Twelve Churches: An Unlikely History of the Buildings That Made Christianity

Fergus Butler-Gallie

Language: English

Published: Aug 26, 2025

Description:

Karen Armstrong meets Pico Iyer in this sweeping history of Christianity that visits a dozen places of worship on every inhabited continent to tell their often wild stories and examine their sometimes difficult legacies.
Christianity is the largest religion in the US with upwards of 200 million people, and its churches often possess an allure and beauty that fascinate even the most committed atheist. What fascinates Fergus Butler-Gallie is that each place of worship tells a story—of place, time, and most of all, people. It is in these sanctuaries that the complexities of life from birth and death to power, sex, violence, justice, and beauty are encapsulated, and here, in Twelve Churches, Butler-Gallie takes us on a fascinating journey through time to unravel the story of Christianity as told by the people who have lived it on every inhabited continent.

Beginning with the birth of Christ over 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem at the location marked by the...