Church History Bundle, S (5 vols.)

A New Eusebius has held an unrivaled position as the standard source book for students of the early patristic period. Stevenson has gathered an impressive compilation of documents, including the Martyrdom of James, the Flight of the Christians from Jerusalem, and Persecution by Domitian, from such writers as Eusebius, Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin, and Irenaeus. These primary sources, covering church history up to AD 337, are invaluable for those who desire to understand early church history. In this new edition, Professor W. H. C. Frend has incorporated vital documents that were not available when the original collection was compiled. The notes and references have been amended and updated where necessary, and the entire book has been restructured with documents grouped under helpful subject headings which follow a broadly chronological sequence.

New Evangelicalism found its beginnings with the formation of the National Association of Evangelicals in 1942. This new group was mainly led by younger professing fundamentalist scholars and leaders who had become dissatisfied with their heritage and wanted to carve out some evangelical middle ground between fundamentalism and neo-orthodoxy. Promise Unfulfilled: The Failed Strategy of Modern Evangelicalism is an analysis of the break-away movement in terms of the issues, ideas, and practices that led to its beginning, its expansion in the 1970s, its subsequent loss of biblical and doctrinal stability, and its slide toward virtual irrelevancy in a postmodern world culture of the twenty-first century. It will be a valuable addition to the pastor’s library and a strategic resource for theological education in Bible colleges and seminaries.

The 25 chapters in this volume are grouped under nine main sections: Historical Antecedents, The Formation of the New Evangelicalism, Ecumenism, Ecclesiastical Separation, The Bible and Authority, Apologetics, Social Involvement, Doctrinal Storms, and Evaluations and Prospects. Easily searchable in the Logos edition, McCune’s writings provide a fascinating look at the theological developments of the twentieth century. Scriptures are accessible by hovering over references in the text, and this volume can be pulled up alongside other resources on the subject for ease of study.

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.

This history is designed to be a summary overview of the past two millennia of Christian history. Subject areas include the Apostolic church, monasticism, the rise of Islam, the medieval papacy, conciliarism, the Renaissance, Protestant revolt, rationalism, the Eastern Church, missionary expansion, and the age of ecumenicity. James North’s knowledgeable presentation of material has proven to be an approachable and informative perspective that any audience can appreciate. Questions and projects at the end of each chapter are especially designed for deeper study. This book has been used in formal classroom settings as an introductory text on Church history. Church study groups may want to use the text as the basis for an examination of the history of the church. The questions and projects at the end of the chapters are especially designed to stimulate their thinking about the past developments.

In this classic account, John Brown provides an insightful overview of the lives and influence of the Puritans. Brown seeks to show how the Puritans affected politics and the social climate of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in addition to outlining their ideology and key characters. This volume documents how the word “Puritan” came to be used and applied, as well how the term changed over the course of history. Brown points out the impact of Calvin, Luther and the Reformation on the Puritan fathers. This edition includes an index and a bibliography, including a preface by the author.

Published over the span of 15 years, Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigne’s 8-volume History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin offers a sweeping history of the second generation of the Reformation. D’Aubigne not only conceived of the Reformation in theological and ecclesiastical terms, but defined it as a watershed moment for all of human history. His 8-volume history of the Reformation describes not only theological and ecclesiastical reform, but also the implication of the Reformation on culture, the arts, philosophy, and science in the centuries which followed.

Although John Calvin figures prominently in the History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, this work is not biographical. Instead, Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigne uses Calvin’s life and the church in Geneva to narrate the comprehensive scope of religious reform during the sixteenth century. These books outline the people, places, and ideas which shaped the Reformation in France, England, Spain, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands. He argues that not only religious, but also political emancipation results from the Reformation, and explores the nature of religious freedom, political liberty, and the influence on human history in the three centuries following the Reformation.

The History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin not only became a best-selling and widely praised account of the Reformation, but remains one of the most compelling and influential Reformation histories more than a century after its original publication. With Logos, you get access to these massive volumes with the power and speed of your digital library. Perform searches, create footnotes and citations, and click your way through one of the most comprehensive Reformation histories ever written! These volumes are ideal for Reformation scholars, church historians, and theologians.

The aim of Patristic Study is to draw the attention of the reader to the vast store of wisdom to be found in the writings of the Fathers of the ancient church. Monuments of Christian thought in the first generations of the Church’s life, the writings of the Fathers are still of perennial interest and importance. As Henry Barclay Swete states, “The Fathers, in the stricter sense of the term, are the great champions of orthodox belief, whose writings became the standard of Catholic truth.”

Patristic Study focuses almost exclusively on the Fathers of the first five Centuries. After reviewing these writers, Dr. Swete proceeds in the closing chapters to suggest methods of employing the work of the Fathers for the particular purposes of those in different lines of religious and theological study. Also included is a useful bibliography of Patristics.

A contemporary assessment of Patristic Study from The Sewanee Review Quarterly had this to say:

“[Patristic Study] is a useful introduction to the study of the Fathers of the Church, and, while intended primarily for the use of clergymen of the Anglican communion, is likely to prove helpful to many others to whom the early Christian literature is a matter of interest.”

Boer offers a reliable introduction to the history of the early church, providing background on the world into which the church was born, as he surveys the life of the church from the ministry of Jesus to AD 600. He examines the effects of persecution and heresy on the church and explains the role of several key church leaders. The author elucidates the church’s ongoing struggle to formulate proper doctrines of the Trinity and of Christ. Each chapter is clearly outlined and concludes with several discussion questions, making it an excellent study guide for church groups.

Klauck has written a college-level reference to the religious practices that were common and widespread at the inception of Christianity. He examines antiquarian sacrificial cults; popular belief systems of the day—astrology, magic and soothsaying; the imperial cult worship of rulers and emperors; and Gnostic transformation. The Religious Context of Early Christianity is a scholarly researched and meticulously presented reference work, which is a welcome addition to Christian studies in that it provides contextual information regarding Christianity’s place in the Graeco-Roman empire.

In A General View of the History of the English Bible, renowned New Testament scholar B.F. Westcott calls attention to some points in the history of the English Bible which have been neglected. According to the author, the history of the English Bible is a type of the history of the Church, and both histories have suffered similar fates. Those who labor most successfully upon them generally confine themselves to outward facts, and don’t trace these facts back to their ultimate sources, or notice the variety of elements which go to form the final result. Hence, with A General View of the History of the English Bible, Westcott endeavors to rectify this oversight and fill an unfortunate gap in scholarship. As he states himself, “As far as I know no systematic inquiry into the internal history of our Authorized Version has yet been made, and still no problem can offer greater scope for fruitful research.”

An homage written shortly after Constantine’s death, this detailed panegyric is the only substantial record we have of Constantine the Great written during that era. A controversial figure, Constantine was the first Roman emperor to espouse Christianity. This biographical account is the only written source of Constantine’s life altering vision of a floating cross with the inscription “Conquer by this.”

Divided into 10 parts, this is a detailed accounting of the history of the Church from the incarnation of Christ to the year 324. A rich chronicle of writers, bishops, heretics, martyrs, persecutions, and more, this collection of anecdotes is an invaluable historical trove.

A continuation of Eusebius’s work, Socrates recounts the history of the Church from the rule of Constantine to the year 439 in seven parts. Thought to be an even treatment of the Church, this understated and simple history differs from Eusebius’s work as it also gives a secular account of history as well.

A reportage of the same era that Socrates covered, Sozomen presents another characterization of this time in history providing historians and theologians with corroboration of many of the depicted people and events. The account of monastic communities in Sozomen’s books has proven to be exceptional, likewise, his work on early missionary activities is captivating.

Un-chronological and not as extensive as Socrates' and Sozomen’s works, these five books also cover the years 322–427. Another vantage point from which to study this rich history, these books are still greatly valued because of their alternate sources and abundant inclusion of letters.

A continuation of the work of Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoretus, Evagrius’ important work historicizes the Nestorian and Monophysite controversies of the fifth and sixth centuries, as well as providing an absorbing commentary on the many subjects he documents.

The history of the Church is a history of God’s interaction with people—making the study of church history a fundamentally theological enterprise. William Cunningham’s 2-volume Historical Theology, derived from his lectures given at New College in Edinburgh from 1847–1861, tells the story of the church through the history of its theology. He chronicles the theological tension between law and grace, between sin and forgiveness, and between Christ’s first coming and his second.

Cunningham’s living faith, devout submission to God, clarity of thought, and reverence for the authority of the Bible make him well-positioned to comment on the relationship between the church and its theology. Volume one covers the biblical view of the church, the church councils and the apostolic fathers, the development of the church’s central doctrines—such as the incarnation and the Trinity—as well as the rise of scholasticism, the Reformation, and the Council of Trent. In volume two, Cunningham documents the development of the doctrine of justification, the doctrine of the atonement, the Arminian controversy, and the Socinian controversy. He also devotes lengthy discussions to Presbyterianism, Congregationalism, and the Free Church of Scotland.