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2159 Ad: A History of Christianity

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The lines and furrows of each face reveal a person's habitual character. It has been said that if you want to know how you were in the past and what were your habitual emotions, look at your face today; and if you want to know how you will look in the future, look at your emerging character and thoughts today. Writer Craig Borlase in his book "2159 AD" takes a Christian to the mirror to look at the habitual emotions and ways of life engrained in Christianity, and then ponders the future of Christianity based on the realities and possiblities happening today.

A British artist from our grandfather's and great grandfather's time said "the artist is always engaged in writing a detailed history of the future because he is the only person aware of the nature of the present."

In Craig Borlase's previous books, he specializes in guiding the readers' hands to feel and perceive how the church really looks and acts in the present.

In a book about the source of European languages, an archeologist has written: "When you look in the mirror you see not just your face but a museum... We carry the past around with us all the time, and not just in our bodies. The past is a set of invisible lenses we wear constantly, and through these we perceive the world and the world perceives us... It is disconcerting to realize how few of our ancestors most of us can recognize or even name." Craig Borlase gives the reader a tour to help name and recognize some Christian ancestors.

"2159 AD" draws the reader into the story by telling history of the past from the vantage point of the future. A character named "Craig Borlase" sets down to write history 150 years from now, in the year 2159. The character Craig Borlase writes in the introduction: "I suppose that somewhere within the story of Christianity are the threads that weave together to begin to make an image of what Jesus meant when he talked about the Church as his own bride. Somehow, by looking back, I want to see if I can find it; that essence of whatever it was that we were supposed to be. I want to trace the threads and find the brilliance that has been hidden by apathy, ignorance or too many years spent chasing after the wrong goals. And I want to be wrong."

The historical narration starts in the year AD 64 and carries on to the year AD 2159. When reading how history unfolds from now to the year 2159, the author maintains a veil such that the reader is never always sure whether the author is giving a prescriptive or proscriptive "utopia"--- meaning that the reader is not certain whether the author is telling us how he would like events to unfold or whether it would have been better if such events did not unfold as related. Thus as certain readers are variously shocked or comforted by what transpires, the fictionalized nature of the account allows the reader in his mind to enter into a dialogue with the narrator.

For a sneak preview, here are the chapter titles of the "Back to the Future" portions of the book, from chapters 13 to the end: "2001--2019: The Storm Before the Calm," "2020--2062: The Age of Endings," "2049--2098: The Rise of the Tiger Theology," "2099--2133: Fresh Challenges in a Reworked World" and "2133-- : The End of the Beginning."

"2159 AD" is an artful, engaging book. Time spent with Craig Borlase's "2159 AD is time well spent.