Author : Peter Day
Publisher : Burns & Oates
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 534 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)
Book Synopsis Dictionary of Christian Denominations by : Peter Day
Download or read book Dictionary of Christian Denominations written by Peter Day and published by Burns & Oates. This book was released on 2003-07 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contrary to Jesus' wish that his followers 'may all be one', Christianity has become, over time, ever more schismatic. This concise, one-volume dictionary provides information on over a thousand significant denominations and movements, ranging from the mainstream historical churches, for example Roman Catholic and Orthodox, to heretical sects that flourished briefly in the third or fourth centuries to groups that sprang up around charismatic leaders in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Alternatives names are given at the end of entries and are cross-referenced in an Appendix. Such groups include the delightfully named 'Body-felt Salvation Church' in the Torres Strait Islands, with 300 members, and the 'Old Catholic Orthodox Church,' founded in London by (and apparently for) the Most Reverend James Bartholomew Banks, 'known to his friends as 'Piggy' on account of the happy conjunction of his vast inherited wealth and his surname'. The author approaches what might in other hands be a dull catalogue with considerable zest and obvious enjoyment, and the result is a mine of good stories and useful information.