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Title: UNDER THE INFLUENCE Subtitle: How Christianity Transformed Civilization Author: Alvin J. Schmidt ISBN: 0-310-23637-1 Price: $24.99 (Hardcover, 416 pp.)

NEXT TIME YOU VISIT THE HOSPITAL, THANK THE CHRISTIANS Faith’s Influence Extends Further and Deeper Than Most Realize

Alvin J. Schmidt says our world would be a very different, darker place if Jesus had never lived and his followers had not managed to reach “the ends of the earth” with his message. That’s because along with the message came new ideas and institutions that even most non-Christians now consider to be basic requirements for civilized life, including the humane treatment of all people, equality under the law, higher education, hospitals, scientific research, charitable giving, and more.

In UNDER THE INFLUENCE, Schmidt shows how Christianity’s influence actually extends further and deeper than most people realize. Setting Christianity against its historical Greek and Roman backdrop and against pagan cultures worldwide, he reveals the full, radical nature of the Christian faith as a shaping force that has knit the moral fabric and inspired the highest achievements of Western civilization, with untold benefits to the entire world.

Schmidt demonstrates: * The impact of early Christians’ care for throwaway babies, the sick, the poor, and the elderly on the surrounding, inhumane Greco-Roman culture * How Jesus and his followers gave unprecedented dignity, equality, and freedom to women * Christianity’s founding of hospitals and health care in the fourth century, and the genesis of orphanages and charitable organizations * The Christian inception and promotion of universities and higher education * The contributions made by the early Christian pioneers of science, theory, and research * How the concerns for human rights, equality under the law, and economic freedom are deeply rooted in the Christian ethic * Why slavery might well have remained an institution until today were it not for Christianity * The enormous debt of art, music, and literature to Christianity

Dealing frankly with the highs and lows of Christianity as its influence spread throughout the globe, Schmidt corrects common misconceptions and unearths little-known facts about cultural settings, circumstances, events, competing ideologies, and key heroes and antiheroes of the faith.

“What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?, by D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe fired the opening salvo in the struggle to reclaim the massive heritage Christianity bequeathed civilization, but the present volume by Dr. Alvin J. Schmidt wins the battle…Schmidt carefully documents how Christianity has dramatically improved our world across twenty centuries in so many varied facets of our culture.” –Paul L. Maier, author, In The Fullness of Time from the foreword to UNDER THE INFLUENCE

THE AUTHOR Alvin J. Schmidt (Ph.D., University of Nebraska) retired in 1999 as professor of sociology at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois. He has contributed to numerous journals and is the author of several books, including The Menace of Multiculturalism: Trojan Horse in America. He was also a consulting editor for Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions and the Occult.

MEDIA: OPTIONAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS * How was the early Christian church’s view of human life different from that of the surrounding Greco-Roman culture? * Could you name some institutions that were started because of Jesus and his followers? * What are some distinctly Christian ideas that nearly everyone subscribes to, even unconsciously, today? * Aren’t you giving Christianity more credit than it’s due? What about Christianity’s negative influence on Western culture? * How did Christianity elevate the status of women above Greco- Roman standards? * How is modern science the product of Christian theology? * How did Christianity revolutionize health care? * What are some of the highpoints in Christian art, music, and literature? * What holidays, words, and sayings do we have Christians to thank for?

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UNDER THE INFLUENCE is available at your local bookstore, by calling

1-800-727-3480, by visiting http://www.ZondervanChurchSource.com, or by e-mailing . If you live outside the U.S., e-mail for a list of Zondervan’s international distributors.