ABSTRACT
Academic studies of religion tend to treat world religions unevenly. Christianity and Buddhism tend to receive historical and philosophical treatment, while introductions to Judaism emphasize its practices. Hinduism, on the other hand, has been explored both by scholars who have studied its religious texts, and by anthropologists who have observed the way in which it is practised in everyday life, usually in one particular society. ere is nothing inherently wrong with any of these approaches, but it is important to draw on such studies, to explain how religions are actually practised by ordinary people. It is certainly true that Christianity would not be practised as it is today without the great ecumenical councils of the fourth and fifth centuries that led to the formation of the Nicene Creed, or without Martin Luther, John Calvin, the other Protestant Reformers and the Catholic Counter-Reformation, or without the Second Vatican Council and the present-day ecumenical movement. However, few rank-and-file Christian believers, if asked, would be very articulate about these landmarks in Christian history. To present Christianity, therefore, in terms of its doctrinal history, is to leave the average Christian unacknowledged. is book seeks to redress the
balance by presenting an account of the Christian faith, which reflects the beliefs and practices of Christian believers.
