Kevin Stilley

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January 16, 2017 by kevinstilley

Preview of 100 Events We Will Cover In Church & Empires

  1. All history is His story.
  2. We must work to differentiate between civilization and Christianity.
  3. The past is a “foreign country.” – hermeneutics emic vs. etic
  4. Persecution of Christian during the reign of Domitian (81-96 A.D) came to forefront in Asia Minor where the imperial cult was centered.
  5. Persecution resulted in two significant literary productions: apologetics and martyrdom.
  6. Heresy promoted doctrinal systematization.
  7. Irenaeus important for representing orthodox reaction to heresy (Against Heresies).
  8. Tertullian’s writings tell us much about alternative understandings of Christianity.
  9. Origen produced the first systematic theology.
  10. Claims against Christians included obstinacy, disloyalty, atheism, cannibalism, incest.
  11. Philosophers such as Celsus, Galen, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius argued that Christians were “weaklings”, irrational, gullible, and fanatics.
  12. Persecution was sporadic but “always present as a possibility.”
  13. The early church fathers gave us a rich theological inheritance, but were not immune to error.
  14. Irenaeus – Trinitarian, fought Gnosticism, but also apostolic succession, emphasis upon tradition, priority of Roman bishop
  15. Perhaps the most influential second century apologist was Justin Martyr. Others included Tatian, Athenagorus, Thophilus and Minucius Felix.
  16. The Logos was prominent in apologetic literature (a) The Logos as the reason or wisdom of God, (b) the Logos as God’s spoken word, (c) the Logos as immanent in the world, (d) the Logos as the revealed word of God in the prophets, (e) the incarnate Jesus.
  17. Martyrdom literature took three forms, letters, passions, and acts.
  18. “Beginning with Constantine, the church entered imperial history in such a way that one cannot deal with the secular history of the fourth century without discussing the church and cannot deal with the religious history without considering the state.”
  19. Arius believed that, “Thee was when Christ was not” — that Jesus was the first and highest of God’s creations – a god.
  20. Arianism was addressed at the Council of Nicea, called by Constantine in 325.
  21. The council adopted the word homoousious to describe Christ’s relationship with the Father.
  22. The first four ecumenical councils were Nicea (325), Constantinople (381), Ephesus (431), Chalcedon (451).
  23. The fourth century dealt with the Trinitarian conflict. The fifth century with the Christological controversy.
  24. Apollonarianism = the belief that the divine Logos replaced the human soul/spirit of Jesus.
  25. Nestorianism = Christ exists as two natures, the man Jesus and the divine Son of God, or Logos, rather than as a unified person.
  26. Eutychianism = Monophysitism – only one nature of Christ, the human nature overcome by the divine nature.
  27. Ebionites – Denied the full deity of Christ (As the Christ, he functioned as God on earth)
  28. Docetism – Appeared to be a man
  29. Eutychianism – Human nature became absorbed into the God nature such that
  30. Monarchianism/Seballianism – Modalism
  31. Adoptionism – man in the beginning but adopted as the Son of God and became deity
  32. Kenoticsm – God became less God to become man, he set aside part of his deity
  33. We must watch out for language games – equivocation
  34. Constantine moves capital in 330
  35. The Eastern Empire becomes seat of power and wealth
  36. Roman bishop left as single most powerful person in the West
  37. By the end of the 4th century barbarians serious problem in the west (Visgoths, Huns, etc)
  38. After the sacking of Rome in 410, Christian views of society and history were put forth, including the most prominent which was Augustine’s City of God.
  39. Compare Augustine’s Two Cities with Genesis 4-5.
  40. Other important works of Augustine which we will discuss include his Confessions, and On the Trinity,
  41. Augustine – bridge between ancient world and Middle Ages
  42. Roman bishop won primacy over other bishops
  43. When imperial throne falls into the hands of the barbarians in 476 people look to the Roman bishop for political leadership as well as spiritual leadership
  44. Western civilization was created in medieval Europe (institutions, mentalities, struggles, books, etc.) No more Roman Lake.
  45. Spontaneous mission work in 4th & 5th centuries
  46. “Medieval history, from one point of view, is the story of the movement of the centre of gravity of civilization from one side of the Alps to the other.”
  47. “The movement of the centres of civilization from south to north and from east to west during the medieval centuries involved a change from the empires of Rome, Byzantium, and the Arabs, empires of vast geographical extent and great military power but which were relatively loosely controlled.”  Creation of new societies.
  48. Christians among the Britons by the end of the second century.
  49. When Roman missionaries came England in 6th century they found three distinct expressions of Christianity (1)Romano-British Christians in the South, (2) Irish Christians, and (3) Celtic Christianity.
  50. Boniface evangelizes Teutonic tribes occupying modern Germany
  51. In the East, political stability achieved through reducing taxes and trimming expenses. (common vision)
  52. Syriac speaking Christians took gospel to Persian where there was interest in medicine, philosophy, advanced education.
  53. Persians make peace treaty with Justinian in 532
  54. Justinian had eyes on Africa and Italy
  55. 539 Khosru declares War on “Rome”
  56. Bubonic plague, Slavs, Goths keep Eastern empire from “glory” – Justinian’s reign relentless, austere quality
  57. Persia becomes stronger than at any time since Darius I
  58. Time of weak leadership makes susceptible to be conquered.
  59. In the sixth century many Arabs had converted to Christianity, but most continued to worship tribal deities.
  60. Mohammad lived 570-632.
  61. Ten years = 65 raids or campaigns
  62. Eventually becomes powerful enough to take Mecca, destroys idols, establishes Islam
  63. Islam means “submission.”
  64. Muslim means “one who submits.”
  65. The century of Muslim expansion is traditionally dated as 632-732.
  66. By 650 his Muslims had overrun the Persian empire, taken Syria, Egypt, and Palestine
  67. Western empire makes gains in the North through evangelism.
  68. Missionary task included making sure converts would be loyal to the pope.
  69. Emperors in Constantinople thought the church should be subordinate to the ruler of the state.
  70. Pope seeks ally
  71. Frankish rulers
  72. Rulers of new empire were Teutons rather than Romans
  73. Franks had accepted the Roman culture
  74. Clovis (466-510) had unified the Franks and conquered most of what would be modern France
  75. Franks accepted Christianity in 496 and became bulwark of papal power in Western Europe
  76. Eastern Empire barely hold its own against Muslims
  77. 718 Eastern empire under Leo the Isaurian stops Muslim advance
  78. Charles Martel stopped the advance of Islam in Spain in 732.
  79. Muslims, influenced by Greek culture, set out to build a splendid Arabic civilization centered in Bagdad
  80. Eastern Influence Diminishes (North African church disappears, Egypt and Holy Land lost to Muslims, Roman bishop has been growing stronger and stronger)
  81. The Franks “snatched western Europe from decline and brought a brief cultural revival” when Charlemagne crowned as true successor to the Roman empire.
  82. Charlemagne had Augustine’s City of God read to him every night and it was his inspiration for a Frankish-Roman empire.
  83. Charlemagne saw “missions” as part of a military strategy.
  84. By the time of the new millennium (1000) almost all of Europe was “officially” Christian.
  85. Charlemagne was crowned by Pope Leo III on Christmas day of 800, but intentionally avoided having the Pope present when control was passed to his son (816).
  86. “The Constitution romana (824) spelled out relations of emperor and pope. The emperor had supreme jurisdiction, while the pope as a local ruler was to exercise ordinary judiciary and administrative power in his territories.  The pope was to be chosen by the Roman people without constraint.  The emperor was to confirm his election, and before his consecration he was to take an oath of loyalty to the emperor.  The pope had the right to crown and anoint the emperor.
  87. Henry III, German emperor, was the last emperor able to dominate the papacy. Deposed three rival popes and installed his own.
  88. Excommunication of Henry IV by Gregory VII in 1076.
  89. Pope Boniface VII: Unam Sanctum (1302)For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords’ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard’ [Mt 26:52]. Both, therefore, are in the power of the Church, that is to say, the spiritual and the material sword, but the former is to be administered _for_ the Church but the latter by the Church; the former in the hands of the priest; the latter by the hands of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.
  90. Erastians –
  91. Calvin –
  92. Luther –
  93. Anabaptists –
  94. What Does the Bible Say? Deut 17:8ff
  95. 1 Samuel 13
  96. 2 Chronicles 26:16-21
  97. Luke 20:22ff
  98. First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
  99. Aristocracy = weakness, meritocracy = strength
  100. Six things that lead to cultural change: war, politics, religion, migration, economics, education.

 

 

Filed Under: Blog, Church History, History, Philosophy, Politics Tagged With: Apologetics, Augustus, Church History, Heresy, Islam, Roman Empire

August 6, 2013 by kevinstilley

Baptist History – Daniel Akin

Danny Akin, President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, has recommended the following books on Baptist History. What would you add to his list?

Baker, R.A. A Baptist Source Book. Nashville: Broadman, 1966.

Brackney, William H., ed. Baptist Life and Thought 1600-1980: A Source Book. Valley Forge: Judson, 1983.

Bush, L. Russ, and Tom Nettles, eds. Baptists and the Bible. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1999.

Caner, Emir and Ergun Caner. The Sacred Trust: Sketches of the Southern Baptist Convention Presidents. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2003.

_______. The Sacred Desk: Presidential Sermons to the Southern Baptist Convention, 1845-2003. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2004.

Cathcart, William. The Baptist Encyclopedia. Reprint. Paris, AK: The Baptist Standard, 1988.

Dockery, David. Southern Baptists and American Evangelicals: The Conversation Continues. Nashville: Broadman, 1993.

Fletcher, Jesse C. The Southern Baptist Convention: A Sesquicentennial History. Nashville: Broadman, 1994.

George, Timothy and David Dockery, eds. Theologians of the Baptist Tradition. rev. ed. Nashville: Broadman, 2001.

Hankins, Barry. Uneasy In Babylon. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2002.

Harper, Keith. Send the Light: Lottie Moon’s Letters and Other Writings. Macon: Mercer, 2002.

_______. Rescue the Perishing: Selected Correspondence of Annie W. Armstrong. Macon: Mercer, 2004.

Leonard, Bill. Dictionary of Baptists in America. Downers Grove: IVP, 1994.

Lumpkin, W.L. Baptist Confessions of Faith. Philadelphia: Judson, 1959.

McBeth Leon. A Sourcebook for Baptist Heritage. Nashville: Broadman, 1990.

_______ . The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist Witness. Nashville: Broadman, 1987.

Nettles, Tom. By His Grace and for His Glory. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1986.

________ . Teaching Truth and Training Hearts. Amityville, NY: Calvary Press, 1998.

Sutton, Jerry. The Baptist Reformation. Nashville: Broadman, 2000.

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RELATED CONTENT

Bibliography of Baptist Studies – Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Filed Under: Baptists, Blog, Books, Church History, History Tagged With: Baptist, Baptist History, bibliography, Church History, Danny Akin, reading list, SEBTS

August 4, 2013 by kevinstilley

The Insanity of Luther : Discussion Questions

Topic: The Insanity of Luther
Speaker: R.C. Sproul
Scripture: Romans 1

Why did Pope Leo call for the Lord God to rise up and deal with a wild pig loose in His vineyard? (Ex Surge Domine)

Was Martin Luther wild / insane?  What would provoke someone to think Luther was out of his mind?

How is Martin Luther’s life story pertinent to the topic of Holiness?

What is the gospel?

Watch again the video between 28:40 and 32:16.

Do you think most people understand the gospel as it is described here?

R.C. Sproul says that justification by faith alone is the article upon which the church stands or falls. Why?

What are the practical implications of belief that our righteousness is found in Christ and nowhere else?

* * *

This is the fourth lecture in the Ligonier teaching series The Holiness of God.

The Ligonier website describes the series as follow,

“The Holiness of God examines the meaning of holiness and why people are both fascinated and terrified by a holy God. This series closely explores God’s character, leading to new insights on sin, justice, and grace. The result is a new awareness of our dependence upon God’s mercy and a discovery of the awesomeness of His majestic holiness. Dr. R.C. Sproul says, “The holiness of God affects every aspect of our lives — economics, politics, athletics, romance — everything with which we are involved.”

Discussion questions and video for the rest of the series can be found at the following links:

  1. The Importance of Holiness
  2. The Trauma of Holiness
  3. Holiness and Justice
  4. The Insanity of Luther
  5. The Meaning of Holiness
  6. The Holiness of Christ

__________

Get “The Holiness of God” DVD Collection

Check out the Ligonier website for additional resources.

__________

Related

Holiness – Select Quotes

__________

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Filed Under: Blog, Church History, History, Theology Proper Tagged With: Church History, erasmus, fear, holiness, justice, Justification, Martin Luther, Reformation, Righteousness

July 28, 2013 by kevinstilley

Reformation Studies – Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

The following books and articles are some of those appearing on the Comprehensive Reading List for PhD Students in Reformation Studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

1. General Works

  • The Hebrew Old Testament
  • The Greek New Testament
  • Cross, F.L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
  • George, Timothy. Theology of the Reformers
  • McGrath, Alister. Reformation Thought: An Introduction, 3rd ed.

2. Premature Reformations

Primary Sources

  • Colet, John. “Sermon to Convocation”
  • Erasmus, Desiderius. On the Freedom of the Will
  • _______. Enchiridion Militis Christiani
  • _______. Paraclesis
  • Gerson, Jean. “Ambulate”
  • More, Thomas. Utopia
  • Wyclif, John. De Simonia

Secondary Sources

  • Leff, Gordon. Heresy in the Later Middle Ages
  • Oakley, Francis. The Conciliarist Tradition

3. The Lutheran Reformation

Primary Sources

  • Luther, Martin. Commentary on Galatians
  • _______. On the Bondage of the Will
  • _______. On Temporal Authority
  • _______. Three Treatises
  • _______. The Marburg Colloquy
  • The Book of Concord

Secondary Sources

  • Althaus, Paul. The Theology of Martin Luther.
  • Lohse, Bernard. Martin Luther: An Introduction to His Life and Work.

4. The Reformed Tradition

Primary Sources

  • Bucer, Martin. De Regno Christi
  • Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion
  • _______. Commentaries
  • _______. Theological Treatises
  • Cochrane, Arthur C., ed., Reformed Confessions of the Sixteenth Century
  • Zwingli, Huldrych. On the Certainty and Clarity of the Word of God

Secondary Sources

  • Barth, Karl. The Theology of the Reformed Confessions
  • McNeill, John T. The History and Character of Calvinism
  • Wendel, François. Calvin: Sources et Évolution de sa Pensée Religieuse.
  • Articles on Calvin’s Exegesis
  • Gerrish, B.A. “Biblical Authority and the Continental Reformation.” Scottish Journal of Theology 10 (1950): 337–60.
  • Kraus, Hans-Joachim. “Calvin’s Exegetical Principles.” Interpretation 31 (January 1977): 8–18. A Translation of “Calvins Exegetical Prinzipien,” Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 79 (1968): 329–41.
  • Muller, Richard. “The Hermeneutic of Promise and Fulfillment in Calvin’s Exegesis of the Old Testament Prophecies of the Kingdom,” in The Bible in the Sixteenth Century, (Durham: Duke University Press, 1990): 68–82.

4. The Radical Reformation

Primary Sources

  • Bender, Harold, ed. The Complete Writings of Menno Simons
  • Estep, William R., ed. Anabaptist Beginnings, 1523 1533
  • Hubmaier, Balthasar. Theologian of Anabaptism
  • Klassen and Klaassen, eds. The Writings of Pilgrim Marpeck
  • Williams, G.H., and A.M. Mergal, eds. Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers

Secondary Sources

  • Estep, William. The Anabaptist Story, 2nd ed.
  • Littell, Franklin. The Anabaptist View of the Church
  • Williams, G.H. The Radical Reformation, 3rd ed.

5. The English Reformation

Primary Sources

  • Cranmer, Thomas. A Defense of the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Our Savior Christ
  • Bray, Gerald, ed. Documents of the English Reformation.
  • Latimer, Hugh. Sermons
  • Tyndale, William. On the Obedience of a Christian Man

Secondary Sources

  • Dickens, A.G. The English Reformation
  • Duffy, Eamon. The Stripping of the Altars
  • MacCulloch, Diarmaid. Thomas Cranmer: A Life
  • Articles on English Reformation Historiography
  • Dickens, A.G. “The Early Expansion of Protestantism in England 1520-1558,” Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 78 (1987): 187-221
  • _____. “The Shape of Anti-clericalism and the English Reformation,” in E.I. Kouri and Tom Scott, eds. Politics and Society in Reformation Europe: Essays for Geoffrey Elton on his Sixty-fifth Birthday (London: Macmillan, 1987), 379-410
  • Haigh, Christopher. “Anticlericalism and the English Reformation” History 68 (1983): 391-407
  • _____. “Revisionism, the Reformation and the History of English Catholicism,” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 36 (1985): 394-405
  • _____. “The Recent Historiography of the English Reformation,” Historical Journal 25 (1982): 995-1007

6. The Catholic Reformation

Primary Sources

  • Loyola, Ignatius. The Spiritual Exercises and Selected Works
  • Pole, Reginald. Defense of Unity of the Church
  • The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent

Secondary Sources

  • Chemnitz, Martin. Examination of the Council of Trent
  • Fenlon, Dermot. Heresy and Obedience in Tridentine Italy: Cardinal Pole and the Counter Reformation

7. The Long Reformation

Primary Sources

  • An Admonition to Parliament
  • Ames, William. The Marrow of Theology
  • Browne, Robert. A Treatise of Reformation Without Tarrying for Any
  • Articuli Arminiani sive Remonstrantia and Canones Synodi Dordrechtanae
  • Ursinus, Zacharias. Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism

Secondary Sources

  • Collinson, Patrick. The Elizabethan Puritan Movement
  • Kendall, R.T. Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649
  • White, B.R. The English Separatist Tradition

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Church History, History Tagged With: bibliography, Book Recommendation, Church History, reading list, Reformation, Renaissance, SWBTS

July 18, 2013 by kevinstilley

Reading Church History

“It is always essential for us to supplement our reading of theology with the reading of church history… If we do not, we shall be in danger of becoming abstract, theoretical, and academic in our view of truth; and, failing to relate it to the practicalities of life and daily living, we shall soon be in trouble.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Can We Learn from History?” Puritans, pp. 215-16

Below are some of the books on Church History recommended by Mark Dever, Chris Armstrong, Michael Craven, David Calhoun, Bruce Hindmarsh, Daniel Akin, Tom Ascol and others.  What books would you add to their lists?

_ _ _

David Calhoun

In his course on the Ancient and Medieval Church at Covenant Theological Seminary, David Calhoun used the textbook The Story of Christianity, Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation by Justo Gonzalez, and in his lecture on “The Study of Church History”, he recommended the following texts:

Clarke, Kenneth. Civilisation: A Personal View. 1969.
An overview of western history with special emphasis on the arts and a humanistic interpretation of what it all means.

McGrath, Alister E. Christian Theology: An Introduction. 1994.
Historical theology presented ably and as simply as possible.

Moffett, Samuel H. A History of Christianity in Asia: Beginnings to 1500. 1992.
The first of two masterful volumes covering the neglected story of Asian Christianity, this history traces the spread of Christianity to Persia and India, and then overland to China, where evidence exists of Christian activity dating from the 7th century.

Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (5 vols.)
The magnum opus of a great scholar (a Lutheran who recently converted to Eastern Orthodoxy).

Potok, Chaim. Wanderings: History of the Jews. 1978.
A wonderfully written story of the Jews by an acclaimed novelist.

Schaeffer, Francis A. How Should We Then Live?: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture. 1976.
Schaeffer’s influential study of the rise and (mainly) the decline of western thought.

Shaw, Mark R. The Kingdom of God in Africa: A Short History of African Christianity. 1996.
Part 1 covers the church before the emergence of Islam; part 2, the medieval centuries of Islamic domination; part 3, the missions and colonial eras; and part 4, the remarkable story of twentieth-century African Christianity.

Williams, Charles. The Descent of the Dove. 1939.
Idiosyncratic, brilliant, perplexing, and illuminating history. Eugene H. Peterson wrote in Take and Read, “When I started reading [Charles] Williams [The Descent of the Dove], I was a sectarian, ‘related’ only to a small coterie of people who lived and thought and prayed like me. When I finished, I was part of a congregation centuries deep and continents wide” (p. 1).

& & &

And in the subsequent lecture on “The Growth of the Church,” he recommends:

The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in Transmission of Faith.
One of the most important books of Christian history of the 1990s. By a Scottish mission
historian and missionary.

& & &

In lecture three on The Martyrs, he quotes from and/or recommends the following:

Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis

F. F. Bruce, Spreading Flame: The Rise and Progress of Christianity from Its First Beginnings to the Conversion of the English

Maier, Paul L. The Flames of Rome: A Documentary Novel

* * * * *

Mark Dever

The following titles on CHURCH HISTORY are included in the 9Marks reading list for pastors:

Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, Roland Bainton

The Early Church, Henry Chadwick

The Dumb Ox (A Biography of Aquinas), G.K. Chesterton

George Whitfield (2 vols.), Arnold Dallimore

Handbook to the History of Christianity, ed. Tim Dowley

Theology of the Reformers, Timothy George

The Democratization of American Christianity, Nathan Hatch

The Waning of the Middle Ages, Johan Huizinga

A History of Christianity in the U.S & Canada, Mark Noll

Quest for Godliness, J.I. Packer

The Church Under Siege, M.A. Smith

* * * * *

Danny Akin

Danny Akin, President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, has recommended the following books on Church History.

Berkhof, Louis. The History of Christian Doctrines. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1975.

Bingham, D. Jeffrey. Pocket History of the Church. Downers Grove: Baker, 1975.

Bromiley, Geoffrey. Historical Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978.

Cairns, Earle E. Christianity Through the Centuries: A History of the Christian Church. rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981.

Cunliffe-Jones, Hubert, ed. A History of Christian Doctrine. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978.

Douglas, J.D., ed. The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church. rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978.

Gonzalez, Justo L. A History of Christian Thought. 3 vols. Nashville: Abingdon, 1970.

_______ . The Story of Christianity. 2 vols. San Francisco: Harper, 1984.

Hannah, John D. Charts of Ancient and Midieval Church History. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, forthcoming.

________. Kregel Pictorial Guide to the History of the Church. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2000

________. Our Legacy: The History of Christian Doctrine. Colorado Springs, CO: Navpress, 2001.

Kelly, J.N.D. Early Christian Doctrines. rev. ed. New York: Harper, 1978.

Langin, Timothy, David Bebbington, and Mark Knoll, eds. Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals. Downers Grove: IVP, 2003.

McGrath, Alister E. Historical Theology: an Introduction to the History of Christian Thought. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1998.

Schaff, Philip. The Creeds of Christendom. 3 vols. 6th ed. rev. and en. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1877.

_______ . History of the Christian Church. 8 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962 (1910).

* * * * *

Michael Craven

Michael Craven of the Center For Christ and Culture recommends the following books on Christian History;

  • Uncompromised Faith: Overcoming Our Culturalized Christianity, by S. Michael Craven
  • Church History in Plain Language, by Bruce L. Shelley
  • From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present, by Jacques Barzun
  • Readings in Christian Thought, edited by Hugh T. Kerr
  • The Confessions of Saint Augustine, a Translation for the 21st Century
  • The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a’Kempis
  • The Protestant Reformation: Major Documents, edited by Lewis W. Spitz
  • Christianity Through the Centuries
  • The First Christian Centuries: Perspectives on the Early Church, by Paul McKechnie
  • How Christianity Changed the World, by Alvin J. Schmidt

* * * * *

Chris Armstrong

Chris Armstrong, professor of Church History at Bethel Seminary and author of Patron Saints for Postmoderns: Ten from the Past Who Speak to Our Future, has recommended the following as “excellent historical reads”.

  • John Comenius: The Labyrinth of the World and The Paradise of the Heart (Classics of Western Spirituality) by Howard Louthan, Andrea Sterk
  • The Life & Spirituality of John Newton: An Authentic Narrative (Sources of Evangelical Spirituality) by John Newton, Bruce D. Hindmarsh
  • John Newton and the English Evangelical Tradition: Between the Conversions of Wesley and Wilberforce by D. Bruce Hindmarsh
  • Amazing Grace: John Newton’s Story by John Pollock
  • The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy L. Sayers
  • Gaudy Night (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries) by Dorothy L. Sayers
  • Letters to a Diminished Church: Passionate Arguments for the Relevance of Christian Doctrine by Dorothy Sayers
  • The Divine Comedy: Hell (Penguin Classics) by Dante Alighieri, Dorothy L. Sayers
  • The Passionate Intellect: Dorothy L. Sayers’ Encounter with Dante by Ralph E. Hone, Barbara Reynolds
  • The Book of Margery Kempe by Margery Kempe
  • St. Gregory the Great, Pastoral Care (Ancient Christian Writers) by Henry Davis
  • An Autobiography: The Story of the Lord’s Dealings with Mrs. Amanda Smith the Colored Evangelist (Schomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women) by Amanda Smith, Amanda B. Smith

* * * * *

The Criswell College

The following books on Church History are recommended in the publication Beginning Your Theological Library published by the Criswell College.

 

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The Southern Baptist Convention and Its People 1607-1972, by Robert A. Baker

Eerdman’s Handbook to the History of Christianity, ed. by Tim Dowley

Eerdman’s Handbook to Christianity in America, ed. by Mark Noll

* * * * *

Bruce Hindmarsh

In an article in Christianity Today, Bruce Hindmarsh, professor of spiritual theology at Regent College in Vancouver recommended the following books as some of the best to introduce the general reader to early evangelicalism. According to Hindmarsh, “All of these books are a pleasure to read, and all of the authors are experts in their fields.”

  • The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield, and the Wesleys, by Mark A. Noll
  • The Inextinguishable Blaze: Spiritual Renewal and Advance in the Eighteenth Century, by A. Skevington Wood
  • Wesley and the People Called Methodists, by Richard P. Heitzenrater
  • Jonathan Edwards: A Life, by George M. Marsden
  • The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America, by Thomas S. Kidd

* * * * *

Westminster Theological Seminary

And, this is the list that WTS recommends to prospective students.

Hastings, Adrian. A World History of Christianity. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2000.

Chadwick, Henry. The Early Church. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1993.

Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975.

Lindberg, Carter. The Reformation Theologians. Wiley-Blackwell, 2002.

Plancher, William C. Readings in the History of Christian Theology. Richmond: Westminster John Knox Press, 1988.

Muller, Richard A. Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics : The Rise and Development of Reformed Orthodoxy. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 2003.

Ahlstrom, Sydney E. A Religious History of the American People. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.

Nichols, Stephen. J. J. Gresham Machen: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought. Philipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 2004.

Trueman, Carl. John Owen. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.

* * * * *

Reformed Theological Seminary

Reformed Theological Seminary lists the following Church History books on its Recommended Reading list for prospective students.

  • Church History in Plain Language, Bruce Shelley
  • Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity, Mark Noll
  • Church History, Volume 1: From Christ to Pre-Reformation, Everett Ferguson
  • A Religious History of the American People, Sydney Ahlstrom
  • The Story of Christian Theology, Roger Olson
  • Historical Theology, Alister McGrath
  • Augustine of Hippo, Peter Brown
  • The Thought of Thomas Aquinas, Brian Davies
  • Luther, Heiko Oberman
  • Calvin: A Biography, Bernard Cottret
  • Jonathan Edwards: A Life, George Marsden
  • The Early Church, Henry Chadwick
  • Early Christian Doctrines, J.N.D. Kelly
  • Christianity & Western Thought, Volume 1, Colin Brown
  • Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages, R.W. Southern
  • The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (5 vols.), Jaroslav Pelikan
  • The Medieval Theologians, G.R. Evans
  • A World History of Christianity, Adrian Hastings

* * * * *

And click the following link to see the Reading List for PhD Students in Church History at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

* * * * *
Okay, now it’s your turn. What do you recommend?

Filed Under: Blog, Church History, History Tagged With: 9Marks, American History, bibliography, Church History, reading list, SWBTS

July 17, 2013 by kevinstilley

Historical Theology – Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

The following books and articles are some of those appearing on the Comprehensive Reading List for PhD Students in Historical Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Biblical Foundation

The Hebrew Old Testament

The Greek New Testament

 

I. General Reference Works

Cross, F.L., et ux. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church

Gonzalez, Justo. A History of Christian Thought, revised ed., 3 vols.

Hart, Trevor, ed., The Dictionary of Historical Theology

Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition, 5 vols.

Quasten, Johannes. Patrology, 4 vols.

Schaff, Philip. The Creeds of Christendom, 3 vols.

 

II. Historical Sources

1. Greek Fathers

Primary Sources

Harvey, Edward R., ed. Christology of the Later Fathers, Library of Christian Classics

Origen. De Principiis.

Richardson, Cyril, ed. Early Christian Fathers Library of Christian Classics

Secondary Sources

Williams, Rowan. Arius: Heresy and Tradition

Articles and/or Short Treatises

Athanasius. Orationes contra Arianos IV, (First Oration).

2. Latin Fathers

Primary Sources

S. L. Greenslade, Early Latin Theology, Library of Christian Classics (Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, Jerome)

Augustine. De Doctrina Christiana

______. De Trinitate.

______. Confessions.

Articles and/or Short Treatises

Augustine. De Natura et Gratia; De Spiritu et Littera, De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio.

3. Medieval

Primary Sources

Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologia, (3a. 16–26, “The One Mediator”)

______. Summa Contra Gentiles, Book 4.

Fairweather, Eugene, ed. A Scholastic Miscellany: Anselm to Ockham. Library of Christian Classics (Cur Deus Homo; excerpt of On the Incarnation; Proslogion; Selections of Lombard, Sentences; Selections of Scotus, Commentary on the Sentences)

Articles and/or Short Treatises

Anselm. De processione Spiritus Sancti.

4. Dissent and Renaissance

Primary Sources

Rupp, E. Gordon, ed. Luther and Erasmus: Free Will and Salvation. Library of Christian Classics

Erasmus, Desiderius. Enchiridion Militis Christiani

Wyclif, John. De Simonia

Articles and/or Short Treatises

Colet, John. “Sermon before Convocation”

Erasmus, Desiderius. Paraclesis

5. Reformation

Primary Sources

G.W. Bromily, ed. Zwingli and Bullinger. Library of Christian Classics

Pauck, Wilhelm, ed. Melanchthon and Bucer. Library of Christian Classics

Calvin, John. Institutio Christianae religionis

Cranmer, Thomas. Defensio Verae et Catholicae de Sacramento.

Luther, Martin. Three Treatises

______. Commentary on Galatians.

Tyndale, William. On the Obedience of a Christian Man

Williams, G.H. Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers, Library of Christian Classics

Secondary Sources

Althaus, Paul. Die Theologie Martin Luthers.

Articles on Calvin and the Reformed Tradition

Gerrish, B.A.“Biblical Authority and the Continental Reformation,” Scottish Journal of Theology 10 (Dec. 1950): 337–60

Kraus, Hans-Joachim. “Calvin’s Exegetical Principles.” Interpretation 31 (January 1977): 8–18. A Translation of “Calvins Exegetical Prinzipien,” Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 79 (1968): 329–41.

Muller, Richard. “The Hermeneutic of Promise and Fulfillment in Calvin’s Exegesis of the Old Testament Prophecies of the Kingdom,” in The Bible in the Sixteenth Century, (Durham: Duke University Press, 1990): 68–82.

Articles on English Reformation Historiography

Dickens, A.G. ‘The Early Expansion of Protestantism in England 1520-1558’, Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte, 78 (1987), 187-221

_____. ‘The Shape of Anti-clericalism and the English Reformation’, in Politics and Society in Reformation Europe: Essays for Geoffrey Elton on his Sixty-fifth Birthday, ed. by E.I. Kouri and Tom Scott (London: Macmillan, 1987), pp. 379-410

Haigh, Christopher. “Anticlericalism and the English Reformation” History, 68 (1983), 391-407

_____.’Revisionism, the Reformation and the History of English Catholicism’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 36 (1985), 394-405

_____.’The Recent Historiography of the English Reformation’, Historical Journal, 25 (1982), 995-1007

6. Protestant Orthodoxy

Primary Sources

Book of Concord

Ursinus, Zacharias. Explicationes Catecheticas D. Zachariae Ursini

Secondary Sources

Barth, Karl. Theologie der reformierten Bekenntnisschriften.

7. Puritanism

Primary Sources

Ames, William. Medulla Theologica.

Browne, Robert. A Treatise of Reformation Without Tarrying for Any.

Owen, John. The Death of Death in the Death of Christ.

8. Pietism

Primary Sources

Spener, Jacob. Pia Desideria

9. Beginnings of Evangelicalism

Primary Sources

Edwards, Jonathan. Freedom of the Will

Articles and/or Short Treatises

Wesley, John. “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection,” “Predestination Calmly Considered.”

10. Liberalism

Primary Sources

Harnack, Adolf. Das Wesen des Christentums.

Schleiermacher, Friedrich. Der christliche
Glaube

______. Reden über die Religion.

Secondary Sources

Barth, Karl. Protestantische Theologie im 19. Jahrhundert.

11. Baptists

Primary Sources

Dagg, John L. Manual of Theology;

Dana, H.E. Manual of Ecclesiology

Secondary Sources

George, Timothy, and David Dockery. Theologians of the Baptist Tradition.

Articles and/or Short Treatises

George, Timothy. “Southern Baptist Ghosts,” First Things 93 (May 1999), 17–24.

May, Lynn E., Jr. “Foundations Laid by Luther Rice,” Baptist History and Heritage 8 (April 1973)

Moore, LeRoy. ”Crazy Quilts: Southern Baptist Patterns of the Church,” Foundations 29 (1977): 12–35.

Shurden, Walter B. and Lori Redwine Varnadoe. “The Origins of the Southern Baptist Convention: A Historiographical Study,” Baptist History and Heritage 37 (Winter 2002).

Yarnell, Malcolm. “Changing Baptist Concepts of Royal Priesthood: John Smyth and Edgar Young Mullins,” in The Rise of the Laity in Evangelical Protestantism, ed. by Deryck Lovegrove (London: Routledge, 2002), pp. 236-52.

12. American Christianity

Primary Sources

Hodge, Charles. Systematic Theology. Vol. 1.

Machen, J. Gresham. Christianity & Liberalism

Secondary Sources

Hatch, Nathan. The Democratization of American Christianity

Articles and/or Short Treatises

Warfield, B.B. “The Biblical Idea of Revelation,” “The Biblical Idea of Inspiration,” “Inspiration and Criticism,” “The Spirit of God in the Old Testament” in The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield.

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Church History, History Tagged With: bibliography, Book Recommendation, Church History, reading list, SWBTS

July 15, 2013 by kevinstilley

Church History – Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

The following books and articles are some of those appearing on the Comprehensive Reading List for PhD Students in Church History at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I have actually read most of the books on this list.

Biblical Foundation

The Hebrew Old Testament

The Greek New Testament

Methodology

Appleby, J., et al. Telling the Truth about History. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1994.

Bradley, James E. and Muller, Richard A. Church History: An Introduction to Research, Reference Works, and Methods. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.

Bauman, Michael, and Martin Klauber I. Historians of the Christian Tradition: Their Methodology and Influence on Western Thought. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1995.

Fischer, David. Historians’ Fallacies. New York: Harper and Row, 1970.

Nash, Ronald. Christian Faith and Historical Understanding. Grand Rapids: Academic Renewal Press, 2002.

Stout, Harry S. and D. G. Hart. New Directions in American Religious History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

General Surveys

Ahlstrom, Sidney. Religious History of the American People, 2d. New Haven: Yale University, 2004.

Harnack, Adolph. Outlines of the History of Dogma. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2001.

Hastings, Adrian, ed. A World History of Christianity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.

Larsen, Timothy. Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2003.

Latourette, Kenneth Scott and Winter, Ralph D. A History of Christianity, Revised, 2 vols. San Francisco: Harper-Collins, 1975.

Ferguson, Everett. Church History Volume One: From Christ to the Pre-Reformation. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004.

Moffett, Samuel H. A History of Christianity in Asia, Vol. 1, Beginnings to 1500. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 1992.

Neill, Stephen. A History of Christian Missions. Harmonsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1990.

Reid, Daniel G., ed. Dictionary of Christianity in America. Downer’s Grove: Intervarsity, 1990.

Walker, Williston, et. al. A History of the Christian Church. New York: Scribner, 1985.

Stout, Harry S. and D. G. Hart. New Directions in American Religious History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Early Christianity

Creeds: Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed, Creed of Constantinople, Creed of Chalcedon

Augustine. Confessiones. W. Watts, ed. Loeb Clasical Library, 2vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1912.

__________. De Civitate Dei. G.E. McCraken, et al, eds. Loeb Classical Library, 7 vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966.

Brown, Peter R.L. Augustine of Hippo: A Biography. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.

Clark, Elizabeth A. The Origenist Controversy: the Cultural Construction of an Early Christian Debate. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.

__________. Reading Renunciation: Scripture in Early Christianity. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.

Crouzel, Henri. Origen: the Life and Thought of the First Great Theologian. Trans. A. S. Worrall. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1989.

Eusebius. Historia Ecclesiastica. K. Lake, ed. Loeb Classical Library, 2vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1926.

Esler, Philip F., ed. The Early Christian World. 2 vols. New York: Routledge, 2000.

Ferguson, Everett. Early Christians Speak. 3d ed. Abilene, Texas: ACU Press, 1999.

__________. Backgrounds of Early Christianity. Third Edition. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003.

Frend, W.H.C. The Rise of Christianity. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984.

Kelly, J.N.D. Early Christian Doctrines, Revised. San Francisco: Harper-Collins, 1978.

__________. Golden Mouth: The Story of John Chrysostom-Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995.

Meyendorff, John. Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes. New York: Fordham University Press, 1987.

Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition.

Stark, Rodney. The Rise of Christianity. San Francisco: Harper-Collins, 1997.

TeSelle, Eugene. Augustine the Theologian. New York: Herder & Herder, 1970.

Wilken, Robert L. The Christians as the Romans Saw Them. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984.

__________. The Spirit of Early Christian Thought. Hew Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.

Williams, Rowan. Arius: Heresy and Tradition. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002.

Young, Frances, Lewis Ayers, and Andrew Louth, eds. The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Medieval Christianity

Creeds: Lateran IV (1215)

Á Kempis, Thomas. The Imitation of Christ. New York: Dorset Press, 1986.

Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People. New York: Penguin Classics, 1991.

Brady, Thomas A. Jr., Heiko A. Oberman and James D. Tracy, eds. Handbook of European History: 1400-1600. 2vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.

Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctum.

Chazan, Robert. Daggers of Faith: Thirteenth-Century Missionizing and Jewish Response. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.

Fairweather, A.M., trans. Nature and Grace: Selections from the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas. Library of Christian Classics, vol. 11. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1954.

Ha Levi, Judah. Kuzari: The Book of Proof and Argument. New York: Schoken Books, 1966

Knowles, David. The Evolution of Medieval Thought, Revised. London: Longman, 1988.

Lawrence, C. H. Medieval Monasticism, Revised. London: Longman, 1989.

Leclercq, Jean, O.S.B. L’Amour des lettrees et le desir de Dieu: Initiation aux auteurs monastiques du Moyen-Age. Paris: Cerf, 1991.

Lerner, Robert E. The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Latter Middle Ages. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972.

Lubac, Henri de. Exegese medievale: les quatre sense de l’Eciture. Paris: Aubier, 1954-64.

Maccoby, Hyam. Judaism on Trial: Jewish Christian Disputations in the Middle Ages. New York: Littman Library, 1993.

McCracken, George E. Early Medieval Theology. Library of Christian Classics, vol. 9. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1957.

Ozment, Steven. The Age of Reform, 1250-1550. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980.

Riche, Pierre. Daily Life in the World of Charlemagne. Trans. Jo Ann McNamara. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 1978.

Southern, R.W. Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1970.

Spinka, Matthew. Advocates of Reform: From Wyclif to Erasmus. Library of Christian Classics, vol. 14. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1953.

Ware, Timothy Kallistos. The Orthodox Church, 2d ed. New York: Penguin Books, 1995.

Reformation

Creeds: Augsburg Confession, Council of Trent, Second Helvetic Confession, Schleitheim Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, Thirty-Nine Articles, Synod of Dort, Westminster Confession, First London Confession

Armstrong, Brian G. Calvinism and the
Amyraut Heresy: Protestant Scholasticism and Humanism in Seventeenth-Century France. Madison, 1969.

Benedict, Philip. Christ’s Churches Purely Reformed: A Social History of Calvinism. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002.

Bromiley, G.W., ed. Zwingli and Bullinger. Library of Christian Classics vol. 24. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1953.

Calvin, John. Institutes of Christian Religion. 2vols. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960.

Dickens, A.G. The English Reformation, 2nd ed. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1989.

Erasmus, Desiderius. The Praise of Folly. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979.

Estep, W.R. The Anabaptist Story, 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.

George, Timothy. Theology of the Reformers. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1988.

Kristeller, Paul Oskar. Renaissance Thought and its Sources. New York: Columbia University Press, 1979.

Lohse, Bernhard. Martin Luther: An Introduction to His Life and Work. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986.

Luebke, David M. ed. The Counter-Reformation: the Essential Readings. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1999.

Lull, Timothy F., ed. Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989.

MacCulloch, D. The Reformation: A History. New York: Viking/Penguin, 2004.

McGiffert, Michael. “William Tyndale’s Conception of Covenant.” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 32 (1981): 167-84.

McGrath, Alister E. Reformation Thought: An Introduction, Third edition. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1999.

Muller, Richard A. God, Creation, and Providence in the Thought of Jacob Arminius: Sources and Directions of Scholastic Protestantism in Early Orthodoxy. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1991.

Olin, John C. ed. Christian Humanism, and the Reformation, Selected Writings of Desiderius Erasmus, Revised. New York: Fordham University Press, 1987.

Paul, Robert S. The Assembly of the Lord. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1985.

Reuchlin, Johannes: Recommendation Whether to Confiscate, Destroy and Burn All Jewish Books, Peter Wortsman, ed. New York: Paulist Press, 2000.

Rummel, Erika. The Humanist-Scholastic Debate. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995.

Rupp, E.Gordon. Patterns of Reformation. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969.

Steinmetz, D.C, Reformers in the Wings, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Troeltsch, Ernst. “The Economic Ethic of Calvinism” in Protestantism, Capitalism and Social Science: The Weber Thesis and Its Critics, 2d, Robert W. Green, ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin College Div, 1973.

Trueman, Carl R., and R. S. Clark, ed. Protestant Scholasticism: Essays in Reassessment. Carlisle, UK: Paternoter Press, 1999.

Wendel, Francois. Calvin: The Origins and Development of His Religious Thought. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997.

Williams, George H. The Radical Reformation. Kirkville, MO: Truman State University Press, 1992.

Christianity in the Age of Reason

Ashton, Nigel. Christianity and Revolutionary Europe, 1750-1830. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Bebbington, David. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1992.

Black, Jeremy. Eighteenth Century Europe. 2d. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999.

Byrne, James M. Religion and the Enlightenment: From Descartes to Kant. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1997.

Clark, J.C.D. English Society 1660-1832. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Leslie, Charles. A Short and Easy Method with the Deists. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1880.

Noll, M. The Rise of Evangelicalism. Downers Grove, IL.: IVP, 2004.

Outler, Albert C., ed. John Wesley. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964.

Spener, Philip Jacob. Pia Desideria. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999.

Tindal, Matthew. Christianity as Old as Creation. Garland, 1978.

Ward, W.R. Christianity under the Ancien Regime. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Watts, Michael R. The Dissenters, vol.1. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978.

North American Studies

Ahlstrom, Sydney E. and Hall, David D. A Religious History of the American People, Revised. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.

Cherry, Conrad. The Theology of Jonathan Edwards: A Reappraisal. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1966.

Conforti, Joseph A. Jonathan Edwards, Religious Tradition, and American Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995.

Edwards, Jonathan. A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections. New Haven, Yale, 1959.

Finney, Charles G. Lectures on Systematic Theology. Whittier, CA: Colporter Kemp, 1944.

Frey, Sylvia and Betty Wood. Come Shouting to Zion: African American Protestantism in the American South and British Caribbean to 1830. University of North Carolina Press, 1998.

Fulop, Timothy E and Albert J. Raboteau, eds. African-American Religion: Interpretive Essays in History and Culture. New York: Routledge, 1997.

Goen, C. C. Revivalism and Separatism in New England, 1740-1800: Strict Congregationalists and Separate Baptists in the Great Awakening. New Haven: Yale, 1962.

Hambrick-Stowe, Charles E. The Practice of Piety: Puritan Devotional Disciplines in Seventeenth-Century New England. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982.

__________. Charles G. Finney and the Spirit of American Evangelicalism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.

Hatch, Nathan. The Democratization of American Christianity. New Haven: Yale, 1989.

Haynes, Stephen R. Noah’s Curse: the Biblical Justification of American Slavery. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Carl Henry, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmanns, 1947.

Holifield, E. Brooks. Theology in America, New Haven: Yale, 2003.

Kling, David. A Field of Divine Wonders: The New Divinity and Village Revivals in Northwestern Connecticut, 1792-1822. University Park, PA: Penn State Press, 1993.

J Gresham Machen, Christianity & Liberalism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmanns, 1923.

Marsden, George. Fundamentalism and American Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.

__________. Jonathan Edwards: A Life. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.

May, Henry. The Enlightenment in America. New York: Oxford University Press. 1976.

Miller, Perry. Errand into the Wilderness. New York: Harper Torchbooks. 1956.

Murphy, Larry G., ed. Down by the Riverside: Readings in African American Religion. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Niebuhr, H. Richard. The Kingdom of God in America. New York: Willett, Clark, and Co., 1937.

Noll, Mark A. America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Raboteau, Albert J. A Fire in the Bones: Reflections on African-American Religious History. Beacon Press, 1995.

__________. Slave Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.

Smith, Timothy L. Revivalism and Social Reform in Mid-Nineteenth Century America. New York: Abingdon Press,1957.

Stout, Harry S. The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in Colonial New England. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Synan, Vinson. The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth Century, Revised. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997.

Thornwell, James Henley. “The Christian Doctrine of Slavery.” In The Collected Writings of James Henley Thornwell. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1974.

Wacker, Grant. Heaven Below: Early Pentecostals and American Culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.

Christianity in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Vatican II

Kuyper, Abraham. Lectures on Calvinism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.

Schleiermacher, Friedrich. The Christian Faith. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1948.

Troeltsch, Ernst. Die Soziallehren der christlichen Kirchen understanding Gruppen. Aalen: Scientia, 1965.

Welch, Claude. Protestant Thought in the Nineteenth Century, 2vols. New Haven: Yale University, 1972.

Baptist History

General Textbooks

Leonard, Bill J. Baptist Ways: A History. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 2003.

__________, ed. Dictionary of Baptists in America. Downer’s Grove, IL: IVP, 1995.

McBeth, Leon. The Baptist Heritage. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1995.

Wardin , Albert W. Baptists around the World. Nashville, Broadman and Holman, 1995.

Original Source Collections

Dever, Mark E., ed. Polity. Washington D.C.: Center for Church Reform, 2001.

Deweese, Charles W., ed. Baptist Church Covenants. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1990.

Lumpkin, William, ed. Baptist Confessions of Faith. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1981.

Nettles, Tom J. Teaching Truth, Training Hearts: The Study of Catechisms and Baptist Life. Amityville, N.Y.: Calvary Press, 1998.

Polity and Distinctives

Brackney, William H. The Baptists. Westport: Praeger Press, 1994.

Grenz, Stanley. The Baptist Congregation. Vancouver, B.C.: Regent College, 1998.

Hiscox, Edward Thurston and Everett C. Goodwin, The New Hiscox Guide for Baptist Churches. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1995.

Norman, R. Stanton. More than Just a Name: Preserving our Baptist Identity. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2001.

Sullivan, James L. Baptist Polity: As I See It. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1998.

Theology

Basden, Paul A. Has our Theology Changed? Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1994.

Bush Russ L. and Tom Nettles. Baptists and the Bible. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1999.

George, Timothy and David Dockery eds, Baptist Theologians. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1990.

_________. Theologians of the Baptist Tradition. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2001.

James, Robinson B. and David Dockery, eds. Beyond the Impasse? Scripture Interpretation and Theology in Baptist Life. Nashville: Broadman, 1992.

Tull, James E. Shapers of Baptist Thought. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1984.

Histories

Briggs, John H.Y. The English Baptists of the Nineteenth Century, Vol. 3. Oxford: Baptist Historical Society, 1994.

Brown, Raymond. The English Baptists of the Eighteenth Century, Vol. 2. Oxford: Baptist Historical Society, 1986.

Lumpkin, William Latane. Baptist Foundations in the South: Tracing through the Separates the Influence of the Great Awakening, 1754-1787. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1961.

Shurden, Walter B. Associationalism among Baptists in America, 1707-1814. New York: Arno Press, 1980.

Stanley, Brian. The History of the Baptist Missionary Society 1792-1992. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1992

White, B. R. The English Baptists of the Seventeenth Century, Vol. 1. Oxford: Baptist Historical Society, 1996.

Wooley, Davis C. Baptist Advance: the achievements of the Baptists of North America for a Century and a Half. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1964.

Filed Under: Blog, Books, Church History, History Tagged With: bibliography, Church History, reading list, SWBTS

November 10, 2012 by kevinstilley

Unusual Evangelism?

You might want to put this into your apologetic toolbox in case you are asked by someone why they should become a Christian rather than Islamic or Jewish.

In 980 Vladimer became king of the Rus (Russians). He could see the superiority of monotheism, but which of the three major monotheistic faiths should he follow? He rejected Islam when he learned he had to swear off alcohol. He eliminated Judaism because he wasn’t too pleased with the idea of circumcision. So, he chose Christianity.

So, now you know another reason why someone should choose Christianity over Islam or Judaism. Feel free to use this in your evangelism.

Filed Under: Blog, Church History, Evangelism, History Tagged With: Church History, Evangelism, Rus

July 10, 2012 by kevinstilley

Charles Haddon Spurgeon – select quotes

spurgeonThere is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. . . . No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God. . . . But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. . . . nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.
~ C. H. Spurgeon, quoted by J.I. Packer in Knowing God

Reading makes the full man, and it is the full man who alone can overflow for the profit of others.
~ in Commenting and Commentaries, 24; quoted in Nettles, Living by Revealed Truth, 158

By perseverance the snail reached the ark.
~ from Salt-Cellars

An ill life will effectually drown the voice of the most eloquent ministry.

Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.

As sure as God puts His children in the furnace He will be in the furnace with them.

Be masters of your Bibles, brethren, whatever other works you have not searched, be at home with the writings of the prophets and apostles.

Faith is reason at rest in God.

Fiery trials make golden Christians.

Have your heart right with Christ, and he will visit you often, and so turn weekdays into Sundays, meals into sacraments, homes into temples, and earth into heaven.

I do not look for any other means of converting men beyond the simple preaching of the Gospel and the opening of men’s ears to hear it.

If any of you should ask me for an epitome of the Christian religion, I should say that it is in one word — prayer.

It were a sad dishonour to a child of God to be the world’s favourite. It is a very ill omen to hear a wicked world clap its hands and shout ‘Well done’ to the Christian man.

Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the Book widens and deepens with our years.

Of two evils choose neither.

Our outer life is the test of our inner life; and if the outer life be not purified, rest assured the heart is not changed.

Quietude, which some men cannot abide because it reveals their inward poverty, is as a palace of cedar to the wise, for along its hallowed courts the King in His beauty deigns to walk.

Some people like to read so many [Bible] chapters every day. I would not dissuade them from the practice, but I would rather lay my soul asoak in half a dozen verses all day than rinse my hand in several chapters. Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture, and to let it be sucked up in your very soul, till it saturates your heart!

The ministry is a matter which wears the brain and strains the heart, and drains out the life of a man if he attends to it as he should.

Train up a child in the way he should go–but be sure you go that way yourself.

We should pray when we are in a praying mood, for it would be sinful to neglect so fair an opportunity. We should pray when we are not in a proper mood, for it would be dangerous to remain in so unhealthy a condition.

Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.

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Filed Under: Blog, Front Page, Quotes, Theology Tagged With: Blog, C.H. Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon, Church History, prince of preachers, quips, Quotes, wisdom

May 27, 2012 by kevinstilley

Augustine of Hippo – select quotes

Book Cover

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Accordingly, whatever in secular histories runs counter to it [Scripture] we do not hesitate to brand as wholly false, while with respect to nonparallel matters we remain indifferent.
~ in The City of God, trans. Gerald G. Walsh, Demetrius B. Zema, Grace Monahan and Daniel Honan (NY: Image, 1958), page. 408.

For, if He visited every sin here below with manifest penalty, it might be thought that no score remained to be settled at the Last Judgment. On the other hand, if God did not plainly enough punish sin on earth, people might conclude that there is no such thing as Divine Providence. So, too, in regard to the good things of life. If God did not bestow them with patent liberality on some who ask Him, we could possibly argue that such things did not depend on His power. On the other hand, if He lavished them on all who asked, we might have the impression that God is to be served only for the gifts He bestows. In that case, the service of God would not make us religious, but rather covetous and greedy. (Bk 1, Ch 8)

He that is good is free, though he is a slave; he that is evil is a slave, though, he be a king.

So, too, the tide of trouble will test, purify, and improve the good, but beat, crush, and wash away the wicked. So it is that, under the weight of the same affliction, the wicked deny and blaspheme god, and the good pray to Him and praise Him. The difference is not in what people suffer but in the way they suffer. (bk 1, ch 8)

The law detects, grace alone conquers sin.

Total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.

O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.

Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that thou mayest believe, but believe that thou mayest understand.

When facts are reported, they deny the value of evidence; when the evidence is produced, they declare it inconclusive.
~ in The City of God

Thou has made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee.
~ in Confessions

God is not what you imagine or what you think you understand. If you understand you have failed.

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Filed Under: Blog, Front Page, Quotes, Theology Tagged With: africa, ancient, Augustine, Blog, Church History, city of god, classic, Confessions, Hippo, medieval, middle ages, Quotes, western civilization

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