A history of Christianity. Looking at the religious life of churches, the sense of the transcendant, the nature of ritual and its use, and the relation to music and art, Owen Chadwick considers the way in which Christianity has drawn on the cultures and ideas of the societies in which it found itself. Was a pulpit an intellectual object or a devotional? What was the force in a person's life of the celebration of Christmas, or the legends of the Three Wise Men, or the cult of the saints? This book ranges from the origins of Christianity through to its most recent manifestations around the world.