In this broad, comprehensive introduction to the religion of Christianity,
Dr. Ekstrand takes the student on an exciting journey of divine truth. Written in a clear, conversational manner, he explores the related facts of science, the wisdom of the great philosophers of history, the truths of Scripture, the teachings of Jesus Christ, the message of the apostles, and the testimony of 2000 years of Church history. In short, it is the essence of orthodox Christianity as represented by both Catholic and Protestant traditions. Incidentally, much of what is written also corresponds with the teachings of orthodox Judaism. The depth and breadth of the material provided gives the student information that is useful not only for personal reflection and introspection, but also for group discussion and interaction. This textbook gives contemporary understanding to the dynamics of the world’s largest religion by examining it from four perspectives – science, philosophy, theology, and history. Its key features include:

A working definition of religion and a description of the four types of religion
An examination of the scientific evidence that confirms the existence of God
An evaluation of the philosophical arguments that affirm God’s existence
A review of the most significant theological teachings of orthodox Christianity
A survey of the history and growth of the Christian community worldwide

By dealing frankly and honestly with the highs and lows of the Christian faith as it spread across the globe, the student will come to a greater understanding of and appreciation for Jesus Christ, and those who have followed Him over the centuries. Those who take the journey through this book will discover it to be a fascinating inspirational experience.

As a professor of religious studies, Dr. Ekstrand felt the need to write such a book because of the lack of a good, orthodox, medium-sized, comprehensive textbook written on the subject. Sadly, most of the textbooks written on Christianity are very narrow in scope, oftentimes divisive in nature, and more often than not they actually undermine the integrity of the Christian message. In his search to find a 250-300 page textbook that would provide students with a good general overview of orthodox Christianity, he visited several college libraries and public libraries, as well as a number of Christian bookstores – surprisingly, he could not find one. There are obviously a number of books that deal with various aspects of Christian doctrine, but none give a good comprehensive introduction to the religion as a whole. Ekstrand’s new textbook contains 285 pages of textual material.

Because misinformation regarding the Christian faith is such a critical issue today, Dr. Ekstrand set out to write a textbook that would give an objective "third person" presentation of biblical truth that was neither preachy, evangelistic, defensive, abrasive, or confrontational. The challenge, as he saw it, was to present material in a compelling, honest, interesting, straightforward, and objective manner, where the material simply stood on its own. In addition, he sought to provide a textual resource that would shed light on the essentials of orthodox Christianity, so that it might be seen as a reasonable, credible, meritorious, verifiable body of knowledge worthy of examination and consideration. Though this book does not try to answer all of the objections people might have about Christianity, it does seek to contextually bring resolution to many of the common objections that have been posited against it by the secular community.

In order to make this a medium-sized book on orthodox Christianity, it does not examine non-orthodox views, divergent theological positions, or minor denominational issues. As such it refrains from erecting barriers between and within the three major branches of Christian orthodoxy – Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Eastern Orthodoxy. Over the years, Dr. Ekstrand came to the conclusion that it is possible to present Christianity from an orthodox perspective without creating division within the Christian community.

This book should prove to be significant to several parties - to secular students who are interested in studying the essence of Christianity; to secular academia as a serious piece of archival research; to Christian churches whose members will be able to study their religion from an objective perspective in both secular and Christian colleges and universities; to researchers who may wish to refer to this book as a source of references to relevant material; to the discipline of missiology as an example of contextualized teaching for a defined audience; and to the Christian community as a whole as a concrete compilation of insights and materials useful in helping individuals both understand and defend their own faith. Therefore this book is highly diverse in that it meets the needs of a wide variety of people. For further information on the content of this book, there are a number of excerpts taken from each chapter of the book that have been placed under the excerpt link.