Great writing, very disappointing reading

As many other reviewers have said, the reader of this book is very disappointing. I have no objection to listening to Americans, but in this case some of the pronunciations of words, particularly when they are referring to things relating to England, are just wrong, and I've never even heard Americans pronounce them that way. I was also irritated by his apparently careful pronunciation of the words "Irish" and "Ireland" with a self-conscious Irish brogue; I kept thinking "If he goes to that much trouble for those words why can't he put a bit of effort into the rest of it!

I spent most of my listening time having to suppress a constant level of irritation with the poor reading. I would definitely NOT buy another Audible book if it was narrated by this reader.

This is a great shame because the writing itself is really good.

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9 people found this helpful

Who is Cramner???

Excellent book with charismatic and engaging writing doing its best in the mouth of a poor narrator. His accent doesnt bother me too much but the incessant mispronunciations are very annoying. Worst one is saying "Cramner" when he means Thomas Cranmer... pretty embarrassing that the narrator cant properly say the name of one of the most important figures of the english reformation. Why did no one correct him?!

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A great introduction to the major themes.

Once you get over the initially patronising tone of Walter Dixon's reading this is a genuinely interesting work. MacCullogh's agenda as a 'friend of Christianity' is apparent throughout and this is very much a study of Christianity from the outside with no proselytising mission. The audiobook can be confusing as several of the themes overlap, for obvious reasons, and it's more difficult to 'flick back a couple of pages' in an audiobook, so it can be easy to lose the thread from time to time. However, despite this the level of detail given to major thinkers and themes within the development of Christianity is useful and informative for everyone but the expert in this area. It is enjoyable to read / listen to a work from an author as comfortable citing Father Ted as St. Augustine. This is neither inaccessible to the beginner nor dumbed down to the point of meaninglessness. Well worth the 40 odd hours listening!

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5 people found this helpful

That’s 46 hours of my life I won’t be getting back

Constanteen. Seveerus, indefateegable......this reader really likes his ee sounds. Tough gig, reading a global history with words and names from so many languages, so a bit of leeway must be allowed. But this guy missed the mark so many times it was a mighty feat of endurance to make it all the way to the end. Amongst my favourites: Judy-ism, which I presume is the worship of Ms Garland; Edinboro, capital of Scotland, assession to the throne....I thought he was doing alright with French after a beautiful pronunciation of Tours, but then along came Saint Denis. Oh dear. Pronounced like an English person talking about the beatified Mr Bergkamp.

As for the content, extraordinary scholarship, although patchy and opinionated in places. And one or two contentious assertions, for example that the liberation of Eastern Europe from Communist control could not have happened if John Paul II had not visited Poland in 1978.

War, persecution, torture, hatred, bitter and fierce rivalry, slavery. How has that turned out to be the legacy of a pacifist rabbi? Yes you’ll hear about humanity, courage, philanthropy and kindness. But that’s probably less than 5% of what you’ll hear in this history. What’s that all about, Christians? Perhaps that’s another book.

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1 person found this helpful

Thought provoking

Whether you are a Christian or not, this book is well worth investigating for it's historical content alone. There are a number of surprises and much thought provoking material contained within. My friend and I listened to this while driving around Europe for two weeks, and it was great to provoke discussion. My only quibble is the reader and the appalling American pronunciations which are irritating and detract from the flow.

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10 people found this helpful

Epic history of Christianity

Great book, which received multiple positive reviews on release, and here narrated in a clear and engaging way. Dixon's narration is measured and balanced, hitting just the right tone for a book of such historical and theological complexity.

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Another one about the narrator

Story - history of Christianity... good stuff... up there with the fall of Rome, imperial China, the Egyptians etc. Being serious the structure is sometimes a bit odd, and obviously it skims some things, but impressive nonetheless.

Performance: hmm... I don’t want to be too negative, because it is perfectly listenable. No annoying mouth noises, clear recording etc. If this were a book about US history it might be 4/5. But it isn’t. For context the author appears on TV in the uk from time to time. He narrates well, even if he is quite oxford donnish. Which makes it all the more weird that they chose an American to narrate this. Beyond his nationality his pronunciation of many, many things is terrible. Ply-knee (Pliny), mernopath (merneptah), Origen, most things in England, France or Spain. He has a go at Dutch though. But... if you can get past that, it’s worth it.

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Extensive and excellent

A fantastic piece of work which is illuminating and thought-provoking. While primarily an historian of the reformation, all periods are treated with care.

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Magisterial book; inconsistent reader

This book is a powerful & magisterial survey of the full sweep of Christian history, taking into account all manifestations of the faith across the globe & through all time & dwelling in depth on their historical contexts & results. The performance was, however, frustrating at times due to the editors' insistence on changing all references to "this book" or "this text" to "this audiobook", which made for very clumsy sentences, & the several mistakes made by the reader (he clearly read out the wrong word on several occasions, making the sentence nonsense) & his poor & inconsistent pronunciation of non-US English words, especially proper nouns: British place-names were universally mispronounced, & pronunciation of names in many languages were very inconsistent. This was a pity, & a frustrating distraction from what is an excellent book.

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8 people found this helpful

fascinating

this book took me by surprise. I'm on the sceptical end of the spectrum, but i think this should be compulsory reading. etymologists of the English language will love it. very interesting introduction to Islam contained within. inspires me to check out various historical and religious phenomena in Greater detail. impressive marathon by the narrator - no doubt some pedants will be upset by some of the pronunciations though... i thought he hit the right tone.

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