Ok
This book might not be what you expect. When you read the title you probably thought, "This is just another book about how we would be in hell without Jesus." That's what I thought at first too. Instead it tells how Jesus impacted this world, even after he ascended into heaven. It also tells how some Christians impacted the world.
At times I found this book a bit boring, but that's what I expected when I started the book(since I'm only 14 years-old).
Overall, if you want to read a book about how Jesus and Christian leaders impacted this world, you could probably find a better book elsewhere.
An Incredible Resource on the Impact Jesus' Teachings Have Had on the World!
This book documents the positive impact that Jesus' teachings have had on the world, including Christianity's impact on the value of human life, education, the founding of America, civil liberties, science, economics, sex and the family, health and medicine, morality, art and music, countless lives, and much more. No other person has made more of a positive impact upon cultures around the world than Jesus. Thank you Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Newcombe for reminding us of that. I was immensely blessed reading it.
A book full of distorted facts and lies, preaching to the choir
This could have been an interesting book, about the good things that came out of Christianity. But instead of being an honest examination of history, the book distorts and misrepresents reality.
Kennedy has written a long list of things that are allegedly a result of Jesus Christ, including hospitals, science, education, justice, representative government, benevolence and charity. While some of the things have been practiced by Christians, that doesn't mean that those things would not have existed if Jesus hadn't been born. There's no way to know how world history would have turned out if Christianity hadn't been in power. One thing from the list no doubt comes from Christianity: The condemnation of homosexuals, which Kennedy lists as something good.
In Chapter 5, it becomes clear that Kennedy wants an American Christian theocracy. He completely misrepresents what secularism means, saying that a secular state, being neutral to religion, is in fact "hostile" to religion. This is an absurd statement. A secular state is neutral, allowing all religious beliefs. In a theocracy on the other hand - which seems to be Kennedy's utopia - alternative religions are at the mercy of the dominating religion.
Apparently, America was founded as a free country because it was founded by Christians, although Kennedy does not explain how come the countries, such as England, where these people came from, were not free, although they were also Christian. Towards the end of the book Kennedy tries to explain away all the crimes of the church, such as the Inquisition, by saying that the people responsible weren't true Christians. It's a very convenient explanation, but despite this, Kennedy seems to hold all atheists guilty by association with a handful of atheists who did bad things, and the best example he comes up with is Hitler, who, according to himself, was a Christian. The same type of double reasoning goes for the rest of the book; apparently all good things that happened during the last 2000 years were thanks to Christians, and all bad things were caused by others, atheists or false Christians.
Kennedy is also opposed to all science that is not compatible with the Bible, most notably the theory of evolution, which in his opinion is wrong, because the bible doesn't say it's true.
No doubt christians have done good in caring for the poor and sick, etcetera, but Kenendy doesn't even try to give a balanced and truthful look at the facts. After reading the book, it's clear that Kennedy is one of two things; either he is a bad researcher (and if you look at the footnotes, most of them are secondary sources, and as I mentioned, some outrageous claims aren't backed up by sources at all) who believes what he's writing, or he's a liar, lying on purpose and twisting the facts to argue his case. Instead of an honest account of Church history, this is a book full of distorted facts and lies, preaching to the choir, and a means for Kennedy to voice his personal political opinions.
Appetite Whetting
To some extent, this book delivers, but I really wished for something that was a little less religious, and a little more historical. I understand the need to exhort. It just seems
that Dr. Kennedy should have reserved it for another book. So, instead of a satisfying read, I got one that merely whetted my appetite. I would still
recommend this book to anyone, especially skeptics of the Christian faith.
Dr. Kennedy's book is full of interesting anecdotes and little-known stories about how anonymous Christians the world over, affected the rise and fall of nations, influenced major wars, and altered, forever, the course of human history, in the name of Christ.
A book that is needed
I am so glad that a book has been written to show that Christianity has indeed been a positive force in human societies, so much so that even unbvelievers have benefitted.
The weakness of this book is that it does not demonstrate its points with enough detail to be of help to thoughtful skeptics and believers searching for clues of the validity of the faith. I am for this book being rewritten with more concrete evidence, which I believe is there in history. The book would be longer, but it would be more helpful.
(20 reviews)
