Despite that fact that in many countries, especially in Western Europe, there is claimed to be a diminishing interest in religion in general and Christianity in particular, there is no shortage of new reference works dealing with this topic, most of which are of the highest quality and will provide reliable and sound sources for researchers for many years to come. This latest offering from Wiley‐Blackwell stands in this tradition alongside other substantial works from the same publisher together with the dictionaries and companions produced by both Oxford and Cambridge University Presses. Fortunately these different reference works tend to complement each other rather than compete so that the librarian (and it has to be said that few of these works are within the reach of the pocket of the individual researcher or clergy) is faced with fewer challenges as to where to spend their hard‐won budget.
This work is in four volumes, arranged alphabetically but treated as a whole so that all the introductory matter, contents and arrangement are contained in the first volume (A‐D) and not repeated in the other volumes. Therefore the pagination continues throughout the text which can sometimes make locating in which volume individual items can be found a little difficult, as will become clear when looking at the classification of the individual entries.
There are over 1,420 entries written by some 350 scholars from 24 different countries. Each of these has their own short biographical note with a list of their more important publications and academic posts held. There are about 150 illustrations, 28 maps and 11 boxes (i.e. summaries of specific topic such as a list of the Apostolic Fathers, liturgical colours or theological systems). A total of 11 appendices are also provided covering such topics as historical statistics of churches, a chronology of the electronic church and World Council of Churches membership. There is also an index of authors of the articles, a general index and a very short bibliography of less than five pages. However, this is explained by the fact that it is almost exclusively a list of other major reference works: each entry in the encyclopedia has its own specific bibliography.
So what are the aims and objectives of this significant scholarly work? The best place to find out is the preface or introduction. The latter yielded nothing to help this reviewer but he did find some guidance in the preface which was somewhat buried on page lxxxix! The editor here tells us that “the ECC is a panoptic and magisterial survey of the cultural complex and civilization created by the Christian church over the past 2,000 years”. This gives a further pointer to the purpose of the encyclopedia: 2033 is judged to be the 2,000th anniversary of the death of Christ and this work is timed to anticipate that “momentous” landmark. The aim is to study not only Christianity as an institutional concept but Christians as individual humans. It also aims to study Christianity as a dynamic faith rather than a static religion (hence the appendix dealing with electronic church). The editor concludes by assuring us that the encyclopedia is both diachronic and synchronic by looking at both the history of Christianity and its current manifestations.
The most confusing aspect of the way the Encyclopedia is arranged is the Thematic List of Entries. The main body of the work is arranged a conventional alphabetical sequence with ample cross‐references. However, this is supplemented by this thematic list. Effectively what this does is to list all the entries and classify them according to seven criteria. So Class 1 is Core Articles. These are very broad and include such topics as Christ in art, Lutheranism and What's New in the History of Christianity? In class 2 we find Chronological History where, very confusingly, the centuries are arranged alphabetically. This results in a list of time lines given as eighteenth century, eighth century, eleventh century, fifteenth century and so on. These are broad essays to set the scene for more specific topics. Class 3 is Global, Regional and Territorial Christianity. This is a list of countries and regions with studies of each of them. Some are highly specific such as Ecuadorian Christianity or Albanian Christianity, but others are more general such as East African Christianity or Global Christianity. Class 4 is Denominational and Confessional Christianity which is a very mixed bag. Whilst there are entries for Anglicanism and Serbian Orthodox Church Roman Catholicism has no mention, neither does the Russian Orthodox Church. However, there are entries in Class 3 for both Russian and Serbian Orthodoxy, so why is Russia excluded from Class 4? If the idea of this classification is to break down the large number of articles into manageable groups by type, then Class 5 shows how this fails quite miserably. This class is simply Biographies and the list covers 11 pages arranged alphabetically purely by family name of the bioraphee. Each of these can easily be found in the main alphabetical sequence so what use this class is to anyone is lost on this reviewer. Class 6 covers five pages and a list of interpretative essays ranging over such topics as Alcohol, Babylon as Metaphor and Impeccability. Finally there are five pages of break‐out essays in Class 7. These are satellite or subaltern entries carried forward from the core topics. Headings include Arminianism, Conditional Immortality and Compassion; The Hospice Movement. My criticism of this arrangement is that the classes are so general that nobody would bother to look through them to find a specific topic and, in any case, they are all there in the alphabetical sequence anyway. The pagination of this work could have been reduced by some 30 pages.
However, the body of the encyclopedia is made up of the specific subject entries and it is these that should form the basis of a decision to buy or not to buy. The previous, rather critical, paragraph shows just how broad the scope of this work actually is. As stated earlier the entries are arranged in an alphabetical sequence over four volumes. They vary in length enormously, as they should, as some are very general and many highly specific. For example Baptism covers 16 pages whereas Baptist Theology merits just one page. Each entry is attributed to the appropriate contributor followed by a selective bibliography. In some cases the bibliography is longer than the article itself. There are also many helpful cross‐references. However, these references need to be treated as examples of where else to look rather than a fairly comprehensive system of cross‐referencing. For example, under Anglicanism there are only two references to specific Anglican notables (Richard Baxter and William Temple) but nothing about George Herbert or John Donne, the world famous poets. The entries are not limited to the famous of the past either. The well‐known hymn writer, Timothy Dudley‐Smith is given adequate treatment even though he is still alive. But Donne and Baxter have cross‐references to Anglicanism but Dudley‐Smith does not but does have a reference to another well‐known contemporary Anglican parish priest, John Stott of Islington.
This must all sound rather negative but I quote these simply to show that the complex web of interrelated references is not fully exploited in the encyclopedia. This does not seriously diminish its value but a more thorough system could have further enhanced its usefulness. The scope of this reference work is enormous and covers theology, philosophy, history, art, architecture, law, literature and science and the Christian impact on all of them, exploring on the way, the influence it has had on people who would not themselves claim a strong Christian allegiance. One of its many strengths is that the articles are, generally speaking, easy to read and highly informative. If you do not know who Henry Melchior Muhlenberg was or what Oswald Chambers did, this work will soon help you to find out without dazzling you with obtuse scholarship.
Naturally any work trying to cover such a huge range of time and subject‐matter will leave out our favourite topics or people: a careful sifting of all the entries is bound to find omissions but, given its scope, the encyclopedia is a monument to scholarship and diligence. It will remain a standard work for many decades and should be seriously considered for addition to any reference collection which covers religion, world history, literature or human social development.
