Publisher's Note In this single absorbing volume, the noted historian and religious scholar Roland Bainton offers a comprehensive, critical portrait of Christianity from its beginnings two thousands years ago to the modern day. From Christ's lowly birth in a stable to the rise of cathedrals and kings, from Roman soldiers to Franciscan monks to Puritans fleeing persecution to a new world across the sea, Bainton paints a rich history of a vast and varied people united by a singular belief. Illustrated with fifty black and white photographs, CHRISTIANITY is a perfect introduction for lay readers and a classic in its field.