Domain

Christianity was the most transformative event in Western history and the most enduring and influential legacy the ancient world left us. Dominion tells the story of how Christianity transformed our way of being and thinking .

How did a cult inspired by the execution of a criminal in a long-vanished empire manage to have such a global impact? Tom Holland seeks to answer this question in Dominion , analyzing the most widespread currents of Christian influence in the Western world. Even those who have abandoned the faith of their fathers and consider religion mere superstition remain its heirs in some way, since the ethics and morals we have are not universal values, but the fruit of a very specific civilization.

The belief that the Son of the one God of the Jews was tortured to death on a cross was so enduring and widespread that today, almost no one in the West realizes how scandalous its origins were. By tracing an analysis that ranges from the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC to the current migration crisis in Europe, from Nebuchadnezzar to the Beatles, from Saint Michael to the #MeToo movement, Tom Holland shows how Christianity's impact can be found even in what is often seen as its opposite: in science, secularism, and even atheism. Dominion explores what made Christianity so revolutionary and innovative, how it saturated the mindset of Latin Christendom, and why, in a West that often doubts religious claims, so many of its assumptions remain—for better or worse—thoroughly Christian.

“A captivating exploration of Christianity's subversive origins and lasting impact, full of vivid depictions, gruesome deaths, and moral debates... Holland has all the gifts of a successful novelist: a flair for narrative, a keen sense of drama, and a keen ear for the rhythm of sentences.” - Terry Eagleton, The Guardian