Histoire du Christianisme: Pour mieux comprendre notre temps (review)

Abstract

General and Miscellaneous Histoire du Christianisme: Pour mieux comprendre notre temps. Edited by Alain Corbin, with Nicole LeMaitre, Francoise Thelamon, and Catherine Vincent. [L'Universe Historique.] (Paris: Editions du Seuil. 2007. Pp. 475. euro21,00 paperback.) Most one-volume histories of the Church are usually written by one person, or two at most.This one-volume Histoire du Christianisme is written by fiftysix authors! One does wonder why there was such a massive effort to put together what is a straightforward and largely ordinary history of the Church. I suspect that this book is partly an attempt to reclaim for France its essential grounding in Christianity, and especially Catholicism, and to remind its readers that the history of the Church is not something that can be discarded so easily as attendance at Mass. The involvement of such a large collection of well-known scholars-mostly lay people and chosen principally from state universities-is to underline the urgency of such a task. The European Union's exclusion of any mention of Christianity in its recent constitution has hopefully sent shock waves through the European academic community, awaking them to the fact that the knowledge of the involvement and importance of Christianity in the formation of Europe may possibly be lost. Europe may not be the Faith, nor the Faith Europe, as Hilaire BeEoc claimed in the early twentieth century, but Belloc was a lot closer to the truth than the drafters of the EU constitution. The book is divided into four major parts, each prefaced by an overview by one of the editors: 1 (Au Commencement), 2 (Le MoyenAge), 3 (Les temps modernes), and 4 (Le temps de l'Adaption). There are many good things to be said about this book. The editors express a desire that the book appeal to a wide audience (at least in France), and in this they should succeed. For the most part, important issues or episodes are addressed and balanced opinions given. The general editors did an admirable job of avoiding repetition in content.The short chapters allowed some latitude in topics. There are particularly interesting chapters on St. Paul and why he chose regional capitals as his bases of operation (by Marie-Francoise Basiez), St. Jerome and his Latin translation of the Old and New Testaments (by YvesMarie Duval), the cathedral (by Catherine Vincent), and the Cult of Mary (Sylvie Barnay). One of the more interesting chapters was on the race to catechize the faithful and especially the young, during the Reformation, on both the Protestant and Catholic fronts (by Marc Venard). …