Renowned historian, Jeffrey Burton Russell, famous for his studies of medieval history, turns to the serious questions that confront Christianity in contemporary culture. Russell examines a wide array of common mispercerptions, characterizations, stereotypes, caricatures and outright myths about Christianity that circulate heavily within todays society, and are even believed by many Christians. In a succinct and engaging manner, Russell discusses these errors and provides thoughtful, even-handed, carefully researched and sharp-witted responses. The author sets the record straight against the New Atheists and other cultural critics who charge Christianity with being outdated, destructive, superstitious, unenlightened, racist, colonialist, based on fabrication, and other significant false accusations.
Exposing Myths About Christianity
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||
Browse our Bookshelf Favorites store for big savings on popular fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
"An astonishingly rich plethora of historical facts and common-sense arguments--a summa of persuasive debating points in popular apologetics." (Peter Kreeft, Boston College)
"Jeffrey Burton Russell is a marvel. An eminent scholar of medieval intellectual history, he has placed his gifts in the service of the gospel, creating in one immensely readable volume an enlightening guide to the Christian experience and a bracing antidote to the follies and willful confusions of our age." (Carol Zaleski, professor of world religions, Smith College)
"If you thought Christian apologetics was an art last practiced in the third century, Professor Russell's lively book will convince you that that ancient art of persuasive, reasoned defense is alive and well. Tackling the many misapprehensions and false assumptions about Christianity that routinely circulate in the modern world, Russell counters with thoughtful and thought-provoking data. Researched with a scholar's attention to accuracy yet written in an accessible style and in a format that facilitates consideration of discrete topics, this book deserves a wide readership among thinking people, Christians and non-Christians, believers and non-believers alike." (Wendy M. Wright, professor of theology, Creighton University)
"This is Christian apologetics at its best--compelling, readable, convincing and informed. Distortions, myths and lazy assumptions are all challenged. Encyclopedic in scope, all the major questions are considered. From gnosticism to evil, from science to the Trinity, Jeffrey Burton Russell demonstrates exceptional competence and mastery of the literature. What C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity did in the 1940s, Jeffrey Burton Russell has done for us. For those seeking and for those who doubt, this is a must-read book." (Very Rev. Dr. Ian Markham, president and professor of theology, Virginia Theological Seminary)
"Jeffrey Burton Russell is a marvel. An eminent scholar of medieval intellectual history, he has placed his gifts in the service of the gospel, creating in one immensely readable volume an enlightening guide to the Christian experience and a bracing antidote to the follies and willful confusions of our age." (Carol Zaleski, professor of world religions, Smith College)
"If you thought Christian apologetics was an art last practiced in the third century, Professor Russell's lively book will convince you that that ancient art of persuasive, reasoned defense is alive and well. Tackling the many misapprehensions and false assumptions about Christianity that routinely circulate in the modern world, Russell counters with thoughtful and thought-provoking data. Researched with a scholar's attention to accuracy yet written in an accessible style and in a format that facilitates consideration of discrete topics, this book deserves a wide readership among thinking people, Christians and non-Christians, believers and non-believers alike." (Wendy M. Wright, professor of theology, Creighton University)
"This is Christian apologetics at its best--compelling, readable, convincing and informed. Distortions, myths and lazy assumptions are all challenged. Encyclopedic in scope, all the major questions are considered. From gnosticism to evil, from science to the Trinity, Jeffrey Burton Russell demonstrates exceptional competence and mastery of the literature. What C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity did in the 1940s, Jeffrey Burton Russell has done for us. For those seeking and for those who doubt, this is a must-read book." (Very Rev. Dr. Ian Markham, president and professor of theology, Virginia Theological Seminary)
About the Author
Jeffrey Burton Russell (Ph.D., Emory University) was a history professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1979-1998 where he is now a professor of history, emeritus. He also taught at the University of New Mexico, Harvard, University of California in Riverside, Notre Dame, and California State University, Sacramento. Russell has published numerous books and articles on his area of expertise, the history of theology. Early in his academic career, Russell was honored as a Fulbright Fellow, Harvard Junior Fellow, and Guggenheim Fellow.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The word these days is that Christianity is immoral, unwise, dangerous, deceptive, pro-slavery, anti-women, anti-science, locked in the past, irrationally based, opposed to progress, and otherwise just really wrong. Or, as I have written recently at BreakPoint.org, Christianity is "bad and stupid."
Lately I've been coming to the conclusion that this might represent the most crucial Christian apologetic of our day: to counteract these very myths. I'm grateful to see such a thorough and responsibly handled treatment as this one by Jeffrey Burton Russell.
Russell is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He bears the graceful confidence of one who feels at ease holding his position, which I suspect reflects the fact that he has been tested in it.
Most tellingly, he's comfortable being open with Christianity's weaknesses. Is it a myth that Christianity is anti-Semitic? Well, yes and no. You need not go looking elsewhere for anti-Semitism in Christian history; Russell will tell you about it. And then he'll put it in context. Similarly with slavery, women's rights, and so on. Russell has no new myths to try to insinuate into the record. On the whole Christianity comes out looking okay in spite of all--especially in comparison to other currents of thought, and other social movements.
I can't agree with everything he wrote, especially his overly cautious conclusions concerning homosexuality in the Bible. I know that will come as no surprise to him; he was quite sure, he said, that there would be no way to write on that without raising raising disagreement of some sort from almost everyone. It's a tough topic.
Setting that aside as just one among 145 topics, I find this to be an enormously helpful volume, especially in its doubly usable format, either as a book to sit and read from front to back, or else to keep on hand as a reference volume.
It belongs on every college student's bookshelf, in particular--which makes it a great high school graduation gift--but it's the kind of book that can help anyone who faces myths about Christianity. In a world that's trying to make out Christianity to be bad and stupid, that means every one of us.
Lately I've been coming to the conclusion that this might represent the most crucial Christian apologetic of our day: to counteract these very myths. I'm grateful to see such a thorough and responsibly handled treatment as this one by Jeffrey Burton Russell.
Russell is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He bears the graceful confidence of one who feels at ease holding his position, which I suspect reflects the fact that he has been tested in it.
Most tellingly, he's comfortable being open with Christianity's weaknesses. Is it a myth that Christianity is anti-Semitic? Well, yes and no. You need not go looking elsewhere for anti-Semitism in Christian history; Russell will tell you about it. And then he'll put it in context. Similarly with slavery, women's rights, and so on. Russell has no new myths to try to insinuate into the record. On the whole Christianity comes out looking okay in spite of all--especially in comparison to other currents of thought, and other social movements.
I can't agree with everything he wrote, especially his overly cautious conclusions concerning homosexuality in the Bible. I know that will come as no surprise to him; he was quite sure, he said, that there would be no way to write on that without raising raising disagreement of some sort from almost everyone. It's a tough topic.
Setting that aside as just one among 145 topics, I find this to be an enormously helpful volume, especially in its doubly usable format, either as a book to sit and read from front to back, or else to keep on hand as a reference volume.
It belongs on every college student's bookshelf, in particular--which makes it a great high school graduation gift--but it's the kind of book that can help anyone who faces myths about Christianity. In a world that's trying to make out Christianity to be bad and stupid, that means every one of us.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Broadly published American historian and religious studies scholar Jeffrey Russell has penned a handbook on the criticisms of the faith that Christians have encountered throughout history and in daily life today.
The personality and wit of the author shine through, making it a sort of Cliff's Notes with soul.
The book is composed of a series of short essays, each devoted to a different myth, for example, "Hitler was a Christian;" "Christianity is outdated and dying out;" "Little or nothing is known about Jesus;" "Christianity is false because miracles can't occur;" "Science has shown that there is no God;" "Religion causes more war and suffering than atheism does;" and "Nothing is true."
And, of course, it is child's play for author of Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and the Historians (1991) to dispense with the myth that "Medieval Christians believed earth was flat."
Crafting a text that is extremely learned, yet lively and easy to grasp, Russell draws with ease on his wide-ranging grounding in the history of ideas, philosophical debates, church history, political movements of the 20th century, and so on.
Russell writes as an emeritus university professor and also as a veteran of interfaith seminars where, we surmise, theological experts may put forward indefensible myths as blandly as young students. He stands up for using the rational faculty and carefully and dispassionately studying historical evidence.
"Myths often arise from bias, which is different from point of view. A point of view is open to discussion on the basis of evidence. Bias, on the other hand, is a prejudice that filters out everything that doesn't fit a preformed conception. In a half-century of teaching the history of Christianity in a number of universities, I've encountered bias of all kinds. I've also discovered some of my own biases along the way and learned a lot from shattering them. I never attempted to force my views on my students, instead offering evidence for deeper understanding. Whatever views we hold must always be revised in accordance with evidence understood both in particular and in broad context. "
In refuting the myth that "Christianity supported black slavery," he covers the historical record on slavery, including the role of various Popes, as well as Christians in Briton and the United States in opposing and abolishing it in in most of the world.
Russell is especially keen to make peace between Christianity and science by assigning them to different realms (natural world and the spiritual world beyond nature). But he hastens to explain that we are not without intellectual bearings in the non-science realm. Instead, here we must rely on "reliable testimony" (explaining that the Bible of today is remarkably consistent with original texts) of "eyewitnesses," (observing that the evangelists "were describing events that they had observed personally or that eyewitnesses had reported to them"). It is similar, he explains, to the use of evidence in a court of law. He similarly strives to bring into accord Christianity and environmentalism.
He includes full and gentle discussions on how human suffering and evil do not militate against the idea of a universe created by a loving God.
The personality and wit of the author shine through, making it a sort of Cliff's Notes with soul.
The book is composed of a series of short essays, each devoted to a different myth, for example, "Hitler was a Christian;" "Christianity is outdated and dying out;" "Little or nothing is known about Jesus;" "Christianity is false because miracles can't occur;" "Science has shown that there is no God;" "Religion causes more war and suffering than atheism does;" and "Nothing is true."
And, of course, it is child's play for author of Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and the Historians (1991) to dispense with the myth that "Medieval Christians believed earth was flat."
Crafting a text that is extremely learned, yet lively and easy to grasp, Russell draws with ease on his wide-ranging grounding in the history of ideas, philosophical debates, church history, political movements of the 20th century, and so on.
Russell writes as an emeritus university professor and also as a veteran of interfaith seminars where, we surmise, theological experts may put forward indefensible myths as blandly as young students. He stands up for using the rational faculty and carefully and dispassionately studying historical evidence.
"Myths often arise from bias, which is different from point of view. A point of view is open to discussion on the basis of evidence. Bias, on the other hand, is a prejudice that filters out everything that doesn't fit a preformed conception. In a half-century of teaching the history of Christianity in a number of universities, I've encountered bias of all kinds. I've also discovered some of my own biases along the way and learned a lot from shattering them. I never attempted to force my views on my students, instead offering evidence for deeper understanding. Whatever views we hold must always be revised in accordance with evidence understood both in particular and in broad context. "
In refuting the myth that "Christianity supported black slavery," he covers the historical record on slavery, including the role of various Popes, as well as Christians in Briton and the United States in opposing and abolishing it in in most of the world.
Russell is especially keen to make peace between Christianity and science by assigning them to different realms (natural world and the spiritual world beyond nature). But he hastens to explain that we are not without intellectual bearings in the non-science realm. Instead, here we must rely on "reliable testimony" (explaining that the Bible of today is remarkably consistent with original texts) of "eyewitnesses," (observing that the evangelists "were describing events that they had observed personally or that eyewitnesses had reported to them"). It is similar, he explains, to the use of evidence in a court of law. He similarly strives to bring into accord Christianity and environmentalism.
He includes full and gentle discussions on how human suffering and evil do not militate against the idea of a universe created by a loving God.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By B. Sherman
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I received the book by mail in a timely manner. To date, I've always enjoy excellent service w/Amazon. I'm reading through the book at my own pace. I tend to jump around because the books format lends itself to that approach. There are 145 topics addressed. So, you've basically 145 short essays on different criticism, lies, tough questions, etc. about the Christian faith. I like the book. Professor Russell's knowledge base & straightforward style make it easy to read and enjoy. This is a great apologetics book that can be treated like a daily devotional. Each essay could be read over 2 or 3 times a day, and voila! Six months later you have a really good grasp of Christianities' critics and how to respond. I also recommend his scholarly treatment on the history of the devil, "Prince of Darkness."
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Dubious Disciple Book Review
In general, I enjoyed this one. I hardly agreed with everything Russell wrote--probably no Christian will--but it introduced several thought-provoking topics. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Dubious Disciple
5.0 out of 5 stars
enlighthening
This book is a good guide to enlighten doubts and it is well researched book.Those who have problems of whether to believe some anti Biblical ideas that sprout from skeptics will... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Hedy Erardo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great read
This author is well sourced and uses his vast knowledge of history to connect the dots between Christian history and mythology. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Jef Mac
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent answers to common attacks on Christianity
Well laid out with succinct rebuttals to common attacks upon Christianity. I'll be reading it again and again to help me deal with people's questions about my faith in Christ.
Published 5 months ago by cinsea
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good coverage of many, many criticisms
Exposing Myths about Christianity by Jeffrey Russell is one book I've been waiting to see published. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Roger Herrington
1.0 out of 5 stars
Complete Waste of Paper
This book is filled with utter bunk. No one should read it, and I am a Christian! Really it is just an awful books.
Published 8 months ago by Piltdown Spiderman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blowing away the smoke and mirrors
I admit that the author is far more charitable than I am. I would have called it "exploding flat out lies told about Christianity by athiests and other non-Christian rat finks". Read more
Published 9 months ago by Michael A. Johnson
