2,000 Years of Christ's Power, Part Two (v. 2) [Paperback]

Nicholas R. Needham (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: EP BOOKS (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0946462569
• ISBN-13: 978-0946462568
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,006,715 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exciting overview, March 28, 2002

By 

Brian Douglas (Brighton, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 2,000 Years of Christ's Power, Part Two (v. 2) (Paperback)

Needham has done an excellent job with this 4-book series of giving his readers a big-picture of Church History. He does not cover material at great depth, but deals with the major characters, issues, and events that have shaped the history of the Christian church in enough detail to leave his readers with a good idea of how they each fit together in space and time.

The first book is concerned with the period of the Church Fathers; the second, the Middle Ages (including the foundation and early character of Islam); the third, the Reformation; and the fourth, the Post-reformation to the Modern age.

Needham correctly believes that Christians today can learn and profit from the lessons of the past: the battles that have already been fought, the issues that have already been debated, the leaders who have come before us, etc. And he is able to present all this information in a manner that leaves Christians excited about the great work Christ has done through His church, from the first century through to our own day.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Realistic Potraits of the Medievals, January 28, 2009

By 

Baroque Norseman (Louisiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 2,000 Years of Christ's Power, Part Two (v. 2) (Paperback)

About 90% of this book was very well done. He follows his standard format in the series: exposition of a certain time period followed by 8 pages of sources from the middle ages. Needham's writing is warmly evangelical (though not without fault, as I will show later) and he tries as hard as possible to be sympathetic to a period that on first glance is not conducive to his own British evangelicalism:

The Highlights:
He gives an interesting overview of Charlemagne, covering the essential details from which much of medieval theology will spring. The potraits he paints of the heroes of this age are very life-like.

The section on Byzatine theology was quite good. The two sections on Holy Russia and Holy Serbia were superb. The sermon by St Cyril of Turov at the end of the chapter is among the best sermons ever preached ("The Glory of Easter").

A fault with the book:
Needham has this annoying habit of seeing in the arch-heretics seeds of "the doctrines and preaching of grace." Can't we just call them heretics and be done with it? Libertines and those who reject the Church are not definitionally Protestants. This kind of historiography makes us look silly and gives Catholics legitimate ammo to shoot us with.

Other than that, a pretty good book.