“This is the book that progressives and liberals having been waiting for,” progressivechristianity.org proclaimed a decade ago, “a deeply researched history of Christianity that sheds new light on the underreported personalities and movements of the faith.” It points up “grassroots movements in Christianity that preserved Jesus’s message of social justice for 2,000 years, and their impact on the church today.” 

Philip Jenkins—he’s the author of The Lost History of Christianity—acclaimed this book by church historian and popular speaker Diana Butler Bass: “It would be difficulty to imagine anyone reading A People’s History without finding some new insight or inspiration, some new and unexpected testimony to the astonishing breadth of Christianity through the ages.” Writing for spiritualityandpractice.com, Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat explain, “In place of the dogmatic, oppressive, and violent militant Christianity we often read about, she writes about a generative faith which ’transforms the world through humble service. It is not about victory; it is about following Christ in order to seed human community with grace.’”

A review in the Jesuit magazine, America, explains how “The author’s prose is uplifting and positive. Her style is conversational, allowing one to feel she is speaking directly to the reader.”

A People’s History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story
by Diana Butler Bass
HarperCollins, 2009