Christianity: Essence, History, and Future (Das Christentum) was published by R. Piper & Co. Verlag in 1994 (English translation by John Bowden published by Continuum in 1995), and at over 800 pages it is Küng’s most comprehensive treatment of his own religious tradition — a work that synthesizes decades of scholarship into a single magisterial narrative.
Küng identifies six paradigm shifts in Christian history: the early Jewish-Christian paradigm, the Hellenistic-ecumenical paradigm (the age of the great councils), the medieval-Roman paradigm (the papal monarchy), the Reformation paradigm, the Enlightenment-modern paradigm, and the emerging contemporary-ecumenical paradigm. Each represents a fundamental reorganization of Christianity’s self-understanding, its institutions, its theology, and its relationship to the surrounding culture.
The book’s argument is that Christianity is now in the midst of its sixth paradigm shift — from the modern (Enlightenment-shaped) understanding to something new that has not yet fully emerged. This new paradigm, Küng argues, must be ecumenical (open to other Christians and other religions), critical (willing to examine its own history honestly), and prophetic (engaged with the social and political challenges of the contemporary world).
Collecting Christianity: Essence, History, and Future
First English edition (Continuum, New York, 1995): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First English edition in dust jacket: $15–$30
- First German edition (Piper, 1994): $20–$40