Criminal History Of Christianity

The Criminal History Of Christianity is the ten-volume main work of the author and church critic Karlheinz Deschner. It describes the misconducts attributed to various Christian churches, denominations, sects, leagues as well as its representants and Christian sovereigns during christian history. The work shall contain the entire history of Christianity from its biblical beginnings until the present age. From its planned ten volumes, nine have been published since 1986.

Partial or complete translations of this comprehensive, 5000 pages exceeding work have been published in Italian, Spanish, Greek, Polish and Russian.

Objective target

In the introduction to the complete works, which is the beginning of the first volume, Deschner explains his intention by starting with what is not to be found in his work: An answer to the question "What is Christianity good for?". According to the sentence Audiatur et altera pars ("one should listen to the other side, too") he wants to counterbalance the gigantic ascendence of the existing glorification of Christianity. Also, he does not want to write about the alleged or - exceptionally - really positive effects of Christianity. Instead, he wants to demonstrate that the advocates of a primary moral instance not only partially, but permanently failed their own ideals. Deschner anticipates here already the main criticism at his work, namely the one-sidedness of selection of facts, and responds with a clear contour. The aim was not a history of churches, but an illustration of all (including non-churchy) phenomena of Christianity. These would be measured up to not only generic terms like crime or humanity, but also to the central ethical ideas of the synoptics as well as to the Christian self-conception as religion of the glad tidings, love, peace, […] and also the ignored demands of the later church, like prohibition of military service (first for all Christians, then for the clergy, only), ban on simony, interest-taking, usury and many more.

With this deliberately provocative attack on the conservative and apologetic church-historiography Deschner triggered a big furore and partially defence, even though the facts collected and well-documented by him are mostly undisputed. Solely their selection, interpretation and polemic culmination are often criticised.

Vol. 1: Die Frühzeit (The Dawn)

• Karlheinz Deschner: Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums. Band 1. Die Frühzeit. Von den Ursprüngen im Alten Testament bis zum Tod des heiligen Augustinus (430). Rowohlt, Reinbek, 1986, ISBN 3498012630
  • Criminal History Of Christianity. Volume 1. The Dawn. From the beginnings in the Old Testament till the death of the holy Augustinus (430).

Vol. 2: Die Spätantike (The Late Antiquity)

• Karlheinz Deschner: Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums. Band 2. Die Spätantike. Von den katholischen „Kindkaisern“ bis zur Ausrottung der arianischen Wandalen und Ostgoten unter Justinian I. (527-565). Rowohlt, Reinbek, 1989, ISBN 3498012770
  • Criminal History Of Christianity. Volume 2. The Late Antiquity. From the catholic "child-emperors" till the eradication of Arian Vandals and Ostrogoths under Justinian I. (527-565).

Vol. 3: Die Alte Kirche (The Old Church)

• Karlheinz Deschner: Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums. Band 3. Die Alte Kirche. Fälschung, Verdummung, Ausbeutung, Vernichtung. Rowohlt, Reinbek, 1990, ISBN 3498012851
  • Criminal History Of Christianity. Volume 3. The Old Church. Counterfeighting, stultification, depletion, destruction.

Vol. 4: Frühmittelalter (Early Middle Ages)

• Karlheinz Deschner: Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums. Band 4. Frühmittelalter. Von König Chlodwig I. (um 500) bis zum Tode Karls „des Großen“ (814). Rowohlt, Reinbek, 1994, ISBN 3498013009
  • Criminal History Of Christianity. Volume 4. Early Middle Ages. From king Chlodwig I (around 500) till the death of Charles „the Great“ (814).

Vol. 5: 9. und 10. Jahrhundert (9th And 10th Century)

• Karlheinz Deschner: Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums. Band 5. 9. und 10. Jahrhundert. Von Ludwig dem Frommen (814) bis zum Tode Ottos III. (1002). Rowohlt, Reinbek, 1997. ISBN 3498013041
  • Criminal History Of Christianity. Volume 5. 9th And 10th Century. From Ludwig the Pious (814) till the death of Otto III (1002).

Vol. 6: Das 11. und 12. Jahrhundert (The 11th And 12th Century)

• Karlheinz Deschner: Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums. Band 6. Das 11. und 12. Jahrhundert. Von Kaiser Heinrich II., dem „Heiligen“ (1102), bis zum Ende des Dritten Kreuzzugs (1192). Rowohlt, Reinbek, 1999, ISBN 3498013092
  • Criminal History Of Christianity. Volume 6. The 11th And 12th Century. From Kaiser Heinrich II, the „Holy“ (1102), till the end of the third crusade (1192).

Vol. 7: Das 13. und 14. Jahrhundert (The 13th And 14th Century)

• Karlheinz Deschner: Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums. Band 7. Das 13. und 14. Jahrhundert. Rowohlt, Reinbek, 2002, ISBN 3498013203
  • Criminal History Of Christianity. Volume 7. The 13th and 14th Century.

Vol. 8: Das 15. und 16. Jahrhundert (The 15th And 16th Century)

• Karlheinz Deschner: Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums. Band 8. Das 15. und 16. Jahrhundert. Vom Exil der Päpste in Avignon bis zum Augsburger Religionsfrieden. Rowohlt, Reinbek, 2004, ISBN 3498013238
  • Criminal History Of Christianity. Volume 8. The 15th And 16th Century. From the exile of the popes in Avignon till the Peace Of Augsburg.

Vol. 9: Mitte des 16. bis Anfang des 18. Jahrhunderts (Middle Of 16th Century Till Beginning Of 18th Century)

• Karlheinz Deschner: Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums. Band 9: Mitte des 16. bis Anfang des 18. Jahrhunderts. Vom Völkermord in der Neuen Welt bis zum Beginn der Aufklärung. Rowohlt, Reinbek, 2008, ISBN 9783498013271
  • Criminal History Of Christianity. Volume 9. Middle Of 16th Century Till Beginning Of 18th Century. From genocide in the New World till the beginning of the Enlightenment.

Vol. 10: 18. Jahrhundert und Ausblick auf die Folgezeit (18th Century And Outlook Onto The Aftermath)

• Karlheinz Deschner: 18. Jahrhundert und Ausblick auf die Folgezeit. Könige von Gottes Gnaden und Niedergang des Papsttums Rowohlt, Reinbek, 2013. ISBN 978-3498013318

Reception

The reactions to Deschner's book series were mixed. Not only the press, but also science looked into his work. Some church historians dedicated a three-day-symposium in the beginning of October 1992 to the first three volumes of Deschner's Criminal history. Besides Deschner himself, Hans Reinhard Seeliger invited 22 other specialists for Christian history, patrology, old history, archaeology, jurisprudence and other fields into the catholic academy in Schwerte. The symposium's papers were published in 1993 as anthology with the same title the symposium had: Criminalisation Of Christianity? Karlheinz Deschner's Christian history on the test-bed. Deschner refused the invitation arguing that he already answered all basic questions sufficiently in the preface of his first volume. He decided to exemplarily confront the paper Emperor Konstantin, one of the Greats in history? in a reply which was put in front of the fifth volume. The other papers were skipped. Hermann Gieselbusch, lector with the Rowohlt publishing house, noted at the same place, that only few symposium participants "abstained at least from personal revilement", mentioning four speakers by name - Ulrich Faust, Theofried Baumeister, Erich Feldmann und Gert Haendler - and thanking them for their fairness in Deschner's name.

Web links

• www.deschner.info – Author's homepage with an overview over the work