Religion: Christianity

"Based on the highly acclaimed Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, this is an indispensable guide to every aspect of the Christian religion and life, including theology, patristic scholarship, churches and denominations, the church calendar and organization, and the Bible."

"The Encyclopedia presents and analyzes an unmatched wealth of information about the extent, status, and characteristics of twentieth-century Christianity worldwide. It takes full account of Christianity's ecclesiastical branches, subdivisions, and denominations, and treats Christianity in relation to other faiths and the secular realm. It offers an unparalleled comparative study of churches and religions throughout the modern world."

"Maps and essays explore the status of Christianity today, looking at major traditions, Christianity in different continents and regions, Christianity by peoples and language groups, missionary work, and evangelism."

"Does religion have a place in politics? This work reveals the global reach and relevance of Christian political activities, examining how individuals, reform groups, and political organisations have employed Christian principles in participating in politics at a local, national, and global scale."

"The Oxford Companion to Christian Art and Architecture is a unique and fascinating exploration of the art and architecture that has been influenced and inspired by biblical stories and Christian history and beliefs. Richly illustrated the Companion combines general essays on the periods and styles important in the history of Christian art with hundreds of shorter entries that describe specific works, artists, themes, and visual images and which give the reader practical guidance on where in Europe to locate the works described."

"The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation is the definitive source for information about the entire range of religious and social changes that altered the face of Europe in the sixteenth century, encompassing not only issues of church polity and theology but also developments in politics, economics, demographics, art and literature. This broadly cast, interdisciplinary definition allows for a comprehensive social and intellectual history of early modern Europe."

"Ambitious, authoritative, and comprehensive, The Oxford Encyclopedia of South Asian Christianity covers for the first time the 2000-year old story of Christianity in India and its neighboring countries. Looking at Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives, alongside India, as well as Myanmar, Afghanistan, and the global South Asian diaspora, the Encyclopedia celebrates the trans-cultural, migratory, and unique nature of South Asian Christianity."

Volume 1: Origins to Constantine
Volume 2: Constantine to c.600
Volume 3: Early Medieval Christianities, c.600–c.1100
Volume 4: Christianity in Western Europe, c.1100–c.1500
Volume 5: Eastern Christianity
Volume 6: Reform and Expansion 1500–1660
Volume 7: Enlightenment, Reawakening and Revolution 1660–1815
Volume 8: World Christianities c.1815–c.1914
Volume 9: World Christianities c.1914–c.2000

"Illustrated throughout with examples and case studies taken from lived religion, each chapter of Christianity Today looks at Christianity in a modern context, and modern issues relevant to the religion. After an initial chapter providing an overview of the faith, its history and basic theological tenets, George Chryssides moves through key contemporary themes: sources of authority in Christianity, science and Christianity, fundamentalism, mission and ecumenism, ethics, and women and Christianity. Concluding with a final section looking at the future for Christianity in the face of secularism, secularization and materialism, and its relative growth and decline worldwide."

"Gilleasbuig Macmillan responds to the questions likely to be asked by an interested person wishing to know how the Christian faith began, what it teaches and how its followers have tried to practice and spread their faith through the centuries. The diversity of Christianity is taken into account, notably the division between the Orthodox East and the Catholic West, the Reformation and its consequences, the flow out from Europe with empires and the development from corporate 'tribal' religion to religion as a matter of individual choice."

"How a provincial sect, with its seemingly outrageous ideas, became first the sanctioned religion of the Roman Empire and then, over the course of 2000 years, the creed of billions of people, is the improbable story that Christianity: An Introduction tells. It is a story of freethinkers, friars, fanatics, and firebrands; and of the lay people (not just the clerical or the powerful) who have made up the great mass of Christians over the centuries. Many introductions to Christianity are written by Christians, for Christians. This elegant textbook, by contrast, shows that the history of the religion, while often glorious, is not one of unimpeded progress, but something still more remarkable, flawed and human."

Traces the intellectual and social history of wealth in the early Christian church, examining the financial rise of the church and its effects on the waning Roman empire as well as the church's own beliefs on poverty.