A history of Christianity

I always approach TV programmes about Christianity with a certain degree of caution but Diarmaid MacCulloch's A history of Christianity on BBC Four has done a pretty good job of dispelling my fears in its first two episodes.

The presentation style is classic BBC Four / Open University: a passionate expert gives a lecture whilst wandering around exotic locations. There are plenty of fresh discoveries and new perspectives on things I was already aware of, but what has also really impressed me is the respect with which MacCulloch handles his subject - it's so rare to see Christianity treated like this.

If you're in the UK and reading this at time of publication you can watch previous episodes on the BBC's iPlayer, starting here.