Church History Essentials?
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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Hughes Oliphant Old's "The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church" is an absolute essential.
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John Kight said:
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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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 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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Allen Browne said:John Kight said:
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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Josh said:
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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However, you shouldn't consider Conzalez' work if you're a young person.......
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ELA said:
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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Allen Browne said:
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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Josh said:
Too bad Logos does not have Justo Gonzalez's "Story of Christianity" two-volume work - they are excellent books!
+1
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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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John Kight said:
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.
I like Apples. Especially Honeycrisp.
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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.
Pastor, seminary trustee, and app developer. Check out my latest app for churches: The Church App
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Rev Chris said:
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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Rosie Perera said:Rev Chris said:
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.
I like Apples. Especially Honeycrisp.
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John Kight said:
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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Allen Browne said:
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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Dan DeVilder said:
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 said:Hughes Oliphant Old's "The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church" is an absolute essential.
I'll second this. The set is so thorough
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Paul Newsome said:Dan DeVilder said:
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.
I've got them both. Yes, the Dictionary is a major new edition of the Handbook. The Historical Handbook was published in 1998. It is organized by era. Here's the Table of Contents:
Preface
How to Use this Handbook
Abbreviations
Contributors
Part 1: Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church
Athanasius
Augustine of Hippo
Chrysostom, John
Clement of Alexandria
Irenaeus
Jerome
Justin Martyr
Origen
Tertullian
Theodore of Mopsuestia
Theodoret of Cyrus
Part 2: Biblical Interpretation in the Middle Ages
Aquinas, Thomas
Bernard of Clairvaux
Denys the Carthusian
Gerson, Jean
Hugh and Andrew of St. Victor
Hugh of St. Cher
Nicholas of Lyra
Part 3: Biblical Interpretation in the 16th & 17th Centuries
Beza, Theodore
Bucer, Martin
Bullinger, Heinrich
Calvin, John
Coverdale, Miles
Erasmus, Desiderius
Flacius Illyricus, Matthias
Henry, Matthew
Hooker, Richard
Lefèvre d'Étaples, Jacques
Lightfoot, John
Luther, Martin
Marpeck, Pilgram
Melanchthon, Philipp
Perkins, William
Tyndale, William
Vermigli, Peter Martyr
Zanchi, Jerome
Zwingli, Ulrich
Part 4: Biblical Interpretation in the 18th & 19th Centuries
Barnes, Albert
Baur, F. C.
Bengel, J. A.
Briggs, Charles Augustus
De Wette, Wilhelm Martin Leberecht
Driver, Samuel Rolles
Edwards, Jonathan
Eichhorn, J. G.
Ernesti, Johann August
Griesbach, Johann Jakob
Hodge, Charles
Kierkegaard, Søren Aabe
Lightfoot, J. B.
Meyer, Heinrich August Wilhelm
Michaelis, Johann David
Reimarus, Hermann Samuel
Schleiermacher, Friedrich Daniel Ernst
Semler, Johann Salomo
Smith, William Robertson
Strauss, David Friedrich
Stuart, Moses
Tholuck, Friedrich August Gottreu
Von Hofmann, Johann Christian Konrad
Wellhausen, Julius
Wesley, John
Westcott, B. F., and F. J. A. Hort
Wrede, William
Zahn, Theodore
Part 5: Biblical Interpretation in Europe in the 20th Century
Barr, James
Barrett, C. K.
Barth, Karl
Bornkamm, Günther
Bruce, F. F.
Bultmann, Rudolf
Caird, G. B.
Conzelmann, Hans Georg
Cullmann, Oscar
Davies, W. D.
Dodd, C. H.
Eichrodt, Walther
Gunkel, Hermann
Harnack, Adolf von
Jeremias, Joachim
Käsemann, Ernst
Mowinckel, Sigmund
Noth, Martin
Robinson, Henry Wheeler
Schlatter,
Adolf
Schweitzer, Albert
Von Rad, Gerhard
Weiss,
Johannes
Westermann, Claus
Part 6: Biblical Interpretation in North America in the 20th Century
Albright, William Foxwell
Brown, Raymond E.
Brueggemann, Walter
Childs, Brevard
Goodspeed, Edgar Johnson
Ladd, George Eldon
Machen,
J. Gresham
Muilenburg, James
Perrin, Norman
Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth
Scofield,
C. I.
Trible, Phyllis
Wright, George Ernest
Index of Persons
Index of Subjects
Index of Essays & ArticlesThe Dictionary was published in 2007. It has introductory sections on each of the eras, but the bulk of it is organized alphabetically, and it contains entries for more people than the Handbook. It has a "Preface to the Second Edition" which includes this explanation of the differences:
"It is a pleasure to present a new and expanded edition of the Historical Handbook of Major Biblical Interpreters (1998) as the Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters. This new work features fresh contributions from more than one hundred scholars. These contributions have been added to the entries in the former book to form a dictionary with more than two hundred entries on major biblical interpreters plus interpretive essays on biblical interpretation in the major periods of the Christian church.
"The new edition has given an opportunity to provide a more wide-ranging resource for the study of the history of biblical interpretation through the work of important scholars from all periods. Once again, the list of those to be included in such a volume has been my decision, in consultation with others. Even in this expanded edition, there are names that could have or 'should have' been included but are missing. Treatment of these figures will have to await yet another book!
"The same general criteria for inclusion have been used here as in the Historical Handbook of Major Biblical Interpreters, as explained in the preface to that work. Nearly all the new entries are for figures who have died, leaving still the task of a book on contemporary biblical interpreters that can function the same way as this volume but focus on those who have made most recent contributions to biblical interpretation.
"Once again, as well, and in the total scope of this new dictionary, there is a lack of sufficient entries on women biblical interpreters and on those from outside the predominant areas of Western Europe and the United States. A wider volume, still, needs to turn attention to these interpreters."
Here is the TOC for the Dictionary:
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Rosie Perera said:
The Dictionary was published in 2007. It has introductory sections on each of the eras, but the bulk of it is organized alphabetically, and it contains entries for more people than the Handbook. It has a "Preface to the Second Edition" which includes this explanation of the differences:
the preface is a good place to check for these things! Thanks Rosie
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Harnack's History of Dogma is generally useful ... but it's pining away in prepub for reasons I don't understand.
Watson and Hauser's A History of Biblical Interpretation is essential even though it's not in Logos.
McGinn's The Presence of God fills in the remaining holes for Western Christianity Okay it's also missing from Logos. The MFL's in church history are extensive.[:(]
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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Rosie Perera said:
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.
Indeed, Rosie. Thanks.
I am looking forward to reading Ruth Tucker when these come out next month.
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Allen Browne said:
I am looking forward to reading Ruth Tucker when these come out next month.
I'm in the middle of reading her From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya in hardback right now, as it turns out! Started reading it before this collection showed up in pre-pub. It's a great book!
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MJ. Smith said:
Harnack's History of Dogma is generally useful ... but it's pining away in prepub for reasons I don't understand.
Watson and Hauser's A History of Biblical Interpretation is essential even though it's not in Logos.
McGinn's The Presence of God fills in the remaining holes for Western Christianity Okay it's also missing from Logos. The MFL's in church history are extensive.
Well - Not in Logos, but since you mentioned Harnack, how about Pelikan? Not an intro text, but certainly a classic, especially vol 2 on the Eastern church.
The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann
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MJ. Smith said:
Harnack's History of Dogma is generally useful ... but it's pining away in prepub for reasons I don't understand.
Did you miss that it went over the top about 8 hours before you wrote this? Closing next Friday: http://www.logos.com/product/8524/adolf-von-harnack-collection.
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Paul Newsome said:
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.
Sorry, yeah! and I own it. [:)] Kinda confused, I guess, like "Judean Popular People's Front" and the "The Popular Front of Judea" sects, etc., from the Life of Brian.
I like Apples. Especially Honeycrisp.
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Rosie Perera said:Allen Browne said:
I am looking forward to reading Ruth Tucker when these come out next month.
I'm in the middle of reading her From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya in hardback right now, as it turns out! Started reading it before this collection showed up in pre-pub. It's a great book!
Well, this book is now out in Logos. If the first 50 pages are anything to go by, this is a great read!
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What do you all think of Schaaf's History of The Christian Church? I'm considering this one for the main church history book that I'll read. I don't necessarily need a modern one. Does anyone have one that's better than this, or have any reason why I should read another in stead of this one?
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Just finished Walker (History of the Christian Church) which was basically a yawner. Hopefully your choice is better.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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church history for dummy like me .. (the caricatures are amazing!, puns intended)
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I'll mention this one only because I didn't see it listed by others. It is a one volume work.
History of the Catholic Church: From the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium
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Liam Walsh said:
What do you all think of Schaaf's History of The Christian Church? I'm considering this one for the main church history book that I'll read. I don't necessarily need a modern one. Does anyone have one that's better than this, or have any reason why I should read another in stead of this one?
Schaff is long: 8 volumes in print of 800 pages each. If you're up for it, do it. But if you haven't read any church history before, I'd recommend a shorter overview (like Bruce Shelley's Church History in Plain Language).
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Yes, a very good starting point. https://www.logos.com/product/2248/church-history-in-plain-languageTodd Phillips said:Bruce Shelly's Church History in Plain Language
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Of course, we're talking about 'Leaders of the Church History' and their theories. Actual church (people) history is almost never discussed outside of archaeology (eg Ramsay) and of course the NT.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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Denise said:
Of course, we're talking about 'Leaders of the Church History' and their theories. Actual church (people) history is almost never discussed outside of archaeology (eg Ramsay) and of course the NT.
This is admittedly a danger. And when you are dealing with cultures before mass literacy, getting to the popular level is difficult. But Jaroslav Pelikan's 5 volume work attempts to do this, as do some other more recent works. Of course, none of their attempts is beyond criticism...
SDG
Ken McGuire
The Gospel is not ... a "new law," on the contrary, ... a "new life." - William Julius Mann
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THANK YOU KEN!! (upper-case not meaning anger of course)
https://www.logos.com/product/36278/select-works-of-jaroslav-pelikan
I couldn't find a Logos 5-vol work but this one is unbelievable. I've been spending quite a bit of time on historical religious music (music; not lyrics). Both volumes look REALLY interesting!
OT: The difference of 'leaders' vs 'everyone else' is a source of humor in classes on the Old Testament kings with our pastor. Each time the Israel/Judah king gets wound up on the wrong side of the tracks 'there goes Israel'. It's almost Monty Pithon-ish. But at least the name of the book group is 'kings'.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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Thanks everyone! I think I'll start with Schaff. I'm ok with a long read. My plan is to read his history and then whenever I read about someone interesting, to read one of their most signifigant works, and when I'm finished, start on the history again. I plan on it taking a long long time!
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