Written firmly from a historical rather than religious perspective, A New History of Christianity is a readable yet scholarly one-volume study of Christianity from its origins to the present day. The coverage is inter-denominational, although largely focused on the Roman Catholic Church, the Church in England and, to a lesser extent, the Orthodox Church, and embraces the Christian Church worldwide, including Africa, Asia and America. While some members of Christian churches might find some of the assumptions controversial, the author's intention has been to minimise, if not escape, bias, in order to provide an accurate account of how Christianity has evolved from a fringe society, spurned by the world around it, to become the single most important influence on western civilization.