Tom Holland

Dominion is a book about Christianity and its impact on aspects of the modern world. It’s not a comprehensive history, instead focusing on what the author sees as the key moments in its development and spread. The author’s main message is to promote the idea that Christianity’s influence has been revolutionary throughout history. Indeed, the front cover of the paperback version has the subtitle The Making of the Western Mind. That’s quite a claim. I’ll come back to it.

To make his point, the author delivers a compelling narrative. It starts, not with the birth of Christ, but 500 years before in Greece. The story continues with that civilization’s clashes with Persia and then the Kingdom of Israel’s defeat at the hands of the Romans before Jesus makes his brief appearance followed by Paul and the rest of his disciples. This scene setting is one of the book’s strengths because comparing the world before and after Christianity highlights — thanks to the author’s commentary — the diverse impact it had and why.

Holland deftly weaves multiple strands together to form an interesting, engrossing, and informative read as he tells the story puctuated with terrific bits of trivia and nuggets that only a true master of the topic could know in such depth.

I have always been impressed by Holland’s grasp of the material he tackles, but reading this book increased my admiration for his ability and the depth of his knowledge. To give just one example, the following quote is from the part of the book where he discusses persecution of the Jews by the Christians.

Yet the backwardness of the Jews was not quite as manifest as the Church authorities liked to pretend. Unlike the Waldemsiand, they had a degree of erudition that put most Christians to shame. Aquinas was not alone in admiring the achievements of their scholarship. Even the pope’s own household had long been managed by Jewish administrators. As a pupil of Abelard had freely acknowledged. ‘A Jew, however poor, if he had ten sons, would put them all to letters, not for gain as the Christians do, but for the understanding of God’s law — and not only his sons, but his daughters.’

Now back to the claims about Christianity’s significance. Of course, I don’t have Holland’s expertise and I am nowhere near as well read. Therefore my opinion is of little value. But, for that little it’s worth, I wasn’t completely persuaded by his arguments. Almost, but not quite. However, that didn’t stop me enjoying every minute I spent in the company of his writing. It truly is a joy to behold and read.

This is an excellent book. Even though it’s not a detailed history, it thoroughly covers the elements that are included. (In other words, there are still plenty of details in the book.) So, it’s not a light read. On the other hand, the author does a great job of making his argument without — metaphorically — trying to bash the reader over the head multiple times to pay attention to the author’s message. In this regard it’s as much show as tell. You will find a lot to inform and enlighten you. Highly recommended.