Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of History and Religious Studies

I am a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion. I also co-direct ISR’s Initiative on Historical Studies of Religion.
As of January 1, 2012, I will be moving my appointment full time to Baylor University, where I will hold the rank of Distinguished Professor of History.
BOOKS
My most recent book is Laying Down the Sword: Why We Can't Ignore the Bible's Violent Verses (HarperOne, 2011)
My previous book (2010) was Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, And Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe For The Next 1,500 Years. The book described the turbulent fifth century debates over Christ’s divine and human natures, and the religious struggles that focused on the Councils of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451). The book was also published by HarperOne.
My 2002 book The Next Christendom just appeared in a third edition, revised and expanded (Oxford University Press, 2011)
In all, my books have been translated into thirteen languages: Chinese, Dutch, Estonian, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian and Spanish.
The Dutch version of my Lost History of Christianity appeared in 2011 as Het Vergeten Christendom