Had I been born into a comparable socio-economic class in almost any other time in human civilisation, I would have kept slaves.

I was repeatedly struck by such realisations as I read Christianity on Trial. It is an excellent reminder that those of whom we read in church history were real people, working hard to live out the gospel in their own culture.

In a series of short essays, the authors’ stated intention is to ‘rectify the common distortions of Christianity’s role in history and tell the neglected story of its contributions’, focusing on the ‘favourite topics of Christianity’s fiercest critics’. As such, the writing is necessarily ‘apologetic’, as the authors investigate and re-tell popular historical accounts of Christian involvement in the foundation of Western society, in slavery, science, genocide, Naziism, charities, environmental degradation and American democracy. Each essay begins with a standard, if simplistic, charge that Christians have presented an unflagging opposition to all that is right and good in the world. The authors then examine the evidence for this charge, and so endeavour to exculpate our faithful forebears.

For a generation for whom both the influence and interest of history have been significantly eroded, this book may at least prompt us to investigate the history of the church, to better analyse the cultural and theological traditions in which we stand.

Using this book as a platform for research, Christians should be encouraged to see that God has worked powerfully in his people in history. We should also be better equipped to answer those who would attack a straw-man caricature of the church’s activity in history.

For all this, and despite the authors’ commendable charity, this book suffers from some significant flaws. Possibly most harmful is that the definition of ‘Christian’ is so broad that none of the groups so labelled will be satisfied: Roman Catholics, evangelicals, liberals, Darbyists, Inquisitors, Disciples of Christ, and Mormons are all identified as ‘Christian’. The reader must question what value this ‘ecumenism’ has, for surely if all these groups have performed ‘good works’, then they cannot all have been motivated by the same gospel. It is difficult to effectively defend ‘Christianity’ when what constitutes it is so ill defined.

The second flaw with far-reaching consequences is the authors’ tendency to judge historical figures by the plumb-line of contemporary liberal Western values, rather than the gospel. There is a consistent failure to read the behaviour of these figures within their own historical context. This may be due to the authors’ own unquestioning and irritating adherence to the so-called ‘self-evident’ values of New World democracy. Australian readers may wince in particular at the authors’ conflation of gospel freedom (from sin, for service) and American freedom (personal and political).

While we may smart at times at the ignorant attack on Christ and his people in the popular media, we must expect that the world will oppose us, as it opposed our Lord. Despite its shortcomings, Christianity on Trial should provide an impetus to reflect on bigger issues than what the media might say about Christians.

Readers may wonder how future heirs of the gospel will look at this generation. Of infinitely greater import, how will the Lord Jesus judge our faithfulness?

Christianity on Trial prompts us to weigh the triumphs and disgraces of our Christian ancestors, knowing that we have cause to examine ourselves and our own Christian culture in the light of the gospel. It is this kind of illumination that must change our life and practice.