Description: This book offers a swift trek through two millennia of
Christendom, with all the information provided by boring textbooks.
The author presents the Christian story within the framework of a
warning of Jesus in his famous Sermon on the Mount: ""You are the
salt of the earth; but if the salt becomes dumb, with what shall
one salt?"" (Matt 5:13). The story is told with wit, spiked by
satire and a gallows humor. There are three chapters (symbolizing
the Trinity), each encompassing seven centuries (symbolizing the
seven days of creation), with four parts in each chapter
(symbolizing the four Gospels). Chapter headings and subtitles are
eye-catchers, such as ""Edifice Complex"" for the Middle Ages with
its zeal for architectural and sacramental edification.
Idiosyncratic features are highlighted, like the ""pillar saints,""
monks who spent their lives on pillars in the desert; ""castrated
believers,"" who experienced the procedure as a refinement of
penance; and competing popes, who succumbed to secular pleasures.
Word plays, the wisdom of proverbs, and ""dumb"" Christian ways
prevent readers from getting bored. A witty preface and a serious
epilogue provide food for new insights. Endorsements: ""Just as
early morning and late afternoon light provides dimensions and
depth to any landscape, so Gritsch's characteristic wry humor
invites the reader to an appreciation and illumination of the
history of Christianity. His signature drollness, which always
enhances his writings, here becomes an entree, not an appetizer.
Christendumb will give greater speech and intelligence to any
reader who wondered how Christianity came to its current
composition."" --Reverend Lawrence R. Recla, retired ELCA clergy
""Gritsch leads us on a delightfully informative tour along the
winding road Christendom has taken, from the birth of Christ to the
present, including numerous off-road trips to 'Christendumb.' While
providing marvelous insights into those who have tried to shape
Christian thought, there are times when only a generous serving of
humor can do justice to their actions, and Gritsch gleefully
provides it. A must-read for historians and laymen "" --John B.
Williams, The Melanchthon Institute About the Contributor(s): Eric
W. Gritsch (1931-2012), a native of Austria, did his graduate work
in Vienna, Zurich, Basel, and Yale (PhD), and was Emeritus
Professor of Church History at Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary. He was
also an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America and an author of a number of books, including Martin--God's
Court Jester: Luther in Retrospect (1983); Toxic Spirituality
(2009); and A Handbook for Christian Life in the 21st Century
(2005).
General
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