Church History Collection (22 vols.)

Doctrinal truths cannot be studied apart from their historical background. The History of Christian Doctrines covers the development of doctrine. In it, Berkhof attempts to recover an appreciation for the development of the doctrines in their present form. His investigation is detailed, covering all the ground in his Systematic Theology in a more concise format. This book is essential reading for historical theologians.

The Puritans dedicated their lives to consistent study of the Bible, treasured devotional feelings and close communion with God. As a people, they wanted to eliminate impurities in the church in the area of secularity and corruption and promoted religion and the impact and it’s power it has on people. Benjamin Brook wrote The Lives of the Puritans with the mindset that it be a historical narrative of facts.

In his book, Benjamin Brook gives a history of the Puritans as well as discussions about their reservations regarding rites, ceremonies, Lent, and their views regarding baptism. The majority of his book gives a history of those who played a major role in Puritan history such as Richard Sibbes and Henry Scudder. The 3-volume Lives of the Puritans includes a biography of over 450 Puritan theologians who lived during 1495–1693 and gives background into their lives, accomplishments and contributions.

The Lives of the Puritans makes accessing information on the Puritans easier than ever before! In your digital library, you can read their history together with other prominent Puritan theologians that you own, and Scripture passages, theological terms, and a wealth of other information is only a click away!

Bishop Christopher Wordsworth wrote his Church History as a narrative of “the city of God” against “the city of this world.” This tension drives his account forward from Jesus’ ministry to the Council of Chalcedon. Wordsworth’s Church History is not rigidly chronological, but rather follows the lives of major figures in church history and discusses the ideas and events that surrounded them. The nephew of the William Wordsworth, the great Romantic poet, Wordsworth himself was an accomplished writer and poet, and his Church History is an eminently readable classic that presents an account of church history and evangelical analysis that is engaging and full of character.

There’s more to Eastern Christianity than ethnic food bazaars, enclaves of immigrants, and clergy with beards. The mystical theology, spiritual disciplines, and rich liturgical worship of the Orthodox Church provide sustenance for anyone seeking resources for growth in the Christian life. Ancient teachings and practices persist in Eastern Christianity that hold together much of what Catholics and Protestants have separated. Believers of all stripes increasingly resonate with Orthodoxy’s healthy synthesis of prayer, doctrine, liturgy, asceticism, and call to holiness in all areas of life. This ancient faith speaks with refreshing clarity to contemporary Christians who want to learn from a living tradition that is too little known in Western culture. This volume presents profound insights that will enrich, challenge, and inspire readers of all backgrounds. It invites everyone to encounter a spiritual tradition that is ancient, contemporary, and fascinatingly different.

Called “a pioneer contribution” by Church History when it was first published in 1971 as The Holiness-Pentecostal Movement in the United States, this volume has now been revised and enlarged by Vinson Synan to account for the incredible changes that have occurred in the church world during the last quarter of the twentieth century.

Synan brings together the stories of the many movements usually listed as “holiness,” “pentecostal,” or “charismatic,” and shows that there is an identifiable “second blessing” tradition in Christianity that began with the Catholic and Anglican mystics, that was crystallized in the teaching of John Wesley, and that was further perpetuated through the holiness and Keswick movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to the appearance of modern Pentecostalism. Synan then chronicles the story of the spread of Pentecostalism around the world after the heady days of the Azusa Street awakening, with special attention given to the beginnings of the movement in those nations where Pentecostalism has become a major religious force. He also examines the rise of various mainline-church charismatic movements that have their roots in Pentecostalism.

Because of the explosive growth of the Pentecostal movement in the last half of the century, Pentecostals and Charismatics now constitute the second largest family of Christians in the world after the Roman Catholic Church. “This could well be the major story of Christianity in the twentieth century,” writes Synan. “Pentecostalism has grown beyond a mere passing ‘movement’ . . . and can now be seen as a major Christian ‘tradition’ alongside the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Reformation Protestant traditions.”

The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition will continue to be an important handbook for shaping our understanding of this phenomenon.

The Dictionary of Historical Theology is a major reference work designed for anyone interested in the history and development of Christian theology. Featuring 314 articles on the key figures, theological movements, and significant texts that have shaped Christian thought, Dictionary of Historical Theology traces the doctrinal development of Christianity from the early church to the present. Varying in length from 500 to 15,000 words, these entries treat the intellectual antecedents and descendants of the figures or schools of thought covered as well as their influence on the wider development of the Christian tradition.

The 173 contributors to this dictionary are, without exception, proven experts on the subjects they address. Drawn from international and interdenominational circles, they tell the story of Christianity from a wide variety of perspectives, successfully capturing the great diversity of traditions that make up the Christian community today.

Comprehensive in scope yet concisely written, Dictionary of Historical Theology is one of the most accessible and reliable single-volume compendiums of Christian thought available.

Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea, gave the church one of its greatest gifts by chronicling the rise of Christianity until the fourth century in The Ecclesiastical History. One of the earliest and most important histories of the church, this classic work is a must read. Eusebius began writing in 311 and finished in 323, just two years before the Council of Nicaea. Comprehensive in its detail and scope and faithful to history, this work forms a solid foundation for the study of church history, historical theology, patristics, and the early church, all of which are integral to a grounded understanding of the New Testament church and the trajectory of its development. The Loeb edition of The Ecclesiastical History includes the original Greek text with English translation by Kirsopp Lake and J. E. L. Oulton as well as notes and an extensive introduction to the text.

Eusebius arranges his history by the reign of the Roman emperors as he presents the church’s intellectual, spiritual, and institutional development. For his sources, he calls upon Josephus, Philo, Clement of Alexandra, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, and others, serving as an archivist of manuscript contents otherwise lost to time. Theological topics and historical accounts include a defense of Christ as the eternal Logos, Mosiac legislation, the Jewish rebellion, Christian martyrs, the rise of Gnosticism, the lives of various bishops, and an examination of the works of early Christian writers and apologists.

Dictionary of Christian Antiquities gives a complete account of the leading persons, institutions, art, social life, writings, and controversies of the Christian Church from the time of the Apostles to the age of Charlemagne. Ending with Charlemagne’s reign, which forms the important link between the ancient and the modern, the first eight centuries of the Christian era are covered up until the Middle Ages.

Subjects covered in Dictionary of Christian Antiquities include the organization of the church, with its officers, legislation, disciplines and revenues; the social life of Christians, including their worship and ceremonies with the accompanying music, vestments, instruments, vessels and insignia; their sacred places, architecture, and other forms of art; their symbolism; their sacred days and seasons; the graves or catacombs where they were laid to rest; and much, much more. Each volume contains hundreds of images and illustrations.

The Making of the Modern Church is a comprehensive introduction to a fascinating and crucial period in church history, starting at the beginning of the nineteenth century and concluding in the modern day. It is ideal for students and those in theological training, though it also has much of value to offer more general readers.

Though dealing with a large time scale, The Making of the Modern Church is thorough. Chapters cover all the major events and trends of the period and a bibliography for each chapter is included to aid those who wish to investigate specific subjects in more detail.

Already an established classic of church history, this third edition contains fresh and updated material. New areas covered including the changing status of women in the church, English Roman Catholicism, and post-modernity.

Uncover the ways Christians have interpreted the Bible from the early church to the end of the twentieth century. Henning Graf Reventlow’s four-volume history traces the development of biblical hermeneutics by examining approaches taken by major figures across 2,000 years. Compare the interpretive methods of apostolic fathers such as Barnabas and Clement to those taken by Martin Luther, Karl Barth, and Rudolf Bultmann. See how major turning points in history—such as the invention of the printing press–changed how people approached the Bible. Consult this comprehensive, scholarly resource when studying a specific era or historical figure, or read straight through the entire series. By understanding how scholars, clergy, politicians, and lay people have interpreted Scripture, you’ll appreciate how the Bible has impacted history.