A World Full Of Gods Book

This book about the rise of Christianity from relative obscurity to the official religion of the Roman Empire in less than 400 years proves that you can sometimes be too clever for your own good. Instead of strictly presenting a traditional-type historical analysis, the atheist author intersperses a series of periodically interesting, although not always successful, detours and literary devices, including time travelers, mock TV specials and critical correspondence with his believer friends and colleagues. While deserving an A+ for originality, this approach disrupts any natural flow and leads to multiple narrative cul-de-sacs.

Nevertheless, the book presents many interesting facts about the all-pervasive and public nature of pagan religions in antiquity, the failure of other contemporary monotheistic faiths to catch fire, the many valid questions as to the historical accuracy of the Gospels and the heavy price paid by the faith and the faithful as Christianity moved from a religion of inspiration and liberation to a more bureaucratized instrument of societal control and institutional self-interest. Finally, despite his occasional snarkiness as to us foolish believers, I appreciated the author's recognition of the many unique aspects of Christianity (i.e., first really supranational/ethnic religion, its focus on charitable works and the poor, its emphasis on forgiveness, etc.) which made it so attractive to many. However, this is still a complex and often difficult book which is not for the casual reader.