The Christian Church was the last great creative achievement of classical Greek culture

The evolution of Christianity into a logical system which could weather the shocks of millennia, was a Greek thing. The Christian Church was the last great creative achievement of classical Greek culture. 

P.L. Fermor, Mani (1958), 214

What the Indians were thinking when they first had Christian doctrines to them has long been a matter of great interest

What the Indians were thinking when they first had Christian doctrines to them has long been a matter of great interest. Generally, Europeans have made their own assumptions without much evidence. At first friars enthusiastically reported that the indigenous were deeply moved and that they, the friars, had been able to baptize many thousands right away. Later, they walked back their assertions that all the Indians had been devout converts from the moment they were sprinkled with holy water, but the friars also remained generally confident in their overall success. They convinced the whole world that they had successfully converted Mexico to Catholicism in relatively short order. Only in the 1990s did it become commonplace for scholars to argue that this premise was indeed false - that in fact the indigenous had not simply rejected generations of belief and accepted Christian teachings without question.

C. Townsend, Fifth Sun (2019), 135

She's very noticeably a Christian don't you think? I'm amazed how mean she makes me feel

"Life would be grand if it weren't for the people," said Vera moodily. "That sounds like a quotation, but I think I just made it up. The problem is that Kimberley is a Christian. Well, that's fine. We could use a Christian or two. For that matter, I am not un-Christian. But she's very noticeably a Christian don't you think? I'm amazed how mean she makes me feel."

A. Munro, 'Labor day dinner', The moons of Jupiter (1984), 144

I like this because it's so deliciously double-edged from a woman about her prospective daughter in law. Is it Kimberley's behaviour that shames the narrator. Or is Kimberley irritatingly religious? I think it's also pretty much on point for dating, capturing that still ambiguous point about the moral position of religion a generation ago.

Around the middle of the seventh century, the future seemed easy to read. Christianity was on the march across Asia.

Around the middle of the seventh century, the future seemed easy to read. Christianity was on the march across Asia, making inroads at the expense of Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Buddhism. Religions have always played off against each other in this region and learnt that they had to compete for attention. The most competitive and successful, however, turned out to be a religion born in the little town of Bethlehem. Given the progress that had been made over the centuries that followed the crucifixion of Jesus at the hands of Pontius Pilate, it should only have been a matter of time before the tentacles of Christianity reached the Pacific, linking the great ocean with the Atlantic in the west.

P. Frankopan,, The Silk Roads (2015), 62

A sign of how Christians improved standards in Persia and elsewhere in the east

This was to be welcomed, noted another writer [Eusebius], as a sign of how Christians improved standards in Persia and elsewhere in the east; 'Persians who have become his disciples no longer marry their mothers,' while those on the steppes no longer 'feed on human flesh, because of Christ's word which has come to them'. Such developments ought to be warmly welcomed, he wrote.

P. Frankopan, The Silk Roads (2015), 39

It is absurd to be merely gentlemanly about it, like the Church of England, or drab and respectable, like the Nonconformists

I stayed there a few minutes [listening to the Salvation Army band], and came to the conclusion that if I could persuade myself to believe in the Christian account of this life - and the essence of it, the self-sacrifice of a god for men, seems to good to be true, and the rest of it, the theological jugglery lit by hell-fire, not worth having - I should either join the Catholic church or fall in with the Salvation Army. Both have the right religious attitude; that is, they are not afraid of being thought noisy and vulgar; to take the thing out into the street. After all, if you really believe that the gates of heaven are swinging open above you and the pit of Hell yawning below, it is absurd to be merely gentlemanly about it, like the Church of England, or drab and respectable, like the Nonconformists.

J.B. Priestley, English Journey (1934), 172

It had a reputation for few gods and great violence. But good schools

Despite attending a nominally Christian school, I had not yet been inside a church - and I wasn't about to dare the deed now. I knew very little about the religion. It had a reputation for few gods and great violence. But good schools.

Y. Martel, Life of Pi (2002), 51