At a time when barbarous acts of terrorism are being committed globally and society ponders whether the perpetrators are legitimate religious adherents, Marcus Paul makes an unflinching and counter-cultural examination of some of the worst periods in the Church's history.

Were the crusades entirely inexcusable religious wars? Was the Inquisition the bloody and sadistic "Black Legend" of popular imagination? How can we understand the goodness of God after two brutalising world wars?

In a refreshingly frank treatment of the Church's past failings, this book fills a gap in our understanding of what it is to be Christian in the twenty-first century.