Customer Reviews

Heretics: The Bloody History of the Christian Church

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First let me explain why I bought this book. I am an evolutionary psychologist and I am designing a course on skepticism and pseudoscience in addition to teaching evolutionary psychology. I am doing a great deal of reading about the Christian myth because it seems that the Christians, as a whole, are the group that is most vociferous about their opinions on the facts regarding evolution. I felt that I needed a few more arrows in my quiver to deal with the (sometime outlandish) confrontations that I recieve or have yet to recieve.

Heretics was a wonderful read for what I needed. It is a short concise journey from about 400bc when the existing bible was written (or at least editied by the Romans) through present day Christianity. Sumner Davis pulls a few punches, but I felt that mosty he was presenting a chronological path that included all the horrors of Christianity and the church, that was free from opinionated bias.

It was an easy read that was clear and easy to understand. It was not full of Bible quotes and obscure historical information, just a well ordered introduction to the history of the Christian religion.

This book is a great one to start with since it is so short and concise. It will provide a good adjunct to further reading on the topic and I think ultimately it is further clear evidence that man is behind religion 100% and that if there was a god it would never condone the behavior that the Christians have portrayed throughout their violent,ignorant, and abusive history.

It is odd, really how I found this little book. I am an avid fan of Mr. Sagan's books that he penned with his very famous mother Dr. Margulis, and had done a web search to see if he had written anything new, when I came across Heretics, The Bloody History of The Christian Church. As a Roman Catholic, I hesitated at first, although the book certainly looked interesting. After looking at several other possibilities, I told myself I had nothing to loose, so I ordered a copy. I convinced myself, and rightly so, that any book Mr. Sagan though highly enough to introduce must be worthy of a read. It certainly was. As most everyone knows, there are a number of historical events and ideologies that are not taught in Catechism classes. As I am only 34, I do not remember the pre-Vatican days, although my mother certainly does. After reading this book a second time, I mailed my copy to her. She was not very happy with me, and made sure I knew. This book has reopened some issues for me. I had always been concerned with problems pertaining to the history of my faith, and these topics, while not "taboo" were certainly not discussed, nor their interest encouraged by the sisters at the schools I had attended. I can now see why. Davis' book made me very angry almost from page one. I became determined to find what I had convinced myself were the many historical errors in Davis writing, and I worked diligently to reveal his flawed thinking. I had imagined an entirely different review that I would someday write about this book. I had convinced myself after reading the last page; Davis had embellished much of his work. Things could never have been nearly as bad as he portrayed them. As a researcher at a small private college, I had convinced myself that all I need do was investigate the work of other historians to dispatch him. No "genuine" and by this I mean to say secularly educated historian seemed to disagree with Davis. In fact, many had read this same book and though highly of it! It turned out that, far from embellishing his work, I discovered he had actually been very lenient. I had learned more about the history and politic of my faith in the few hours it took to read this book, the resulting research, and the correspondences from some of his other readers, than in all the Faith Formation classes and every spirituality workshop I had attended in my adult life. It would be easy to blame this book for causing a "crisis of faith" but it would also be dishonest. I had always wondered, never questioning, perhaps because I lacked the real historical background as to exactly what it was that bothered me so much. Now I have many of the answers I had been discouraged from seeking. Many pulled from this book. My friends now ask, "Where is your faith." I agree with Davis: a faith untried is no faith at all. At least after reading this book I can understand why I was so uncomfortable with my faith. I truly enjoy Mr. Sagan's wit and charm, and I hope he forgives me for reserving space on my shelf for the rest of Davis books. This book may very well open your eyes to a whole world of truths as it has my own. On a side note, I e-mailed the author, and much to my surprise, he e-mailed me back.

This book was as straightforward and clear as can be. With Dorion Sagan (son of the late astronomer Carl) doing the technical editing (himself having written and published over a dozen books) I could find NO "gramatical" issues whatsoever. The previous comment concerning the author's need to "find an established writer" to assist him? I believe (having read four of his books he IS an established writer. Who pased the 11th commandment "Thou shall always follow Turabian (APA, ALA, etc.) format in thy writing"?

I did a bit of research on his materials (based on the end credits. It is true...there is nothing new under the son. BUT..where Davis comes through is in HOW he explains it. It DOES apply to the timeline he uses(the flight of the Wright brothers would hardly figure into the aim of the book). The best review I have read thus far was in "Freethought" a journal for "free thinkers." They write dozens of reviews each year...yet they thought it was a very good book. Perhaps they should hire a "seasoned editor?" Why run down something that you could not write yourself? I for one will be recomending this book to all of my friends (who live outside the Bible belt) and look forward to Davis' next literary foray.

Cindy

With punch and scholarship, Dr Davis tells the remarkable -- and shocking -- story of the Christian churchs tyranny. Once on the last page, you will wish you had known about the book earlier -- not all books with big ideas come from the big publishers. Another reader has commented upon production errors -- if they were there, I did not notice them, but then Dr Davis has put together a history, that many would prefer went unread. But we must read and witness this history. This darkside to Christianity must never be airbrushed out. We are lucky folk: we are free to hold our own beliefs. Many in the modern world still cannot (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan etc) -- this book reminds us that religious dictatorship in the name of Christ likewise straight-jacketed the freedom of millions once in own Western societies. Read Dr Davis book and give thanks for living in a free society.

If you are lover of truth and a supporter of free inquiry then Heretics: The Bloody History of the Christian Church is a must-read. After reading this book some, being intellectually blind has resorted to "I will say simply that there are some things that are better left unknown" or state something as infamous as "We cannot, like Dr. Davis simply look back on these very different ages and decide on right and wrong" If fact The Bloody History of the Christian spells out to the reader how these credulous institutions of so called pious men has persecuted, even unto death, the wisest and the best.

This book chronicles the actions of the church that stayed and stopped the onward movement of the human race and poisoned the fountains of learning and misdirected the energies of man.
Come, read and learn how the Church and its ignorant creeds sowed the seeds of hatred in families and nations, fed the flames of war, and filled Christendom with hateful, cruel, ignorant and warring sects. As Dr. Davis will show how the Church taught men to kill their fellows for religion's sake, funded the Inquisition, invented the instruments of torture, built the dungeons in which the good and loving languished, forged the chains that rusted in their flesh, erected the scaffolds whereon they died, piled fagots about the feet of the just and drove reason from the minds of millions.

It a well-known fact that the Church lighted the fires that burned "witches" and "wizards," filled the darkness with ghouls and ghosts, and the bodies of men and women with devils. Heretics: The Bloody History of the Christian Church will bring to light the events that made credulity the greatest of virtues, and investigation the greatest of crimes. As lovers of truth and supporters of "telling it like it is" Christian or not we must not forget our pass.

It will not do to fall back on "why should modern Christians wish to relive the errors of those men so long ago"? If we forget our pass, we will be bound to repeat it.

Having writen this book some years back while in seminary (my dissertation was in Koine Greek and was edited fine thank you). I wrote it pretty much as a personal exploration that ended up published. It was not something I set about to get put in book form. I have had literally 1000's of letters about this book since it came out, and perhaps 10 or 20 have been negative. Either they did not like what I said, or how I said it, and some uptight folks who could not follow the history took to examining the sentence structures--it would seem they lost sight of the forest for of the trees. If you enjoyed this book, as a great many people have, I am pleased. If not, well that's fine too, we are all different. It has recieved great reviews from many sources (radio, journal, internet, newspaper) and has brought me to the attention of radio talk and magazine articles I never planed. To be sure, as a Dyslexic, my editing skills are far from perfect (which is why for my next book I have emplyed the services of a professional copy editor) but my intention was to lay the history of a social group bare for examination: not to ensure my verbs and nouns agreed in number and gender. Those who could get past the (accordong to one person who probably never wrote a book) "numerous gramatical errors", found it, as one historian said "A gloves off, no holds barred look at the Church of our fathers." It is odd that the professors who are using this text to teach pseudoscience and church history have not made mention of the bad "verbs" and naughty "nouns." Perhaps they are simply being kind? Nonetheless, I guess we all have something to work on. My special thanks again to Mr. Dorion Sagan for a really great intro that spelled out the "gist" of the book, and to the many people who have requested signed copies. I promise you that once I learn to spell my name, I will of course send them on to you happily.

Thanks again

W. S. Davis

I am a recovering Christian. What brought me out of deluding myself was the attempt to find problems with this book. I hated the idea that my church was like this..some socio-political manifestation, rather than a divinely controlled entity for all humanity. What can I say..I was that naive. Not after this book. This man is to be praised for having the intellect to do the research needed for such an undertaking, and saluted for choosing, as he says "cold hard facts over the fondest delussions." Bravo. I have already ordered his other books, and can't wait to see what he publishes next!

Brian Montgomery

Dr. Davis' book is not for the faint of heart nor the weak of faith. It is an outstanding history of the Christian religion's, and more specifically the Roman Catholic's, dark and brutal hold on nations and peoples of this world since its beginnings 2000 odd years ago. For those of you who actually think and are not just sheep, then I strongly suggest that you read this concise book.

It may shed light on events that you were unaware of or it may just re-enforce and refresh your knowledge of these things. Either way, this is a valuable little thesis on the inner workings and motivations of a popular religion. It is my opinion that all religions are a danger to mankind and a hindrance to man's ability to understand and deal with this world we find ourselves in.

Read Dr. Davis' book and open your eyes to the real truths.

Regards,

V.T. Eric Layton

I agree with the reviewer Michael Magee this book is just what I was looking for it is set up so that everything is concise and clear with dates and events and even a couple of maps. I was quite surprised to discover that the man who wrote it went to a Christian college because of his fair treatment of the subject he pulled no punches and reported what happened in a non-bias way I was very impressed with that. I prefer just the facts and that is what this book gives you without any frills. I knew about most of the subjects but I still got a surprise or two. I will be keeping this book for reference because it is easy to look things up when I want to. It isn't the full treatment of each event but it is enough to understand what happened and why.

Short book for such a complex and important part of human history, but maybe because of this more important. In a few pages you get a very complete vision of what was the real thing...what is the true history behind all the beautiful things your priest told you when you were a little kid....
It makes more emphasis in Christian religion but the same is true for Islam and some others...
Religion was born out of weakness and ignorance...but a few took advantage of this to make profits and to obtain power....a lot of blood has been shed and still is because of religion...and the majority of the people see this killing happening and do nothing....and some pray or ask their God for help in doing the killing...and surely they expect to go to heaven....
Very good book.....More are needed.