Bøker av Alec Ryrie

Europe has a tremendously important role in the history of Christianity and was the continent with the most Christians from roughly the year 900 to 1980. However, Europe is now home to only 22 percent of all Christians in the world, down from 68 percent in 1900. The major trend of European religion in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has been secularization--disestablishment and decreased influence of state churches, lower importance of religion in the public sphere, the decline of religious beliefs and practices, and individual religious switching from Christianity to atheism and agnosticism. One hundred years ago, it was true that the typical Christian in the world was a white European. Given current trends, however, Europe is clearly no longer the geographic nor demographic center of world Christianity. Yet, that does not mean Europe has no role in the future. It is still the home of major Christian communions, such as Catholics (Rome), Anglicans (Canterbury), Russian Orthodox (Moscow), and Lutherans (Geneva). European mission agencies are active throughout the world providing theological education and social welfare programs, combatting climate change, and advocating for gender equality.

Examines the pursuit of orthodoxy, and its consequences for the history of Christianity.

The spread of Christianity is arguably humanity's most consequential historical epic. Christianity tells the tale through more than a hundred beautiful color maps and illustrations depicting the journey of Jesus Christ's followers from Judea to Constantine's Rome, wider Europe, and today's world of two billion Christians practicing in every land.

Why have Western societies that were once overwhelmingly Christian become so secular? Looking to the feelings and faith of ordinary people, the award-winning author of Protestants Alec Ryrie offers a bold new history of atheism.

A fresh examination of the idea of martyrdom in the transition from the medieval to the modern periods.

This is the first synthetic narrative of the origins of the Scottish Reformation of 1560; the narrative covers the period 1525-60. It brings together religious history with the political history of Mary, Queen of Scots' reign, paying particular attention to the role of warfare and violence. It is aimed principally at students and general readers -- .

Scholars increasingly recognise that understanding the history of religion means understanding worship and devotion as well as doctrines and polemics. Early modern Christianity consisted of its lived experience. This title brings together an interdisciplinary range of scholars to discuss what that lived experience comprised, and what it meant.

In this volume, ten leading scholars of early modern religion explore the experience of parish worship in England during the Reformation and the century that followed it. Including a variety of disciplinary approaches, the contributors demonstrate how parish worship in this period was of critical theological.