{"product_id":"twelve-churches-an-unlikely-history-of-the-buildings-that-made-christianity","title":"Twelve Churches: An unlikely history of the buildings that made Christianity","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e best book of 2025\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'brilliantly inventive'. -\u003cb\u003e Tom Holland\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'learned, highly informative and readable'. - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'thoughtful, humane and open-minded'. - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A brilliant book'. - \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e'\u003c\/i\u003ewitty writing'. - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Hugely accomplished and endlessly readable'. - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Spectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e***\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWith his trademark reverence and revelry, The Revd. Fergus Butler-Gallie travels through time and place to get to the heart of the religion he is so passionate about. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this book he takes us from Bethlehem and the birth of Christ some 2000-odd years ago, to the immediate present and future of Christianity.  He brings together a Baptist Church in the segregationist American South with a medieval monastery in the heart of the Greek countryside; the Vatican - beautiful, imposing, vainglorious, the seat of Catholicism - with a sparse, tiny private church above the rocky coastline of Southern Japan.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eTwelve Churches\u003c\/i\u003e is a quest for a new people's history of Christianity, told through the stories of twelve churches scattered across the globe. Through a patchwork of interlinking and varied human stories, Butler-Gallie takes us on a physical and historical journey, exploring the role of hope, faith and beauty in Christianity, but also its fraught relationships with sex, violence and power.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe story of Christianity is, he shows, the story of our modern world: it's a story of who we should be, as well who we sometimes are.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHardback | 496 pages | Published August 2025\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hodder \u0026 Stoughton","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63833544196445,"sku":"9781399731300","price":37.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0978\/3459\/8749\/files\/9781399731300.jpg?v=1773406976","url":"https:\/\/www.thebookmark.ie\/products\/twelve-churches-an-unlikely-history-of-the-buildings-that-made-christianity","provider":"The Bookmark ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}