Mary Jacobs of the United Methodist Reporter has interviewed Diana Butler Bass about her new book, A People’s History of Christianity. Bass says:
The “Big C” story [Christ, Constantine, Christendom, Calvin, Christian America] is the popularized form of Christian history that’s available to most people. What’s intriguing is that it is basically a story of Manifest Destiny Christianity. The idea that Christianity started small, that it “wins” by getting bigger and ultimately triumphs by becoming the world’s largest religion. For some Christians, that story validates their faith. But others, including [atheist authors] Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens, say, “Yes, Christianity triumphed, but at what expense? Look at all the terrible things that have been done in the name of this Jesus. This is not a story we want to be part of.”
Read the full interview here.
[via: the Dallas Morning News Religion blog]