Jonathan Sumption

Did Christianity make the western mind — or was it the other way round?

For centuries, Christianity’s moral code prevented the disintegration of society. But now that its practical utility is no longer obvious, the West is discarding it

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  • Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind

    Tom Holland

    Little, Brown, pp. 594, £25

Nobody can accuse Tom Holland of shying away from big subjects. Dominion is nothing less than a history of Christianity with an underlying theme. The subtitle says it all. It is dedicated to the idea that Christianity has formed the western mind, not just in its moral and intellectual conventions but in their opposites, such as atheism or the natural sciences.

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