The Bible or the Church sees Sir Robert Anderson contrast Christianity as a religion, with Christendom as an establishment comprised of churches.
Seeking to distinguish Christian beliefs from the churches built in the name of Christ, the author examines whether nature itself is an innately religious place, and whether man himself is a religious being. Is the church is necessary to encourage men from falling into a life of vice and sin, or might men may be drawn to a religious and goodly life naturally?
Anderson expands his investigation farther as the book proceeds, eventually looking at the Early Christians, who for centuries had no formal church and practiced their faith in a clandestine manner. Later, he notes the corruption of many high-ranking personages in the churches, noting that the embezzlement of funds by priests was a longstanding problem. Furthermore events such as The Massacre of St. Bartholomew in the 16th century demonstrate the consequences of enmity between the Catholic church and the nascent Protestant Calvinism.
The misdeeds and horrors perpetrated by the organized church are summarized, with Anderson concluding that the church and its actions are distinct from the words of the Bible. The various interpretations and theologies surrounding scripture are, in the view of the author, best consulted after a student has first read and studied the scripture directly.
Anderson observes that some established Protestant churches have also begun to exhibit the problems of earlier, Holy Catholic churches. He concludes that the dysfunctions of church stem from human nature; as the church became, for a time, the most powerful organization in the world, corruption undermined its claim to the pure and virtuous Biblical lore.
