Summary Of The Lost History Of Christianity By Richard Jenkins

One of the great strengths of this book is that it very clearly ties centuries of history together as a story. Jenkins gives great detail to the rise and fall of the Eastern Church. He accomplishes this by giving stories that clearly relate to the topic of the chapter and the greater theme of the book. This allows the reader to follow the ebb and flow of history as Jenkins continues to show the life of the Eastern Church with specific examples as well as general historical notes. Though at times the chronological flow of the book is interrupted, Jenkins later connects the stories lines together and thus enriching the story and the history at the same time. Perhaps one of the most unique strengths of the book was the focus of Eastern Christianity over Western Christianity. As Jenkins states in the opening chapter, “So grounded is Christianity in

The Lost History of Christianity is not merely a history book, but instead a book that uses history as a way to teach and prepare the church today. Jenkins’s message is one of encouragement and warning to the modern church all over the world. The book expresses the importance of the church digging deep roots in a culture. The book does a great job of showing examples of the Eastern Church, especially in Egypt engaging the culture in language and thought as a grassroots movement (34). In the closing chapters, Jenkins does a great job of wrapping up and applying these thoughts from the various chapters. He answers the question of how the destruction of the Eastern Church should be approached. His response has direct implications and applications, especially for western believers. He stated that if the church judges the destruction of the Eastern Church by secular standards, they are asking the wrong questions (259). Jenkins sets the right questions out and discusses them in the last chapter. This provides a great closing to the