Church History Essentials?

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John M. Kight | Forum Activity | Posted: Mon, Apr 9 2012 9:10 PM

Outside of base package resources (I have the Scholar's Platinum base package), if I was looking to gather some resources for the study of church history what would be some essentials in your opinion?

 

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Allen Browne | Forum Activity | Replied: Mon, Apr 9 2012 9:53 PM

John Kight:
Outside of base package resources (I have the Scholar's Platinum base package), if I was looking to gather some resources for the study of church history what would be some essentials in your opinion?

What angle?

Bruce Shelley's Church History in Plain Language is a good, accessible read.

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Rosie Perera | Forum Activity | Replied: Mon, Apr 9 2012 10:34 PM

The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation by Venerable Bede is a classic.

There's nothing else I would consider *essential* in church history that Logos offers for sale. But there are some other good ones.

If you don't envision ever upgrading to Portfolio, there are a few good ones that are in that which are not part of Platinum:

The First Advance

The Making of the Modern Church is another good one that's not too expensive (also focuses on England).

The Church Origins Collection is a good deal if you sum up the individual prices of the books in it $179.95 for $884.95 worth of books. One of the books in it (A History of the First Christians) alone is $150, and that's the Amazon hardcover price too, so Logos isn't marking it up. I don't know where they get the total retail price of $569.55 for the collection which the 179.95 price is listed as being 68% off. You'd actually be saving 80% to get the collection as opposed to all the individual books. Some of these are part of portfolio as well, but not all of them.

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Josh | Forum Activity | Replied: Tue, Apr 10 2012 1:48 AM

Allen Browne:

John Kight:
Outside of base package resources (I have the Scholar's Platinum base package), if I was looking to gather some resources for the study of church history what would be some essentials in your opinion?

What angle?

Bruce Shelley's Church History in Plain Language is a good, accessible read.

This one is concise, but good. Too bad Logos does not have Justo Gonzalez's "Story of Christianity" two-volume work - they are excellent books!

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Rosie Perera | Forum Activity | Replied: Tue, Apr 10 2012 1:52 AM

Josh:

Too bad Logos does not have Justo Gonzalez's "Story of Christianity" two-volume work - they are excellent books!

They have them, but only in Spanish!

http://www.logos.com/product/1860/historia-del-cristianismo-tomo-1

http://www.logos.com/product/1861/historia-del-cristianismo-tomo-2

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ELA | Forum Activity | Replied: Tue, Apr 10 2012 4:31 AM

However, you shouldn't consider Conzalez' work if you're a young person.......

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alabama24 | Forum Activity | Replied: Tue, Apr 10 2012 4:46 AM

ELA:
However, you shouldn't consider Conzalez' work if you're a young person.......

Like the hippies said, Never trust anyone over 300.

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Dennis Miller | Forum Activity | Replied: Tue, Apr 10 2012 4:52 AM

Allen Browne:

Bruce Shelley's Church History in Plain Language is a good, accessible read.

I agree with Allen. This is a good book though somewhat concise in content but thorough at the same time concerning the need to know information. I am using this text for an upcoming 8 week Church History class I'll be teaching this summer.

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alabama24 | Forum Activity | Replied: Tue, Apr 10 2012 5:19 AM

Josh:
Too bad Logos does not have Justo Gonzalez's "Story of Christianity" two-volume work - they are excellent books!

+1

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Oldnewbie | Forum Activity | Replied: Tue, Apr 10 2012 9:56 AM

alabama24:

ELA:
However, you shouldn't consider Conzalez' work if you're a young person.......

Like the hippies said, Never trust anyone over 300.

 

I thought that was the Persians...sorry, I couldn't help myself....

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alabama24 | Forum Activity | Replied: Tue, Apr 10 2012 10:13 AM

Smile

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John M. Kight | Forum Activity | Replied: Tue, Apr 10 2012 6:52 PM

Thanks for the suggestions. Im actually working through The Story of Christianity right now. Thats what sparked me in this direction...however looking at my resources I realized my Church History selection is fairly slim. 

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Dan DeVilder | Forum Activity | Replied: Tue, Apr 10 2012 7:36 PM

John Kight:

Outside of base package resources (I have the Scholar's Platinum base package), if I was looking to gather some resources for the study of church history what would be some essentials in your opinion?

 

The Early Church History Collection has some gems, including A New Eusebius.

The Lion Histories might be interesting.  I had to delete my order a while back and never purchased it.  I think Rosie may have? It doesn't look very academic, but could have some insightful comments and nice pictures and tables.  :)

The Dictionary of Christianity in America might cover a wealth of information for our more "modern" historical context.

Medieval Histories, I own.  Have not read much in them yet.

For a different approach, McKim's Historical Handbook of Major Biblical Interpreters is a nice niche book.

Christianity in the British Isles, is another collection with a more narrow, but expanded focus.

 

I'd also love Gonzales' set.  I have hardcopy.  KS Latourette would be another author I'd like.  as well as readers by Kerr, and others.

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Rev Chris | Forum Activity | Replied: Tue, Apr 10 2012 8:37 PM

I like the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series.  I just noticed they don't sell it on the Logos website anymore, which is odd.  But you can probably still get the CD-ROM set from 3rd-party retailers and add it to your account.

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Rosie Perera | Forum Activity | Replied: Tue, Apr 10 2012 9:20 PM

Rev Chris:
I like the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series.  I just noticed they don't sell it on the Logos website anymore, which is odd. 

Very odd. I wonder why. Maybe they're in the midst of renegotiating the contract with the publisher or something. It's a fantastic set. It would be a shame if they'd decided to discontinue it. The Libronix (Logos 3.0) version is still available on CD-ROM directly from the publisher (IVP) and other sites, which you can find if you Google the title.

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Dan DeVilder | Forum Activity | Replied: Wed, Apr 11 2012 11:06 AM

Rosie Perera:

Rev Chris:
I like the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series.  I just noticed they don't sell it on the Logos website anymore, which is odd. 

Very odd. I wonder why. Maybe they're in the midst of renegotiating the contract with the publisher or something. It's a fantastic set. It would be a shame if they'd decided to discontinue it. The Libronix (Logos 3.0) version is still available on CD-ROM directly from the publisher (IVP) and other sites, which you can find if you Google the title.

agreed.

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Allen Browne | Forum Activity | Replied: Thu, Apr 12 2012 11:09 PM

John Kight:
Outside of base package resources (I have the Scholar's Platinum base package), if I was looking to gather some resources for the study of church history what would be some essentials in your opinion?

John, getting back to your original question, you may want to consider the Zondervan Church History Collection (7 vols.) on pre-pub (slated for release in May):

  • Ruth Tucker's Parade of Faith: A Biographical History of the Christian Church looks really intriguing, possibly the best of the bunch.
  • Ruth Tucker's From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions looks really good too, but narrower (missional).
  • Everett Ferguson's Church History, vol. 1: From Christ to Pre-Reformation looks like a good (if reasonably light) survey.
  • Gregg Allison's Parade of Faith: A Biographical History of the Christian Church is arranged like a sys theol book, tracing the development of each doctrine. (Looks Reformed from his selection of topics.)
  • Alvin Schmidt's How Christianity Changed the World is topically arranged (sex, women, charity, health, education, labour, science, justice, art, music, literature, holidays)
  • plus 2 shorter ones.

I haven't actually read them. Others who have may care to comment on what value they gained from them.

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Rosie Perera | Forum Activity | Replied: Thu, Apr 12 2012 11:35 PM

Allen Browne:
Gregg Allison's Parade of Faith: A Biographical History of the Christian Church is arranged like a sys theol book, tracing the development of each doctrine. (Looks Reformed from his selection of topics.)

That's the title of Ruth Tucker's book which you listed first. I think you meant Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine here.

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Paul Newsome | Forum Activity | Replied: Fri, Apr 13 2012 12:06 AM

Dan DeVilder:
For a different approach, McKim's Historical Handbook of Major Biblical Interpreters is a nice niche book.

Hey Dan,  have you heard anything about McKim's recent Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters essentially being an update to the book you recommended.  I've got the one I linked but not the one you recommended, in Logos.

 

Alan Charles Gielczyk:

I'll second this.  The set is so thorough

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