Jesus Wars

Starred review from February 15, 2010
The fifth-century Christian church faced a doctrinal issue, now largely forgotten, that precipitated intramural Christian savagery unparalleled until the 11-centuries-later Thirty Years War. The bone of contention was the nature of Jesus Christ. That he wasnt a mere man was indisputable. But was he a human-divine cross-breed, so to speak, or was he purely divine and his human body an illusion? Neither was accepted, but the conclusion of the council of Chalcedon in 451 that he was fully divine and fully humanthat is, said dissidents, of two naturesincensed those who held he was of one nature, entirely divine. The fight broke out well before Chalcedon, entailing the death-from-assault of the patriarch of Constantinople during the 449 council of Ephesus, thereafter disowned as the Gangster Synod. Chalcedon eventually triumphed, but not until well after 250 years of intermittent violence in which monks behaved like the Waffen SS. Jenkins condenses centuries of church and imperial strife with admirable clarity despite the continuous blizzard of historical names and ecclesiastical terms the narrative entails. He suggests that this era, not the later Dark and Middle Ages, is the most violent (un-Christian?) in Christian history and that it may have lessons for the present and future conflict between Christians and Muslims over the nature of God.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

December 15, 2009
Jenkins (history & religious studies, Penn State Univ. & Baylor Univ.; "The Lost History of Christianity"), a well-seasoned scholar of Christianity, focuses here not only on the theological definitions of the nature of Christ, promulgated by various Christian political and ecclesiastical leaders from the fourth through the seventh centuries, but also on the political machinations, violent persecutions, and scheming that made "wars" of these debates. Jenkins includes many helpful tools for the general readerhe's writing here chiefly for interested general readerslisting the many emperors and church councils of the time, along with their chief concerns. An appendix describes important participants in these doctrinal struggles. Jenkins shows that views (e.g., on God's suffering) became somewhat silenced, only to regain vigor, especially in the 16th century and thereafter, which resulted in ancient heresy often becoming modern orthodoxy. VERDICT In showing general readers how he finds fresh ideas and the resurrections of past teachings invigorating to religious studies, Jenkins provides an accessible book, and one with mild suspense and intrigue. Although there is some overgeneralizing, the book enlightens readers on the backstory to current Christian divisions and realignments. Seminary libraries would do well to acquire this as well.Carolyn M. Craft, emerita, Longwood Univ., Farmville, VA

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