The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity, by Robert Louis Wilken

Abstract

The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity, by Robert Louis Wilken. New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University Press, 2012. x, 388 pp. $35.00 US (cloth). In The First Thousand Years. A Global History of Christianity, Robert Louis Wilken tells story of spread of Christian faith from Jerusalem eastward into Persian Empire, into Indian subcontinent, and as far east as China; westward into Iberian Peninsula and Ireland in Atlantic Ocean: northward into Scandinavia; and southward into Egypt and North Africa, as far south as Ethiopia. In other words, Wilken's purpose is not so much to paint a picture of Western Church in great and overwhelming detail, but to give a general impression of explosive spread of Christianity in centuries after life of Christ, and to paint that picture in all its rich diversity. To that end Wilken discusses at length Coptic Church in Egypt, non-Chalcedonian churches in Syria and eastward, Orthodox Church centred in Constantinople, and of course Catholic church centred on Rome. Temporally, author ends his narrative in west with reign of Charlemagne in ninth century and in cast with conversion of Vladimir, King of Rus, in late tenth century. At this point Wilken claims that, the map of early Christian world was largely complete (p. xi). Or, to frame matter more pessimistically, After end of first millennium, great period of Christian growth and expansion was (p. 359). The manuscript is arranged in such a way that chapters are very short and narrowly constructed thematically. This can at times give sense that book is more a series of essays, but it has advantage from a student's perspective of weaving a complex narrative while presenting material in manageable portions. Wilken also does a fine job of presenting material without getting bogged down in minutiae that some works on Christian history do. For example, Wilken successfully manages to convey diversity of thought on nature of Christ that split church so many times over course of first several centuries without delving into every little detail of seven definitive ecumenical councils. This is not an easy task for historians, but author manages it with grace and integrity. If there is one overarching theme to be identified in book, it is probably relationship of secular power structures with church, both in Western and Eastern worlds. Wilken notes throughout that whereas in west temporal rulers were always in a tug of war with Pope at best, in East, situation was opposite. The Emperors at Constantinople were, in essence, leaders of Eastern Church, on several occasions deposing a Patriarch when it suited their agendas. Wilken also notes that when it carne to various rulers converting to Christian faith, it was probably just as much political motivation that drove them as religious ones. …