it means that when, say, early Quakers objected to slavery, this is taken as Christian – despite the fact that it is not clear what is specifically ‘Christian’ about it. The doctrinal basis of it would hardly pass any test of Christian orthodoxy. While those who avowed Christianity up to that point (including, indeed, what we know of Jesus’s own attitudes) did not seem to see there as being anything incompatible between Christianity and slavery as an institution, at all.
I think that Holland is probably correct that there is a sense in which secular Western people have been influenced by specifically Christian ideas in ways that they are not aware of. This was certainly my experience, when I discussed a range of issues, over many hours, with a Muslim historical sociologist of religion. But these issues, it seems to me, have to be discovered by way of the exploration of differences with others with different backgrounds, rather than by way of proceeding as Holland does.
All told, this is a worthwhile read for those who like serious, long but readable books. But it is something to be treated with considerable caution.
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I admit, I’m a heavily biased Tom Holland fan. So in my view he once more has delivered an excellent, relentless and well-written work. This time the author takes on the very broad concept of Western thought and culture and how it has been influenced by Christian values. What results is a controversial and persuasive historic narrative of Christianity and Christian theology brought home to Holland’s key themes that are generally not associated with Christianity. Apart from providing a brilliant history of Christianity in the first part, the book essentially demonstrates that common liberal and secular values of human rights owe a lot to Christianity and that these are extensions of the religion. Human rights, equality (concepts unknown to pre-Christian societies) and taking care of the poor, weak and sick are perhaps more easily linked to intrinsically Christian foundations. Yet the author even manages to demonstrate that more paradoxical concepts such as humanism, secularism and agnosticism have roots in Christianity.In Tom Holland’s view Christianity has fully permeated our culture. If you struggle with such a notion, you will probably be offended and rate the book with 1 star. Yet this may actually be the book for you; the modern secular world many have unshackled itself from Christendom. But those dismissive of religion, for which I have some sympathy, should understand that many of their valued concepts of equality, emancipation and liberalism originate in Christianity.
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