Twelve Churches: An Unlikely History of the Buildings That Made Christianity

這是一部宏大的基督教歷史著作，作者費格斯．巴特勒-加利(Fergus Butler-Gallie)在這本書中走訪了各大洲的十二座禮拜場所，講述箇中狂暴的故事，並審視了它們歷經痛苦磨難、難以言喻的遺產。這本書堪稱「凱倫．阿姆斯壯(Karen Armstrong)遇見了彼科．艾爾(Pico Iyer)」。

基督教是美國最大的宗教，擁有超過兩億信徒，而它的教堂常散發出一種魅力與美感，即使是最堅定的無神論者也會為之著迷。巴特勒-加利感興趣的是，每一座禮拜場所都講述了一個故事——關於地點、時代，最重要的，關於人的故事。在這些聖殿中，濃縮了從生到死、權力、性、暴力、正義與美等錯綜複雜的生活面向。在《十二座教堂》(Twelve Churches)中，巴特勒-加利帶領我們進行一場引人入勝的時空之旅，透過各大洲人們親身經歷的故事，揭示基督教的歷史。

旅程始於 2000 多年前基督誕生地伯利恆的聖誕教堂(Church of the Nativity)，這是一座令人困惑的迷宮式建築。巴特勒-加利接著帶我們來到希臘阿索斯山(Mount Athos)上一處偏遠的岩石露頭，那裡的修道士將獨身誓言推向極致，甚至不允許任何雌性動物進入。英國坎特伯里大教堂(Canterbury Cathedral)的石頭曾被各種聲名顯赫或聲名狼藉的鮮血浸染。在日本海邊，一座洞穴狀的教堂，標誌著退潮時，基督教殉道者被綁在十字架上遺棄在該地。美國阿拉巴馬州伯明罕的第16街浸信會教堂(16th Street Church)至今仍是三K黨最臭名昭著的爆炸案現場之一，而麻薩諸塞州塞勒姆的會議室則見證了對純粹的追求如何導致大規模屠殺。在非洲奈及利亞，我們參觀了一座飛機機庫般大小的教堂，五萬個座位在每個週日都坐滿了教徒。

巴特勒-加利將歷史、地理、旅行見聞、人物傳記、心靈反思與詼諧幽默巧妙地融為一體，向我們展示了儘管基督教信仰複雜且充滿爭議，但仍然值得追隨。透過正視過去，我們最終能找到通往療癒與希望的道路。

Karen Armstrong meets Pico Iyer in this sweeping history of Christianity that visits a dozen places of worship on every inhabited continent to tell their often wild stories and examine their sometimes difficult legacies.

Christianity is the largest religion in the US with upwards of 200 million people, and its churches often possess an allure and beauty that fascinate even the most committed atheist. What fascinates Fergus Butler-Gallie is that each place of worship tells a story—of place, time, and most of all, people. It is in these sanctuaries that the complexities of life from birth and death to power, sex, violence, justice, and beauty are encapsulated, and here, in Twelve Churches, Butler-Gallie takes us on a fascinating journey through time to unravel the story of Christianity as told by the people who have lived it on every inhabited continent.

Beginning with the birth of Christ over 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem at the location marked by the Church of the Nativity—a confusing warren of a building—Butler-Gallie leads us to a remote stone outcrop in Mount Athos, Greece, where the monastic vow of celibacy is taken to an optimistic extreme by excluding all female animals. We learn that at Canterbury Cathedral, the stones have been soaked in blood that is both famous and infamous. On the coast of Japan, a cave like church marks the spot where Christian martyrs were tied to crosses at low tide—and left there. The 16th Street Church in Birmingham, Alabama, remains the site of one of the Ku Klux Klan’s most infamous bombings, and the meeting house in Salem, Massachusetts, remains a monument to the ways that a quest for purity can lead to mass murder. And in Nigeria we visit a church the size of an airplane hangar, where every Sunday it fills almost every one of its 50,000 seats.

An engaging blend of history, geography, travel, biography, spiritual reflection, and a wry sense of humor, Butler-Gallie shows us that despite its complexities and controversy, such a faith is still worth following, and that by acknowledging the past we can ultimately discover the path toward healing and hope.