Catherwood, Christopher

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Catherwood, Christopher

PERSONAL:

Son of Frederick Catherwood (former vice president of the European parliament); married Paulette Moore. Education: Balliol College, University of Oxford, B.A., M.A.; Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge, M.Litt.; University of East Anglia, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Cambridge, England. Office—INSTEP Cambridge, Warkworth House, Warkworth Ter., Cambridge CB1 1EE, England.

CAREER:

Institute of Economic and Political Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, tutor; School of Continuing Studies, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA, instructor, writer in residence; INSTEP, Cambridge, England, instructor. Consultant to the Strategic Futures Team of Prime Minister Tony Blair, 2002; visiting scholar at various institutions.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Rockefeller fellow, 2001; Royal Geographical Society fellow; Royal Asiatic Society fellow; Royal Historical Society fellow.

WRITINGS:

Joy Unspeakable: Power & Renewal in the Holy Spirit, H. Shaw (Wheaton, IL), 1985.

Prove All Things: The Sovereign Work of the Holy Spirit, Kingsway Publications (Eastbourne, England), 1985.

The Sovereign Spirit: Discerning His Gifts, H. Shaw (Wheaton, IL), 1985.

Five Evangelical Leaders, H. Shaw (Wheaton, IL), 1985.

(Editor) David Martin Lloyd-Jones, I Am Not Ashamed: Advice to Timothy, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1986.

Saved in Eternity: The Assurance of Our Salvation, Crossway Books (Westchester, IL), 1988.

Safe in the World: The Assurance of Our Salvation, Crossway Books (Westchester, IL), 1988.

Growing in the Spirit: The Assurance of Our Salvation, Crossway Books (Westchester, IL), 1989.

Sanctified through the Truth: The Assurance of Our Salvation, Crossway Books (Westchester, IL), 1989.

(Editor) David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Heart of the Gospel, Crossway Books (Westchester, IL), 1991.

The Kingdom of God, Crossway Books (Westchester, IL), 1992.

Enjoying the Presence of God, Vine Books (Ann Arbor, MI), 1992.

(Compiler) The Best of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Kingsway Publications (Eastbourne, England), 1992.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones: A Family Portrait, Kingsway Publications (Eastbourne, England), 1995.

Why the Nations Rage, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1997, revised and updated version published as Why the Nations Rage: Killing in the Name of God, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 1997.

Crash Course on Church History, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1998, revised edition published as Church History: A Crash Course for the Curious, Crossway Books (Wheaton, IL), 2007.

From Wales to Westminster: The Story of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Christian Focus (Fearn, England), 1999.

Whose Side Is God On? Nationalism and Christianity, Church Publishing (New York, NY), 2003.

Christians, Muslims, and Islamic Rage: What Is Going on and Why It Happened, Zondervan (Grand Rapids, MI), 2003.

The Balkans in World War Two: Britain's Balkan Dilemma, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 2003.

Churchill's Folly: How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2004, published as Winston's Folly: Imperialism and the Creation of Modern Iraq, Constable (London, England), 2004.

Seeking the Face of God: Nine Reflections on the Psalms, Crossway Books (Wheaton, IL), 2005.

(With Leslie Alan Horvitz) Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide, Facts on File (New York, NY), 2006.

A Brief History of the Middle East, Carroll & Graf (New York, NY), 2006.

A God Divided: Understanding the Differences between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, Victor (Colorado Springs, CO), 2007.

Provided editorial assistance for Britain & the World 1815-1986: A Dictionary of International Relations, by David Weigall, Batsford (London, England), 1987.

SIDELIGHTS:

Historian and writer Christopher Catherwood is the author of books that include histories such as Churchill's Folly: How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq, published in England as Winston's Folly: Imperialism and the Creation of Modern Iraq, a study of Churchill's part in the creation of modern Iraq while he served as colonial secretary in the 1920s. As a consultant to British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002, Catherwood studied foreign relations during the period when Blair was the primary supporter of President George W. Bush's Iraq policy. Looking back to British involvement in the Middle East, he notes that Churchill was responsible for carving up the Ottoman Empire after World War I, with the intention of balancing French power and creating smaller competitive nations that would be too busy disagreeing with each other to be troublesome to Britain.

Churchill had urged the Arabs to fight the Turks, promising Syria to the Hashimites as a reward, but when Syria came under the rule of the French, the transfer was of Iraq instead. This fragmenting resulted in an Iraq with three major ethnic and religious groups—Shia and Sunni Muslims and Kurds, as well as minority factions, all of which were ruled by Saudi king Feisal, who was appointed by Churchill. Churchill chose Feisal because he thought him to be easily manipulated, so that Mesopotamia's oil riches could be British controlled, but the king soon exerted his independence, and when British occupation ended, instability became the rule, eventually resulting in the leadership of Saddam Hussein. "Catherwood demonstrates yet again that one generation's pragmatism can be a later generation's tragedy," concluded a Publishers Weekly contributor.

Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide, written with Leslie Alan Horvitz, includes more than four hundred entries that describe human rights violations, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide, responsible individuals, countries where they occurred, terms of various treaties, and organizations that have dealt with these crimes, such as Amnesty International. The appendix of this volume written for an adult and young adult readership includes the text of the Geneva Conventions.

Catherwood is the grandson of preacher David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, about whom he has written several volumes. He has also edited and published many of his grandfather's sermons. Crash Course on Church History, revised and published as Church History: A Crash Course for the Curious, is a history of the Christian faith from the time of Christ to the present. Catherwood notes that countries that were once the center of the Christian world are now Muslim as an aftermath of the Islamic wars of the seventh century. Catherwood also writes of the joining of church and politics, including Constantine's legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire, and makes comparisons to the influence of religion on politics in contemporary times. He points out the dangers of Roman Catholic doctrine that embraces the idea that Mary was the mother of God, an official position only since 1950, and he notes that Mother Theresa was a universalist.

A reviewer for the Shepherd's Scrapbook Web site wrote: "Catherwood is downright engaging. You will not agree at every turn, but he will make you think as he broadens your perspective of the global church and how God has shaped the church by key events and people over the past 2,000 years."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 2006, Brendan Driscoll, review of A Brief History of the Middle East, p. 20; January 1, 2007, Arthur Meyers, review of Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide, p. 136.

Choice, November, 1998, J.W. Frost, review of Why the Nations Rage: Killing in the Name of God, p. 537; May, 2005, R.A. Callahan, review of Churchill's Folly: How Winston Churchill Created Modern Iraq, p. 1659; December, 2006, D. Altschiller, review of Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide, p. 626.

Contemporary Review, January, 2005, review of Winston's Folly: Imperialism and the Creation of Modern Iraq, p. 59.

European History Quarterly, October, 2005, Ann Lane, review of The Balkans in World War Two: Britain's Balkan Dilemma, p. 585.

Guardian (London, England), November 27, 2004, John Charmley, review of Winston's Folly.

Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2004, review of Churchill's Folly, p. 564.

Library Journal, April 1, 1998, Leroy Hommerding, review of Why the Nations Rage, p. 94.

Middle East Journal, autumn, 2004, review of Churchill's Folly, p. 705.

New Statesman, July 26, 2004, Anton La Guardia, review of Winston's Folly, p. 51.

Publishers Weekly, November 15, 1985, William Griffin, review of Five Evangelical Leaders, p. 32; June 14, 2004, review of Churchill's Folly, p. 53.

Reference & Research Book News, August, 2006, review of Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide.