Most people think Christianity is about 2,000 years old and that it began with the birth of Jesus. Diarmaid MacCulloch begs to differ. In his new book Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, MacCulloch talks about the origins of the Church and how they set the stage for the appearance of Christ.

Yesterday, NPR ran an interview with MacCulloch that I found fascinating. It’s a wide-ranging discussion covering why some countries embrace Christianity and some don’t, why the Virgin Mary is more important to Catholics than to Protestants, and more.

I encourage you to click the link and give a listen. Hearing MacCulloch speak, I immediately thought of Robert Langdon in Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code. See if you get the same impression.