Christianity

What You’re Not to Read

Although this book focuses on what you need to know about Christianity, I do deal with some topics that, though useful, are less essential for you to know, at least during your first read-through. This “skippable” material is identified as follows: 

Text in sidebars: Sidebars are shaded boxes that pop up here and there in the chapters. They deal with subjects related to the chapter, but aren’t necessary reading. 

Anything with a Technical Stuff icon: This information is technical or historical stuff that you may find interesting, but you won’t miss out on anything critical if you want to pass over them. 

Foolish Assumptions

As I wrote this book, I made a few assumptions about you. Whether the assumptions are foolish or not, here they are: 

You may or may not call yourself a Christian, but, regardless of your experience or background, you are curious to discover more about the Christian faith. 

You’ve likely seen the Catholic pope on television and heard the terms Protestant and Orthodox before, but you’d probably like to know more about the differences among what Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christians believe. 

You may go to church every Sunday, just once a year, or perhaps you’ve never once entered a church sanctuary. 

You’ve probably heard Christian jargon – such as born again, evangelical, Catholic, or orthodox – through the media or in conversations and want a better understanding of what all these buzzwords mean. 

You keep catching returns of Jesus of Nazareth on TV and you’d like to know what it’s all about. 

How This Book Is Organized

Christianity For Dummies covers the key topics of the Christian faith in five parts.  

Part 1: Uncovering What Christianity’s All About

In the first chapter, you discover the basics of what Christianity is, what it’s not, and how it fits into the context of the world’s religions. This part then dives into the issue of whether Christianity’s a “blind faith” or a faith that history and reason support. Next, you center on the heart of Christianity and discover what the Good News of Jesus Christ is all about. 

Part 11: Exploring the Basic Principles of the Christian Faith

Part II delves into the essentials of the Christian faith. You look at the human predicament of sin and God’s graceful response – Jesus Christ. You then explore the Bible, who the Christian God is, and what sacraments and ordinances are. This part is rounded out by looking at what Christianity says happens after people die. 

Part 111: Here’s the Church, Here’s the Steeple: Peeking into the Christian Church

You discover in this part how the early Church began with Jesus’ original disciples and survived through some tough times, as well as explore the Church’s relevance in the modern era. I know what you’re thinking – history’s boring. Don’t worry, I avoid the “yawning syndrome” often associated with Church history as I show you the distinct backgrounds, traditions, and beliefs of Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Protestants. You then discover what Christian worship’s all about. 

Part IV: Christian Living in a Postmodern World

This part discusses what happens when a person makes a decision to believe in Christianity and how one lives out its teachings. If you’re a Christian, this discussion provides a roadmap for your “Christian walk.” If you’re not, this dialogue helps provide a fuller understanding of how Christians aim to live out their faith in the world around them. 

Diving headfirst into the briar patch, this part also deals with some tough theological questions, such as: Why does a loving, all-powerful God allow bad things to happen? Why would I want to join a church filled with hypocrites? How can Jesus be the only way to God? For Dummies books are never shy, and so, in that tradition, this part tackles these thorny subjects head on. 

Part V: The Part of Tens

In Part V, I provide several handy-dandy resources to help in your exploration of the Christian faith. If you feel like celebrating, check out a listing of ten holidays, holy days, and seasons. If you’re in need of inspiration, flip to the discussion of ten great Christians. Finally, if you’re searching for God’s truth, check out ten key passages in the Bible. 

And don’t forget to check out the two helpful appendixes at the back of the book. Appendix A is a glossary that guides you through the world of Christian buzzwords, and Appendix B is a handy timeline of important events in Christian history. 

Icons Used in This Book

The icons in this book help you find particular kinds of information that may be of use to you: 

Keep a close eye out for the Remember sections; they highlight important ideas for you to keep in mind to deepen your understanding of Christianity. 

The Technical Stuff icon highlights information that’s interesting but not critical to your understanding of the topic at hand. So, reading these sections can provide useful tidbits of information, but feel free to skip them on the first reading. 

This icon draws attention to key points that help you make sense of the Christian faith or apply it to your life. 

Take special note of the cautions I provide in the Warning sections. These will save you from falling into the Pit of Ms – misconceptions, misunderstandings, and mistakes. 

Where to Go from Here

So where do you go from here? (Well, considering that this is a book about Christianity, there’s one place I won’t tell you to go.) If you’re already captivated by the book’s prose and consider it a page-turner like the latest Grisham thriller, then please turn the page and continue. But if you have a specific topic that you’re eager to dive into, check out the following points of departure: 

For the basics of Christianity, see Chapters 1 and 3.

For an exploration of why Christianity claims to be true, see Chapters 2, 15, and 16.

For a discussion of who Jesus Christ is, see Chapter 5.

If you’ve ever read one of those Left Behind books and want to make sense of this “End Times” business, see Chapter 9.

Want to know what a Protestant or a Catholic believes? Or what an evangelical is? See Chapters 10 and 11.

Wonder what it means when some say that Christianity’s a personal relationship with God? See Chapters 3 and 13.

Let’s get practical. How should a Christian live in the 21^st century? See Chapters 13 and 14.