Ill Literacy, Episode 141: Christendom (Guest: Peter Heather)

Heartland Daily Podcast

In Episode 141 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Peter Heather, author ofChristendom: The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300.

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Peter Heather, chair of medieval history at King's College, London, to discuss his new book, Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300. They chat about how a small sect of isolated and intensely committed congregations became a mass movement centrally directed from Rome, the Church’s chameleonlike capacity for self-reinvention, and how nothing was inevitable about Christianity’s rise and dominance in Europe.

Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/546307/christendom-by-peter-heather/

Show Notes:

City Journal: Edward Short – “Fair Triumph, or Foul?”

https://www.city-journal.org/article/fair-triumph-or-foul

Literary Review: Costica Bradatan – “Onward Christian Emperors”

https://literaryreview.co.uk/onward-christian-emperors

New York Times: Paul Elie – “Looking at Early Christianity Through a Different Lens”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/31/books/review/christendom-peter-heather.html

Public Discourse: Robert Wilken – “ The History behind the Formation of Christendom”

https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2023/07/89727/

The Spectator: Eleanor Myerson – “The rocky path to Christian dominance in Europe”

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-rocky-path-to-christian-dominance-in-europe/

The Telegraph: Peter Stanford – “How 4th-century Christianity radically reinvented itself from a marginal sect to a world power”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/how-4th-century-christianity-radically-reinvented-marginal-sect/

Times Literary Supplement: Diarmid MacCulloch – “Kingdom of God”

https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-formation-of-christendom-judith-herrin-christendom-peter-heather-book-review-diarmaid-macculloch/

Washington Examiner: Diane Scharper – “How Christianity Happened”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/magazine-life-arts/376645/how-christianity-happened/