Jesus Wars

A history of the Dark Ages “explain[s] very clearly why people in the early Christian era were so passionately concerned with issues of high theology.( The Economist).

Jesus Wars reveals how official, orthodox teaching about Jesus was the product of political maneuvers by a handful of key characters in the fifth century. Philip Jenkins argues that were it not for these controversies, the papacy as we know it would never have come into existence and that today’s church could be teaching something very different about Jesus.

Christianity claims that Jesus was, somehow, both human and divine. But the Bible is anything but clear about Jesus’s true identity. In fact, a wide range of opinions and beliefs about Jesus circulated in the church for four hundred years until allied factions of Roman royalty and church leaders burned cities and killed thousands of people in an unprecedented effort to stamp out heresy.

Jenkins recounts the fascinating, violent story of the church’s fifth-century battles over “right belief” that had a far greater impact on the future of Christianity and the world than the much-touted Council of Nicea convened by Constantine a century before.

“Remarkable.” —Publishers Weekly

“Jenkins condenses centuries of church and imperial strife with admirable clarity.” —Booklist (starred review)

“Are you hungry for a rip-roaring tale of theological intrigue filled with conspiracies, Byzantine plots, murder, and mayhem? Or are you longing for a solid, informative, and accurate history of the development of Christian orthodoxy? If your answer is yes to both, Philip Jenkins’s Jesus Wars . . .is your book.” - Christianity Today