"It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us," the apostles declared at the conclusion of their council described in Acts 15. This apostolic council was only the first of many councils as Christians sought to discern the will of God in the midst of historic challenges. The faithful continued to struggle to express that apostolic faith in new words, new languages, new places, and new times. Many issues-the interaction of science and faith, divinity and humanity, the relationship between Church and State, how differing religious communities can learn to live together in common geographic areas and political systems-will still seem familiar and pertinent.

This is the story of that struggle from the days of the New Testament up to the fall of the city of Constantinople (AD 1453). It is the story of the Christian community in the eastern Mediterranean which eventually became known as the Byzantine Empire. Each chapter examines the personalities and theology that were inextricably entwined at the heart of the conflicts, debates, and events that shaped the medieval world and the modern cultures of Greece, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.