How Christianity Changed the World

by Alvin J. Schmidt

Publisher:

Zondervan

, 2004

Overview

Western civilization is becoming increasingly pluralistic, secularized, and biblically illiterate. Many people today have little sense of how their lives have benefited from Christianity’s influence, often viewing the church with hostility or resentment. How Christianity Changed the World is a topically arranged Christian history for Christians and non-Christians.

Grounded in solid research and written in a popular style, this book is both a helpful apologetic tool in talking with unbelievers and a source of evidence for why Christianity deserves credit for many of the humane, social, scientific, and cultural advances in the Western world in the last two thousand years.

Key Features

• Foreword by Paul L. Maier
• Photographs, timelines, and charts
• Questions for reflection and discussion

Contents

Top Highlights

“The rabbinic oral law was quite explicit: ‘He who talks with a woman [in public] brings evil upon himself’ (Aboth 1.5). Another rabbinic teaching prominent in Jesus’ day taught, ‘One is not so much as to greet a woman’ (Berakhoth 43b).” (Page 103)

“Ironically, the more the Christians were persecuted, the more their numbers grew. Tertullian had it right when he said, ‘The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.’ A renowned church historian corroborates Tertullian’s claim, saying, ‘Many pagans became Christians only after seeing the death of the martyrs.’³⁶ Obviously, the many desperate attempts to stamp out Christianity did not work.” (Page 32)

“The first hospital was built by St. Basil in Caesarea in Cappadocia about a.d. 369” (Page 156)

“You and I would not and could not hold faith in Christ today, if many of the early Christians had not marched into the arena or toiled in the mines, unbent and uncompromised.’ This editor continued, ‘Each time you and I meet a Christian, we are viewing a monument to the unknown early Christian martyrs.” (Page 39)

“Four names loom large in the textbooks of astronomy: Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo. But the undeniable fact that these men were devout Christians, which influenced their scientific work, is conspicuously omitted in most science texts.” (Pages 224–225)

Praise for the Print Edition

Honest and realistic . . . a fascinating inspirational experience.

—David O. Moberg, professor emeritus of sociology, Marquette University

Product Details

• Title: How Christianity Changed the World
• Author: Alvin J. Schmidt
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Print Publication Date: 2004
• Logos Release Date: 2012
• Pages: 448
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Christianity › Influence; Civilization, Christian
• ISBNs: 9780310497387, 9780310264491, 0310497388, 0310264499
• Resource ID: LLS:CHRCHNGWRLD
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T22:38:04Z

About Alvin J. Schmidt

Alvin J. Schmidt (PhD, University of Nebraska) retired in 1999 as a professor of sociology at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois, where he still lives. He is the author of several books, including The Great Divide: The Failure of Islam and the Triumph of the West, and served as a consulting editor for Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions and the Occult.