Heresy
‘In the beginning was the Word,’ says the Gospel of John. Yet in the decades and centuries after the death of Christ there was not merely one word, nor an absolute consensus as to who Jesus was or why he had mattered. People believed in many different versions of Jesus, including an aggressive Jesus who scorned his parents and crippled those who opposed him, a Jesus who sold his twin into slavery and a Jesus who had someone crucified in his stead.
Moreover, in the early years of the first millennium there were many other saviours, many sons of gods who healed the sick and cured the lame. But as Christianity spread, alternative stories were pronounced unacceptable – at times even heretical – and they faded from view.
Now, in Heresy, Catherine Nixey tells their extraordinary story, one of contingency, chance and plurality. It is a story about what might have been.
PRAISE FOR HERESY
“Brilliant, forthright and challenging.” ― Irish Independent [HERE]
“Heresy is a sparkling, entertaining, thought-provoking book.” ― Literary Review [HERE]
“Heresy is a joy to read.” ― The Spectator [here]
“Heresy is a brilliant book - sometimes frightening, occasionally funny, frequently unsettling and always a thrill to read.” ― The Times [here]
“Enthralling” ― Kathryn Hughes ― The Guardian [HRE]
“Enthralling . . .With style, wit and impressive scholarship…Heresy illuminates a forgotten world - and it's an absolute pleasure to read.” ― The Sunday Telegraph [here]
“I cannot praise Nixey highly enough for her eloquence, narrative gifts and scholarly rigour.” -- Matthew D'Ancona ― The New European [here]
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The Darkening Age
In The Darkening Age, historian Catherine Nixey tells the little-known – and deeply shocking – story of how a militant religion deliberately tried to extinguish the teachings of the Classical world, ushering in unquestioning adherence to the 'one true faith'.
The Roman Empire had been generous in embracing and absorbing new creeds. But with the coming of Christianity, everything changed. This new faith, despite preaching peace, was violent, ruthless and intolerant. And once it became the religion of empire, its zealous adherents set about the destruction of the old gods. Their altars were upturned, their temples demolished and their statues hacked to pieces. Books, including great works of philosophy and science, were consigned to the pyre. In ancient Rome, a triumph was not merely a ‘victory’. It was an annihilation
PRAISE FOR THE DARKENING AGE
A New York Times Notable Book, 2018 A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Named a Book of the Year by the Telegraph, the Spectator, the Observer, and BBC History Magazine Winner of a Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Nonfiction
“Clever, compelling ... exceptionally well written.” The Spectator [[here]]
“Superb” — Richard Dawkins
“A delightful book about destruction and despair. Nixey combines the authority of a serious academic with the expressive style of a good journalist.” – The Times [[here][
“Captivating and compulsive” – Dan Jones, bestselling author of The Plantagenets
“A bold, dazzling and provocative book” — Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads
“Vivid and important.” — Emily Wilson, The New Statesman [[here]]
“With passion, wit and thunderous eloquence, Nixey throws everything she has against the bishops, monks and Christian emperors of late antiquity ... Nixey brilliantly evokes all that was lost with the waning of the classical world.” — The Sunday Times [[here]]
“A ballista-bolt of a book.” Bettany Hughes, The New York Times [[here]]
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