Dear Tom Holland

In your book “In The Shadow Of The Sword: The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World” you write that after the fall of the Roman Empire (both the Eastern and the Western part) a new superpower emerged – the empire of the Arabs. And with them came also a new world religion – Islam. But there is something you forget to mention. There were actually two new religiopolitical superpowers that emerged after the fall of the Roman Empire. Islam and the Catholic Church. The latter became a totally dominant institution and basically all aspects of culture, religion, art, politics, and economics in Europe. Its influence grew steadily over time. The same was the case with Islam. Its influence grew steadily over time. Islam took over and controlled what was left after the fall of the Eastern part of the Roman Empire, and the Catholic Church took over the Western part of the Roman Empire.

Now there is a big problem. In a secular mind, all religions which refer to the Bible as their book and have incorporated some kind of reference to Jesus are labeled “Christianity”. But the Bible doesn’t categorize like that. In the Bible, there is only one group who can hold the name “Christian”, and that is they who “keep the commandments of God”. The term “Christian” is therefore only applicable to this group. And it is rather tiny!