Bullies and Saints: An Honest Look at the Good and Evil of Christian History by John DicksonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a Christian book, but one with a difference. It is a book which tries to take seriously both the good that Christians have done in history and the evil that we have also done. It is written with the criticisms of the 'New Atheism' in mind, but also with a progressivist defence of what religion and, Christianity, brings to the historical record.
So, first off, I can't say I love the title. 'Bullies' sounds a false note for me, and I'm not sure why. Perhaps it feels like it trivializes the negative aspect just a trifle. The fact is that Christians over history have done some pretty evil stuff, far past the 'bullies' level would suggest, so I'm not entirely sure it is the best comparison to Saints. I'm not sure I quite know what I'd use, but it just sounds too weak.
That quibble aside, I generally liked this book. It is written in a popular style, so sometimes goes a little fast and loose with the evidence, but it isn't unsound. It does lay out a case that Christians also contributed constructively to the social fabric of the societies they found themselves in. It highlights their intellectual achievements, even in those periods that moderns dismiss as 'dark ages'.
I also like that it calls out that Renaissance/Enlightenment dismissal of the Middle Ages, which really isn't borne out in the vibrancy of those periods. The mediaeval age is a very different time to our own, but it wasn't without its own virtues and, yes, vices, just like our own time.
This is still a work of apologetics, even if it isn't aggressively or blindly pro-Christian. It is a chastened narrative, mindful of the wrongs that Christians have done over history, but also calling to mind the good. And that is really all anyone can ask in a historical narrative of any group.
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