A review by carolynf
Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World by Tom Holland

2.0

I have read a lot of Christian theology and history for various classes, but I couldn't get into this book. The first chapter was about the theology of Greeks and Romans, to show Christian theology in contrast I suppose. The second chapter was the Hebrew Bible written as verifiable history, and the third chapter did the same with the Christian New Testament. This is a pet peeve of mine, when people based history on texts by religious adherents without including any corroboration by impartial sources. I tried to get into the fourth chapter, but it seemed more and more like the "Christian Revolution" was mostly a mental process. Flipping through the rest of the book, this is a very good history of how Christian thought changed and developed. In small scattered segments it makes its central argument, by talking about how even secular residents of Western Europe (which is what the author means by "the World") have had their impulses and rationalizations shaped by Christian culture.