# Church history books



## Me Died Blue (Jul 11, 2006)

I need to get a more full exposure to the breadth of Church history (especially as it relates the development and defense of theology) by the end of the summer. If you could recommend just a couple books on Church history, what would they be?

One particular work I've been wondering about is Cunningham's _Historical Theology_. Does that work provide a lot of actual Church history? Does it trace the development and turning points of theology throughout historic Christendom? What "kind" of book is it really?


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## MW (Jul 11, 2006)

Cunningham presupposes a knowledge of events per se. But you *must* read it if you want to understand the history from a reformed perspective.

For a more philosophical approach, consider Shedd's "History of Christian Doctrine." The earlier chapters are very helpful for dispelling what you are bound to come across in theological studies, namely, the idea that by calling something a "Greek thought" it must be wrong.

If you are looking for something more introductory, Finlayson's Story of Theology followed by Berkhof's History of Christian Doctrines are sound.

Interacting more with modern scholarship is Bromiley's Historical Theology, who also provides a good introduction to Barth's thought. Macintosh's Types of Modern Theology is older, but good for tracing modern developments back to the romantic era.


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## Arch2k (Jul 11, 2006)

Chris,

I would recommend reading a couple of excerpts from Cunningham's _Historical Theology_ online to see the structure of his work. I have only read one chapter from it, but I long to obtain it someday and dig deeper.


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## New wine skin (Jul 11, 2006)

Pelikan Jaroslav has a great 5 vol series. It is dense reading, but worth the effort. He cites primary sources. These books are cheap on amazon.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jul 11, 2006)

Cunningham's work is a very good recommendation. 

The Webmaster also has a helpful section Historical Theology here. 

I would also recommend Philip Schaff's _History of the Christian Church_.


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## Me Died Blue (Jul 12, 2006)

Thanks for the responses thus far - the information on Cunningham and the link are especially helpful. Are there any briefer works people would suggest to get an overview of Church history as well?


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## MW (Jul 12, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Me Died Blue_
> Thanks for the responses thus far - the information on Cunningham and the link are especially helpful. Are there any briefer works people would suggest to get an overview of Church history as well?



Story of the Church by Renwick and Harman.


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## Me Died Blue (Jul 12, 2006)

> _Originally posted by armourbearer_
> Story of the Church by Renwick and Harman.



Thanks - from a brief internet research session, it looks like it is widely accepted and recommended. Out of curiosity, do you know the tradition (church) and beliefs of either Renwick or Harman?


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## MW (Jul 12, 2006)

Renwick was professor at Free Church College, Edinburgh. Harman is his son in law; professor there also, but upon returning to Australia joined the general Presbyterian church, and was professor at Melbourne Theo. Coll. Renwick's field was church history, Harman's is OT and Hebrew, but something of a history buff also.


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## Scott (Jul 13, 2006)

Justo Gonzalez' The Story of Christianity is used at Reformed Seminary for their church history class. It is readable. CBD usually has it on sale pretty cheap. He also has one that is less than 100 pages, Church History: An Essential Guide, that I imagine is a good intro.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jul 13, 2006)

_The History of Protestantism_ by J.A. Wylie


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jul 13, 2006)

_The Government of the Kingdom of Christ_ by James Moir Porteous


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## R. Scott Clark (Jul 13, 2006)

http://www.wscal.edu/clark/htbibliog.php

100 year old resources (e.g., Schaff, Cunningham et al) are not a bad place to start, but you wouldn't want to stop there. 

Yes, Pelikan is an excellent modern source. 

There is a debate among scholars as to the exact relations between HT and CH, but I regard them as distinct disciplines. CH is the study of the social/institutional history of the church. HT is the study of the history of exgetical/dogmatic theology of the church. The latter is more concerned with the history of ideas than CH. They should be read together. 

As surprising as it might seem, Tillich, Paul. A History of Christian Thought. Edited by Carl E. Braaten. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1968 is actually quite good. Tillich was bohemian in his personal ethics and heterodox in theology but intelligent and wrote well.

For what it's worth, I don't care much for Olson's HT (see Roger Olson, The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1999). Modern Reformation, July/August 2001) nor do I care much for Bromiley's. Much of what Bromily claimed is not verified nor is it well grounded in primary sources. I used him as a source for lectures when I began teaching at Wheaton and over the years I've had to revise most all I "learned" from him on the basis of primary sources and more recent scholarship. It was a snapshot of evangelical HT circa '75 but things have changed a fair bit since then.

Of course the essential source for the history of Reformed theology is Muller's 4 vols: Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics. 

One other caveat: beware of leaning too much on one writer. I doubt that an 8 vol "Schaff" is possible today in the age of specialization and it's probably a good thing.

So the question is what are the best vols for the various epochs of history? That's a huge question that I won't try to answer by email. There are some things for which I think students should pay tuition!

rsc


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## Contra_Mundum (Jul 13, 2006)

Just a couple jots:
There is that distinction someone may have brought out, between "Church History" (CH) and "Historic Theology" (HT). The two have an undeniable relation. And in a sense, CH is broader than HT, and yet HT is the subdiscipline of Divinity in which we find CH.

CH is basically everything one could say about the church as an historic artifact in the midst of the world. As it spreads, in each place, CH becomes the particular history of a particular church. This is CH as a parallel to world history, or to a history of one of this world's kingdoms. You have intersection of the church with the kingdom's of this world. This is where persecutions, politics, divisions, missionary enterprise, places, dates, persons--these and many other facts.

HT (narrow as opposed to that broad category that includes CH) is more closely related to the doctrinal history of the church. Naturally there is a symbiosis to secular history and doctrinal history in the church. And this is the value of works like Cunningham's and Pelikan's. One thing they do is show where specific doctrines had emphasis, what situations and heresies drew out the minds of the church to defend the truth. In other words, it is the story, more narrowly, of the church's interaction and involvement with the text of Scripture (and of course with the importation of alien philosophy), and the definition of the truth found in Scripture over time.

Beside works already mentioned:
CH works:
Phillip Schaff, classic, Ancient up through Reformation. 8 vols.
Kenneth Scott Latourette: Yale prof, evangelical, Ancient to Modern (mid 20th cent). 2 vols.
Guezelo's is probably as good as most 1 vol can be. This is 2000 years packed into one volume folks; no matter how good, its still condensed. I had to buy Williston Walker's (and subsq eds.) _A History of the Christian Church,_ (4th ed., 1985) in Seminary. Stock textbook, some lib. bias.

HT:
Multivolume--Cunningham & Pelikan are very different works. Pelikan had already been mentioned is not easy reading; not badly written, just immense subject matter condensed (!) into 5 volumes. There might not be any one else alive today (has he died yet?) who knows more in this arena. He's also come to rest in the Eastern Orthodox church... Cunningham, of course, was a 19th Century Scottish Presbyterian professor. Strictly Reformed approach.

Certain doctrinal studies will often have at least something of a historic sketch. But it often amounts to no more than a sketch. There are some exceptions. For example, from the items (of questionable value!) on my shelf, the same H.R. Mackintosh (neo-orthodox) mentioned above (_Types of Modern Theology,_ 1937, rp 1937-47) includes in his 1912 (-13 2ed, rp 1914-51) _The Person of Jesus Christ,_ a rather lengthy historic treatment of Christology (@160pp), the largest of 4 sections in the book. A.B. Bruce, focusing more narrowly on _The Humiliation of Christ,_ (1895), takes up some 2/3 of his book on historic Christology (@240pp).

Then, a book like Joel Beeke's _The Quest for Full Assurance, _ (BoT, 1999) takes one aspect of historic theology and that for the most part as it arose from the Reformation (very little from prior), and treats it in great detail.

These are just examples. I would check out the narrower of books/subjects in a library, from a library. Save your money and time for the things that really interest you.

{Edit}
I agree with Dr. Clark on Olsen, another textbook I had to buy. Not a satisfying treatment, in my opinion. I also have a Lutheran work, 1 vol. _History of Theology,_ by Bengt Hagglund. Here is the blurb off the back from *Richard A. Muller* who I believe is the same one mentioned above by Dr. Clark:


> Hagglund's _History of theology_ offers introductory classes a theologically and intellectually sound, well-designed survey of the literature and thought of the church ... that covers the entire history of doctrine from the Apostolic Fathers to the twentieth century.


 (ellipsis from the cover)

[Edited on 7-13-2006 by Contra_Mundum]


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## Philip A (Jul 13, 2006)

On a related subject, what would be a good place to start for a History of Western Civ?


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## R. Scott Clark (Jul 13, 2006)

We use Hagglund as our basic HT survey text for the HT501 intro to HT course. It's a good starter. Better than Bromiley and Olson.

rsc



> I also have a Lutheran work, 1 vol. _History of Theology,_ by Bengt Hagglund.


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