Denis Janz argues that the encounter with Marxism has been the defining event for twentieth century Christianity. No other worldview shook Christianity more dramatically and no other movement had as profound an impact on so many. Now the Cold War is over and as we approach the end of the century we need, Janz says, to ask ourselves what happened.
This book is the first unified and comprehensive attempt to analyze this historic meeting between these two antagonistic worlds of thought and action. The intellectual foundation of this antagonism is to be found in Karl Marx himself, and thus the book begins with an account of Marx's assault on Christianity. All the diverse philosophical and political manifestations of Marxism were ultimately rooted in Marx's thought, and supporters based their greater or lesser hostilities toward Christianity on their reading of his critique. Janz follows this with an overview of Christian responses to Marx, extending from the mid-19th century to the onset of the Cold War. He argues that within this time frame Christianity's negation of Marx was not absolute; the loud "no" to Marx bore with it an important, if muted, "yes."
With this intellectual groundwork in place, Janz turns to an examination of the encounter as it unfolded in specific national contexts: the United States, the Soviet Union, Poland, Nicaragua, Cuba, China, and Albania. The experiences of these countries varied widely, from Poland where Christianity maintained its strongest independence, to Nicaragua where a Christian alliance with Marxism contributed to revolutionary change, to Albania where a Stalinist government attempted to abolish religion entirely. From this survey emerges theevidence that world Christianity has clearly internalized some of the prominent features of its antagonist, suggesting that the "Marxist project" is not as utterly defunct as many have assumed.

On its release, the seven volume A People's History of Christianity was lauded for its commitment to raising awareness of the ways in which ordinary Christians have lived throughout more than twenty centuries of Christian History. Now, the essential material from that important project is available for classroom use.Each volume contains careful selections and abridgements of the original content organized to fit ideally into a two semester course in Christian history. It provides a valuable overview on such topics as birth and death, baptism rites, food, power, heresy, and more. Students are both informed and inspired by seeing the importance of ordinary Christians in shaping Christianity across time.

On its release, the seven volume A People's History of Christianity was lauded for its commitment to raising awareness of the ways in which ordinary Christians have lived throughout more than twenty centuries of Christian History. Now, the essential material from that important project is available for classroom use.Each volume contains careful selections and abridgements of the original content organized to fit ideally into a two semester course in Christian history. It provides a valuable overview on such topics as birth and death, baptism rites, food, power, heresy, and more. Students are both informed and inspired by seeing the importance of ordinary Christians in shaping Christianity across time.

The seven volume A People's History of Christianity has been celebrated for raising awareness of the way in which lay Christians have lived throughout more than 20 centuries of Christian History.By adopting a people's history approach, over 100 contributors turned their attention to the lives of people that history as it is usually told forgets - women, the economically distressed, the politically marginalized, and others - and brought their thoughts on life, death, childhood, marriage, and faith to the forefront.For the first time, the essential material from that important project is available for classroom use! Available as either a single volume or an expanded two-volume set, both represent careful selections and abridgements of the original content so that the importance of lay Christianity can be seen by students.

This volume in the Westminster Handbooks to Christian Theology series provides a compact and lucid treatment of the main elements of the theology of Martin Luther (1483-1546). Janz, a top Luther expert, discusses the theological understandings that made Luther a leading figure in the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation. This splendid guide will serve as a welcome reference for careful and accurate descriptions of the key components of Luther's theology.

The Westminster Handbook to Christian Theology series provides a set of resources for the study of historic and contemporary theological movements and Christian theologians. These books are intended to help students and scholars find concise and accurate treatments of important theological terms./p>