Rod Bennett's The Apostasy That Wasn't: The Extraordinary Story of the Unbreakable Early Church is sure to be one of the best-written histories you will ever encounter. Bennett is an astonishingly talented writer, and he successfully brings to life the most tumultuous period in Church history. If you understand the importance of the Council of Nicea, but remain fuzzy on the build-up, key players, and immediate aftermath, then this your guide.
The book's title actually does double-duty. In terms of apologetics it answers the popular (but erroneous) charge that Christianity was corrupted at the time of Constantine, and Christ's simple, straight-forward Gospel was shot through with elements of paganism and stood in need of reclamation (via the Reformation, Joseph Smith, Charles Taze Russell, etc.). In terms of Christian history, however, the book's title captures the way that Antony of Coma, Athanasius, Pope St. Julius I, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzen, and others fought and overcame the most dangerous, far-reaching, successful heresy ever faced by the Church - Arianism.
Bennett zeroes in on the most important actors, with Athanasius as the book's main protagonist, and provides enough back story to bring the second and third centuries to life. Dramatized vignettes may seem out of place in a work of history, but Bennett uses them sparingly and in a way that breathes life into historical characters. A lesser writer couldn't pull it off, but Bennett hits the mark. His vivid prose draws you into the action, and you remain there when he transitions back to narrating the history. (On a personal note, after reading Bennett, I can finally keep my Eusebiuses straight.)
The Apostasy That Wasn't is exceptional.
The fist episode of ABC's Resurrection wrapped up about 20 minutes ago, and I am already eagerly awaiting the next. Anyone who truly knows me will tell you that I love my Sci-Fi (not "putting on costumes and attending conventions" love it; but "I've seen every episode, and every movie, of everything worth seeing, and thought about it more than I will ever admit" love it). This new fictional series imagines what would happen if the deceased residents of a small town (Arcadia, MO) started returning, bodily returning, to their loved ones. The mystery of course is how they are returning. The first episode focused on an eight year old boy, Jacob Langston. Jacob, who had drowned 32 years before, woke up in rice paddy field in China, with no understanding of how he got there; and made his way home to the parents who had gradually learned to live with his death. Fascinating premise, well-written, well-acted; it's my kind of Sci-Fi. And even better, it's an easy segue to talking about the Faith.
What this series terms "resurrection," is actually either resuscitation or reincarnation. Resuscitation is when medical personnel revive someone who has died; while reincarnation is the belief that the soul, or consciousness, can be transferred from one body to another. (From ABC's previews, it looks like the consciousness of the dead has been transferred into bodies that are flawless reproductions of their original bodies.)
Of course, this is nothing like what we Christians mean when, every Sunday, we say in the Nicene Creed, "I look forward to the resurrection of the dead." Our Faith is that we will be resurrected in the same manner as Jesus. Jesus was not simply resuscitated; and the body in which He showed Himself to the Apostles was the same one in which He had been crucified. It was the same body, but "glorified," transformed, raised to a higher state of life. It does not belong to this fallen world, but is a first glimpse of the new world, the impassible world, to be inaugurated at Christ's return. That is what we Christians are talking about when we say, "I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come"! (For those who would like to go deepr, here is a good reflection on the nature of the resurrected body by Monsignor Charles Pope.)
