The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--and How It Died; Philip Jenkins, HarperOne: 2009.

After reading Philip Jenkins contribution I feel somewhat deflated and place his work along side Karen Armstrong - a lesson in how to underplay a worthwhile topic with important contemporary lessons. Unfortunately the title of the book - The Lost History of Christianity - is obviously designed with a greater aim in mind - one that is strangely at odds with the book's content.

At no stage does Jenkins really get to grips with his topic while he is prone to let his reader wander about aimlessly from one chapter to the next in the hope that it will all lead somewhere. Unfortunately, it doesn't. Other than making some vague generalization I was left with a feeling of - so what? Anyone can paint a black picture of history - and religion does have it's dark side. But this is hardly a new observation. What I had hoped for was a 'history' of those aspects of Christianity that are now lost. What I got was yet another black armband version of Christianity.

But Jenkins does raise the topic of just what happened to those 'versions' of Christianity that were cast out of the Orthodox fold between 431 and 451. Well, quite a lot as it happens and this is the saving grace of Jenkins work.

The frustrating aspect of this work is that it tantalizingly introduces aspects of Christianity about which most of us know very little - like Christianity had established a strong foothold in China within a couple of centuries following the death of Jesus. Amid the dross there are other gems to be found. One of those gems is his recognition that Islam is largely influence by these 'lost Christianities', something which many of us might find surprising, if not confronting, given the present geopolitical climate.

Yet much of this information gets swallowed up in Jenkins insistence of wandering about from subject to subject. It is as if there is some much going on, so many gems to be gleaned, that Jenkins finds it difficult to focus on any one subject for very long before he is off after something else, dragging his reader along with him.

Despite my criticism, Jenkins does alert us all to some of the more obscure aspects of Christianity. It is worth the read.