Dunn, Rosemary (2008) Book review of "Interpreting Christian History. The Challenge of the Churches' Past" by Euan Cameron, Wiley-Blackwell, UK. Journal of Religious History, 32 (4). pp. 477-478.

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Abstract

[Extract] In a world of increasingly polarised Christian communities, where different groups draw on tradition to support their position, it is necessary to examine what constitutes Church history. Cameron draws attention to the complexity of viewpoints about Christian dogmas and practices, and the historical contingency of these viewpoints. Although highlighting that Christian practice is enormously diverse, understood differently in different periods, Cameron seeks nevertheless to avoid a purely relativist approach. If there is not one unified Christianity throughout time, he does "believe that there is an 'essential' Christianity: though... this 'essence' is inevitably hidden under transitory forms" (p. x). The laudable aim is that this more nuanced historical understanding will improve the chances of ecumenical dialogue and inter-Christian understanding in an age of rising fundamentalist certainties about what constitutes truth.

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