This insightful exploration delves into the dynamic evolution of Christianity throughout the twentieth century, highlighting its global expansion and the diverse cultural contexts that shaped its development. The narrative examines the interplay between traditional beliefs and modern societal changes, illustrating how Christianity adapted to various political, social, and technological transformations. By focusing on key events and movements, the book provides a comprehensive overview of how Christianity maintained its relevance and influence across different regions, while also addressing the challenges and opportunities faced by the faith in a rapidly changing world.

This book explores the complex relationship between the process of secularization and the vitality of religion in the contemporary world. Drawing on a wealth of empirical data from the World Values Survey, which spans nearly 100 countries and covers the beliefs and values of the majority of the world's population, the authors argue that societal modernization leads to a decline in traditional religious values but does not necessarily result in the disappearance of religion. Instead, the nature of religiosity changes, adapting to new social contexts. The analysis delves into how economic development, social progress, and political change influence the secularization process, and conversely, how the persistence of strong religious beliefs can shape societal development. This nuanced examination challenges simplistic narratives about faith and secularism, suggesting that the relationship between the sacred and the secular is both complex and evolving.

A sweeping, polemical history arguing that the Catholic faith was the central formative force of European civilization, shaping its laws, institutions, art and moral order from the collapse of Rome through the Middle Ages and up to the modern era; it credits the Church with establishing social cohesion, monarchy, and a moral framework, and contends that the Reformation, Enlightenment and rising secular nationalism fragmented that unity and produced cultural and political decay. The work combines historical narrative, cultural analysis and moral argument to claim that Europe’s distinctive identity and achievements cannot be understood apart from its Christian foundation, and warns that abandoning that spiritual basis leads to social disintegration and conflict.