The Puzzle of Christianity. Peter Vardy
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William Collins
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This eBook edition published by William Collins in 2016
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Text © Peter Vardy, 2016
Photographs © individual copyright holders
Peter Vardy asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
Cover photograph: Ascent of the Blessed by Hieronymus Bosch (c.1490). Photo by Marco Secchi/Corbis via Getty images
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version (Anglicised edition) Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica (formerly International Bible Society). Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica (formerly International Bible Society). UK trademark number 1448790.
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Source ISBN: 9780008204242
Ebook Edition © September 2016 ISBN: 9780008204259
Version: 2016-09-05
To Christine Smith
Who, first at HarperCollins and then at SCM,
has published most of my books and to whom
I owe a great deal. With thanks.
Peter Vardy
Easter 2016
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
2. From the Beginning of the Universe
5. The Resurrection and the Initial Spread of Christianity
6. The Development of the Early Church
7. Unity, Growth, Division and Discord
8. Reformation and Counter-Reformation
9. The Rise of the Protestant Churches
11. The Philosophy of Religion
13. Spirituality and Mysticism
14. Outward Expressions of Inner Realities
About the Book
About the Author
About the Publisher
Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ, is at the centre of Christianity. This, at least, is clear but beyond this, defining the essence of Christianity is full of difficulties. It is like trying to capture a rainbow or the light from the sparkling drops of a waterfall as they reflect the sun. Christianity has many facets and many forms. It is the largest religion in the world with nearly 2 billion adherents and these are found in every country in the globe. Christians are united and also divided. They are united around the centrality of the person of Jesus, His unique status and the extraordinary message He came to convey, but divided in many ways on the nature of the message, on doctrine, beliefs, ethics, forms of worship and even the status of the New Testament.
It would be easy to focus on the lack of unity in Christianity – and this lack of unity certainly exists. Major Christian churches are often at loggerheads and the disagreement between Christian groups can be profound and deep. Some Protestants do not regard Catholics as Christian at all. The teaching authority of the Catholic Church, the Magisterium, has historically been hostile to Protestantism and used to deny salvation to those who were outside their church; indeed, they ruled that there was only one Church: their own. Pentecostal churches, particularly in the United States and Africa, owe much to the charisma of individual church leaders and there is limited unity beyond the centrality