Christianity: The First Two Thousand Years

The story begins not with Jesus, but 50 days after his crucifixion, when a rushing wind and tongues of fire descended upon his followers "and all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages." When Saul of Tarsus turns into Paul and travels to preach to the Gentiles, the religion spreads.

Covers the years between 312 A.D., when the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, and 461 A.D. when Rome "fell" to the barbarian Goths. They were heady days that saw the birth of the monastic movement, the codification of the faith, and creation of the New Testament canon as we recognize it today.

The Eastern Roman Empire, based in Constantinople, survives in splendor for a 1000 years after Rome's fall. But the sands of Arabia give birth to a new faith, Islam, that soon conquers half of Christendom. Though Europe is mired in the Dark Ages, Irish monks copy ancient texts, preserving them for the future.

On January 1, 800 A.D., Pope Gregory crowned Frankish King Charlemagne, declaring him the new Holy Roman Emperor. A new Christian Europe emerges from the Dark Ages. In the east, there's a renewed effort to convert the world. Though by 1000 A.D., all Europe seems united in Christianity, new wars with Islam loom ahead.

By the year 1000, Christianity emerges as virtually the only faith in Western Europe, having survived a millennium of constant threat. But Western Europe is wracked by savage warfare, and to the south lies the greatest challenge of all--the Muslims. Narrated by Dorian Harewood.

Overcoming threats, Western Christianity emerges as the driving force of civilization, leading Europe to unprecedented power and prestige. Narrated by Dorian Harewood.

Martin Luther, a lowly friar in a small German town, ignites a revolution that tears Christendom apart and reinvents it from within. The Protestants herald the end of the medieval world and the beginning of the modern age. Narrated by Dorian Harewood.

Christianity sees the rise of science, industry, and the modern nation-state, and for the first time church and state are separated.