John Dickson
Published: May 11, 2021
Genres: Nonfiction, History, Religion, Theology
Pages: 352
Before I review this book, I would love to give credit to the cover designer for the excellent representation of Bullies and Saints. I’ve always loved the unique designs of book covers and this one caught my attention the most. For anyone who is also fascinated by the wonders of book designs, I would highly suggest to check it out. Now, onto the review.
History, particularly medieval history, has interested me. Religion has a significant role in medieval times, a role that modern times has simplified into corruption and war. While I do acknowledge the cruelty of religion during those times, I wanted to see past that and open my eyes to the church’s achievements. That leads me into buying this book, which is, what I believed, to be a balanced view of Christian history. However, it didn’t seem to be the case for Bullies and Saints.
To start off, I found it to be unprofessional that the author, John Dickson, writes in first person. At times, he is writing to the reader, as if talking, whereas other times he is formal in his words. I don’t believe personal speech in a historical book is an appropriate decision, but perhaps I am not the targeted audience. Even so, the constant change from the informal to formal style leads the reader to become disturbed from their analysing thoughts, which becomes more prominent as the book progresses.
I found myself taking the author’s words with a grain of salt once he revealed himself to be a Christian. While Dickson’s religious beliefs should not intertwine with the content of the book, the unfortunate truth is that the author’s bias can be written into the book. Bullies and Saints is no different as the book leans towards a positive bias. I have a distaste for authors who attempt to alter the reader’s judgement by using formats that will sway their emotions. Dickson arranged the chapters to focus on the positives, excluding the later chapters, allowing the reader to develop an internal bias themselves.
During the chapters where darker topics are discussed, the author would use personal words more frequently to comfort the reader, or perhaps out of fear that his readers will see Christians as evil. Like I discussed before, an author’s religious belief can influence a book, and if said book is religious then the author will see himself in Christianity since it is his identity. It is human nature to comfort someone whilst discussing a darker topic, but unprofessional for a historical book. For a book that claims to be “An Honest Look At The Good and Evil of Christian History”, this book is written more like an apologist book than historical.
Despite all of this, the historical context in itself was engaging and interesting to read. I admit that I learnt about events that changed my view of Christianity and discovered how the bible’s morals influenced society to this point. John Dickson was detailed in his writing and demonstrated his well-educated knowledge. Bullies and Saints is a good gateway to further study into religious history, providing the basic history to leave the readers into wanting more. With endless pages of references, it is clear that Dickson was passionate about his research and aimed to create an accurate timeline of the church’s history, neatly wrapped in a 286 paged book.
"Every age necessarily reinterprets-and rewrites— the past in accord with its own interests, ideals, and illusions, notes historian-theologian David Bentley Hart.' We tend to overstate and skew the failings of yesteryear, Hart argues, in order to present our time and place as the high point of humanity and the culmination of history-and "the good" in it.