Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History

Christ made a beautiful compositionThe Church has not always played it very well.Dickson is clear about the huge failures of Jesus' Church throughout the centuries.He also documents many incredible contributions made by Church too.He also highlights Jesus' challenge to Christians and says His teaching contains a reforming kernal "to take the log out of our own eyes."An insightful, heart breaking and inspiring read.

A hugely enlightening read: insightful, honest, witty, and highly readable. The question "Has the Church done more harm than good?" is a common one and John's book tackles it with wisdom and sensitivity, not ducking the uncomfortable parts of church history, but also continually bringing the story back to Jesus. It's a very important book for these times.

Bullies and Saints is a helpful book that tries to squarely face certain historical attrocities laid at the door of "christians" or the "church." Diskson attempts to answer the objection that religion and violence go together.The author achieves this aim in three ways. First he shows the tremendous good that the "church" has accomplished, from charity to hospitals to human rights, all flowing out of a biblical view of mankind which emphasizes the precious nature of human life made in the image of God and the command to love our neighbour. Secondly, he adddresses specific accusations and shows how often they are false or over-stated. For example the violence caused in non-religious wars (WW1 and WW2) and irreligious conflicts (Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot) completely surpasses the violence caused by the "church." For examples the 30 year war of religion in Europe was as much about politics as it was about religion. Thirdly, he acknowledges that some violence was done in the name of Christ for which we should be ashamed. Luther's diatribe against the Jews, for example.It is on this third front that Dickson's book is fatally flawed. In trying to acknowledge the log in our own eye he draws a circle that no Biblical Christian could ever accept. He states this premise at the start of the book, to give him credit: he will draw no distinctions beween any branches of "the church" but regard anyone and any group that calls itself Christian "the church." Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox are all lumped together.Here lies the fatal flaw of Dickson's book, a flaw that probably arises from the fact that he lives in the academic world rather than the real world of biblical church Christianity.Every discerning Christian will know that "by their fruits you shall know them." Christians uttelry reject the notion that because someone calls themsleves Christian they are by definition Christian. Many will say "Lord, Lord" on the last day but be rejected by the Head of the Church because they were "evil doers." Not every "church" is a "church."The effect of Dickson's "catch-all" philosophy is that true Christianity is blamed for the crusades and for modern day child-abuse, both of which have absolutely nothing to do with true Christianty. The former was the product of the church marrying the world, becoming Christendom, and wholehearetdly rejecting any claim to be Christian. The latter is found predominantly in apostate "churches" who deny to their "clergy" the right to marry. Someone who engages in child abuse, we can say categorically, is not a Christian. Someone who takes up arms in the name of Christ, to gain lands, goods or power, cannot be a Christian. (We do not deny that some misguided true believers were probably caught up in the crusades, but we can say categeorically that the crusades had absolutely nothing to do with the true church.)This fatal flaw does not completely ruin the benefit of this book, but it does require the reader to be cautious.My only other quibble - and it's one to level at many books written by scholars - is that there are few people in my church I could give a book like this. It's too high-faluten, too academic, too filled with references to transient authors and passing intellectual fads.Helpful for church leaders and for university students, but not for the vast majority of church folks.

akes a rather simplistic approach to a serious problem. His conclusions at the end are rather naive. The 'log in your own eye' is not a very good response to some of the evils that have been perpertrated by the church. There's always the word 'but' in arguments like this which seems to suggest that on balance everything is alright then! It isn't. There's very little mentioned about repentance. I don't quite get the argument about bullies are common, saints are not. How does that reflect the churches behaviour? I speak as a Christian and have to say that yes the church has done a lot of good, but then so have millions of unsung people who have no faith at all and don't shout about it. A disappointing, rather superficiasl book which I would not recommend.

A great read on the good, the bad and the ugly of church history. A balanced look at what the church did verses what is asked of us by the Word of God/ the Lord Jesus Christ

John Dickson presents fascinating first hand source material that supports his contention that the early church played a key role in the creation of many institutions that are pillars of modern society: hospitals, schools, etc. He also dispels many of the Enlightenment myths regarding the “Dark Ages” and other misconceptions that have developed about the Medieval Ages.

Religion in general and Christianity in particular are easy targets to deride.Yet Dickson does a great job in showing that simplistic attacks on Christianity in particular are not warranted. We owe the faith a lot, for what is good in our modern secular societies and that good often sprang from rational considerations of what it means to love one's enemies, or to be made in the image of God (to quote the Bible).I have some problems with the book. For example one cannot easily compare modern atrocities with those of centuries ago, given the much smaller populations in times past. Or, as another example, the barbarian attacks on Rome were I think, often Christian (Arian) on Christian (Catholic). Or a lot of these 'Christian' ideas have their origins in more ancient Jewish (even pagan) writings. While Dickson acknowledges this, they do seem to become exclusively Christian ideas. Against this however, Dickson's discussions of some of the early great Christian thinkers, Charlemagne and the Carolingians, including Alcuin of York ("the greatest European you've never heard of") are insightful and really interesting, as is so much of the book. He points out that for all it's warts the faith continued to have its reformers who gained their ideals from several of those important teachings of Jesus, which the faith is often associated with. Like the Old Testament prophets, these reformers challenged the political status quo of the day often providing corrections to a system that had gone awry. And more so, they introduced novelties that have become so much a part of modern life - universal education, hospitals, the welfare state, and so on.The author notes that just as we humans do good, so we also do bad. The need to pull the logs from our eyes (to quote the Bible again) is a necessity for us all, believer and non believer. Non believers such as myself need to be careful in how we point the finger at those of faith. And Dickson uses the words and research of many other non believers to support his arguments. That is, it's not just Dickson (a believer) who make his points. Many other non believers do so as well.There is a nuance in the historical realities which is often lost in the modern attacks on religion, and Dickson does a great job is showing this nuance.If you think that "religion poisons everything", or that to be religious is to be stupid, or that "for good people to do evil - that takes religion", then this book is for you.It's not so simple.A great read.

Excellent book, I thoroughly enjoyed the read. The writing style flows and is easy to follow. Learned so much about church history!

I'm a pastor, and this book has been a breaath of fresh air. The author's command of history and clear writing made this the best book I've read in years. I couldn't put it down. Dickson has a command of history and writes for normal people like me.