Church History: An Essential Guide (Abingdon Essential Guides) [Paperback]

Justo L Gonzalez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1996 | Series: Abingdon Essential Guides

One of the chief difficulties in studying the history of Christianity is the lack of prior exposure to the subject that students often bring with them.  Struggling to keep up with the large numbers of names, dates, and places presented to them, it is easy for students to lose sight of the "big picture," the broad sweep of movement and change that instructors most wish to communicate.  Justo Gonzalez has written this book to help students gain just such a quick and basic grasp of the main periods and issues in the history of Christianity.  Drawing upon his own extensive experience and that of others, he contends that having been introduced to the essentials of church history in a brief and accessible form, students are far better able to understand and appreciate what they encounter in more detailed lectures and reading.

Gonzalez provides a comprehensive opening chapter that summarizes major issues and concerns of each of the principal eras of church history. Subsequent chapters focus on the ancient church, the Christian empire, the Middle Ages, the Reformation, the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, and the twentieth century and the end of modernity. 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Justo L. Gonzalez, a United Methodist minister born in Cuba, is a retired member of the Río Grande Conference of the United Methodist Church. After his basic college and seminary education in Cuba, he came to study at Yale University, where he obtained three degrees: S.T.M. (1958), M.A. (1960), Ph.D. (1961). In 1961 he joined the faculty of the Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico, teaching historical theology, and in 1969 he moved to Atlanta, where he now resides, in order to teach at Candler School of Theology (Emory University). Since 1977 he has been engaged in two main occupations: writing and promoting the theological education of Latinas and Latinos.

     Along the line of the first of these interests, he has published over 80 books, as well as hundreds of articles, both at the academic and at the popular level. Several of his books are used as textbooks in seminaries and colleges and are translated into Portuguese, Korean, Chinese, German, Japanese, and Russian. His interest in promoting the theological education of Latinas and Latinos led to the founding of the Asociación para la Educación Teológica Hispana and of the Hispanic Summer Program, a program in theological education sponsored by 38 seminaries and universities. He was also the first Executive Director of the Hispanic Theological Initiative, a program based at Princeton Theological Seminary and funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts whose purpose is to support Latinos and Latinas pursuing advanced degrees in theology.  

Both of these interests are combined in many of his publications, including the journal Apuntes, which he edited for twenty years, and the publication of a 14-volume Spanish translation of the works of Wesley, which he also edited.

Product Details

• Paperback: 95 pages
• Publisher: Abingdon Press (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0687016118
• ISBN-13: 978-0687016112
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Justo L. Gonzalez, author of the highly praised three-volume History of Christian Thought and other major works, attended United Seminary in Cuba, received his M.A. at Yale, and was the youngest person to be awarded a Ph.D. in historical theology at Yale. Dr. Gonzalez is now on the faculty of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good, brief overview..., April 1, 2004

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Church History: An Essential Guide (Abingdon Essential Guides) (Paperback)

Summing up the history of the Christian church, which spans 2000 years, in a mere handful of pages is no easy task. Any history is necessarily selective -- even the most detailed of analyses of particular events or the most comprehensive of encyclopedic tomes will by design have to include only part of the story, and exclude a great deal.

Justo Gonzalez is a name well known in church history circles; there are few more qualified to make the kinds of selection judgements required for a brief overview of church history, and he does this fairly well. 'Church History: An Essential Guide' is part of a series of Essential Guides put out by Abingdon Press, the object of which is to give key topics and subjects a brief but complete outline for introduction, reference, and refresher uses. In fewer than 100 pages, Gonzalez provides a concise yet useful summary of church history.

The first chapter is a summary of the summaries -- in one page for each of nine sections, this is the most basic of outlines of church history. The subsequent nine chapters look at church history according to time period, as follows:

- The Ancient Church (the origins to 313)
- The Christian Empire (313-476)
- The Early Middle Ages (476 - 1054)
- The High Point of the Middle Ages (1054 - 1303)
- The Late Middle Ages (1303 -1453)
- Conquest and Reformation (1453 - 1600)
- The Seventeenth and Eighteen Centuries
- The Nineteenth Century
- The Twentieth Century and the End of Modernity

Several of the dates signify that serve as chapter division points are key turning points in church history -- 313 was the year of the Edict of Milan (which, ironically, though a major division point for the chapters, is never explicitly explained); 476 is commonly held to be the date of the fall of the western Roman Empire; 1054 is the year of formal division between East and West in Christendom, etc.

Each chapter discusses both theological and worship/liturgical practices. After the East/West split, the book is almost exclusively Western in subject material, only occasionally referencing developments in Eastern Orthodoxy (a trend fairly common in church histories generally, although Gonzalez does do a bit more of such referencing than many). Each chapter also has a listing of selected and suggested readings -- given the admitted lack of detail due to space requirements, Gonzalez states that this introduction is meant to inspire readers to seek further information (often from Gonzalez's own well written church histories).

There is no index in the book, which is a drawback for those who might want to use this book as a reference tool. However, the book is well-written and concise, so making notes for one's own use in the back pages would not be a bad idea.

This is a book designed largely for the busy person in mind -- the reading is simple without being simplistic; there are not too many names and terms to wade through, and the whole of the book could be read in but a few hours, making church history readily accessible to even the busiest of lay persons, and a refresher handily available for the busiest of clergy.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Typical Western Church Historian, January 23, 2012

By 

C. Taylor - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Church History: An Essential Guide (Abingdon Essential Guides) (Paperback)

First of all this book almost entirely focuses on Western Church history, but doesn't actually claim that it's anything less than being full "Church History." That issue aside, there is one major issue that makes me wonder if he's even credible on the Western Church history he focuses on.

On page 46, Gonzales makes a huge mistake that causes one to question his scholarship. He accurately defines the Christology known as "Monophysitism," but then goes on to say that the Armenians, Copts, Syrians, and Ethiopians are Monophysites. For one thing, the communion of churches he's referring to comprise the Oriental Orthodox Church, but he only mentions a few main ones.

The important issue is him defining the Oriental Orthodox Christians as Monophysite is simply wrong; their being attributed with that Christology has been a historical pejorative way of dismissing them as heretics. The Oriental churches at the time condemned Monophysitism as a heresy themselves, whereas they affirmed Miaphysitism.

For those that don't know:
Monophysitism: the Christological doctrine that Christ has one nature, within which His human nature is limited, incomplete, diluted, or absorbed into/because of the divine nature.
Miaphysitism: the Christological doctrine that Christ has one nature, within which He is both fully human and fully divine.

While it may seem small to some, this misinformation has been an obstacle to unifying the Eastern/Oriental Orthodox churches for some 1500 years. For him to write volumes on Church history (not this book, obviously) and be such an acclaimed Western historian on the subject, and then proceed to show that he's incapable of doing proper research on the topics he writes on without just making typical Western assumptions causes his credibility to go right out the window.

For more information please go to:

[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]

This book may be meant as a brief guide, outline, or "map," to Church history, but it should at least remain accurate while being concise.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Wrong on the Non-Chalcedonians, January 15, 2012

By 

Salpy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Church History: An Essential Guide (Abingdon Essential Guides) (Paperback)

The book misrepresents the beliefs of the Non-Chalcedonians (the Armenians, Copts, etc.) and the reasons for our rejection of the Council of Chalcedon. We are not Monophysites, and we believe in Christ's perfect and complete humanity. We rejected Chalcedon because of real concerns that it was allowing Nestorianism in through the back door, despite its condemnation of Nestorius. This is not a very scholarly work. Fr. V.C. Samuel's Council of Chalcedon Re-Examined has a much more thorough and scholarly review of what happened at Chalcedon: The Council of Chalcedon Re-Examined