The Christian World

In spite of the large and sumptuous format and numerous full-page colour illustrations, The Christian World is no more coffee-table book. In fact, if one is inspired not just to dip into it but to read it straight through, one finds that its size makes it unmanageable when held in the usual way, while to bend over one's coffee-table all day is to risk a bad back. It is described as a 'social and cultural ' history of Christianity' and is not at all intended to supplant, say, the six-volume Penguin history. The chapters dealing with the earlier history of the Church, 'Christianity and the Roman Empire' by W.H.C.Frend and the 'Conversion of the barbarian peoples' by I.N. Wood, are excellent substitutes for a more detailed and annotated treatment of these difficult eras, while Sir Steven Runciman's whistle-stop tour of 'The Greek church and the peoples of eastern Europe' dispels ignorance and prejudice more rapidly and completely than one would have thought possible. It is also a very up-to-date work, and deals satisfactorily with very recent history; an assessment of the careers of twentieth-century popes does not shy away from a tentative verdict on John Paul ll.