Church History Volume One: From Christ to Pre-Reformation: The Rise and Growth of the Church in Its Cultural, Intellectual, and Political Context [Hardcover]

Everett Ferguson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 14, 2005

Church History offers a unique contextual view of how the Christian church spread and developed. It did so not in a vacuum, but in a setting of times, cultures, and events that both influenced and were influenced by the church. Church History looks closely at the integral link between the history of the world and that of the church. Volume one explores the development of the church from the days of Jesus to the years prior to the Reformation. Filled with maps, charts, and illustrations, it offers overviews of the Roman, Greek, and Jewish worlds; insights into the church's relationship to the Roman empire, with glimpses into pagan attitudes toward Christians; the place of art and architecture, literature and philosophy, both sacred and secular; and much more, spanning the time from the first through the thirteenth centuries. Volume One Content Overview 1. The Setting for the Story's Beginning 2. Jesus and the Beginnings of the Church 3. The Subapostolic Age 4. The Church and the Empire 5. Heresies and Schisms of the Second Century 6. The Defense Against Rival Interpretations 7. The Fathers of the Old Catholic Church and Their Problems 8. Church Life in the Second and Third Centuries 9. Development of the Church During the Third Century 10. Diocletian and Constantine: On the Threshold of the Fourth Century 11. The Church in the Fourth Century: Doctrine, Organization, and Literature 12. The Church in the Fourth and Early Fifth Centuries: Monasticism, Expansion, Life, and Worship 13. Christological Controversies to Chalcedon 14. Augustine, Pelagius, and Semipelagianism 15. Transitions to the Middle Ages: Germanic Migrations, Doctrinal Developments, and the Papacy 16. Eastern and Western Churches in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries 17. The Eastern Church from the Seventh to Eleventh Centuries 18. The Western Church from the Seventh to Ninth Centuries 19. Decline and Renewal of Vitality in the West: The Ninth to Eleventh Centuries 20. The Papal Reform Movement and the First Crusade 21. Intellectual Revival: The Rise of Scholasticism 22. Monastic, Literary, Political, and Cultural Activities in the Twelfth Centuries 23. The Glory of the Western Medieval Church: The Thirteenth Century 24. Portents of Decline

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Church History offers a unique contextual view of how the Christian church spread and developed. It did so not in a vacuum, but in a setting of times, cultures, and events that both influenced and were influenced by the church. Church History looks closely at the integral link between the history of the world and that of the church.

Volume one explores the development of the church from the days of Jesus to the years prior to the Reformation. Filled with maps, charts, and illustrations, it offers overviews of the Roman, Greek, and Jewish worlds; insights into the church’s relationship to the Roman empire, with glimpses into pagan attitudes toward Christians; the place of art and architecture, literature and philosophy, both sacred and secular; and much more, spanning the time from the first through the thirteenth centuries.

Volume One Content Overview

1. The Setting for the Story’s Beginning 2. Jesus and the Beginnings of the Church 3. The Subapostolic Age 4. The Church and the Empire 5. Heresies and Schisms of the Second Century 6. The Defense Against Rival Interpretations 7. The Fathers of the Old Catholic Church and Their Problems 8. Church Life in the Second and Third Centuries 9. Development of the Church During the Third Century 10. Diocletian and Constantine: On the Threshold of the Fourth Century 11. The Church in the Fourth Century: Doctrine, Organization, and Literature 12. The Church in the Fourth and Early Fifth Centuries: Monasticism, Expansion, Life, and Worship 13. Christological Controversies to Chalcedon 14. Augustine, Pelagius, and Semipelagianism 15. Transitions to the Middle Ages: Germanic Migrations, Doctrinal Developments, and the Papacy 16. Eastern and Western Churches in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries 17. The Eastern Church from the Seventh to Eleventh Centuries 18. The Western Church from the Seventh to Ninth Centuries 19. Decline and Renewal of Vitality in the West: The Ninth to Eleventh Centuries 20. The Papal Reform Movement and the First Crusade 21. Intellectual Revival: The Rise of Scholasticism 22. Monastic, Literary, Political, and Cultural Activities in the Twelfth Centuries 23. The Glory of the Western Medieval Church: The Thirteenth Century 24. Portents of Decline

About the Author

Everett Ferguson (PhD, Harvard) is professor emeritus of Bible and distinguished scholar-in-residence at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, where he taught church history and Greek. He is the author of numerous works, including Backgrounds of Early Christianity, Early Christians Speak, and Inheriting Wisdom: Readings for Today from Ancient Christian Writers. He was also general editor of the two-volume Encyclopedia of Early Christianity.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (June 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310205808
• ISBN-13: 978-0310205807
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #115,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent structural/theological introduction to church history, April 25, 2006

By 

Lance M. Gowen (Beatrice, Nebraska) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Church History Volume One: From Christ to Pre-Reformation: The Rise and Growth of the Church in Its Cultural, Intellectual, and Political Context (Hardcover)

I purchased and read Dr. Ferguson's Church History Volume One because I had previously read and enjoyed his Backgrounds of Early Christianity. I have read several other accounts of church history, and I would recommend to someone with no prior exposure to church history that they read a simplier, more superficial overview before reading Dr. Ferguson's. But Church History Volume One would be the next read. The explanations of the theologic issues that the early church dealt with are thoroughly delineated. The book was very helpful in explaining events, culture, thinking that has impacted the organizational church we see today. Dr. Ferguson often offers helpful insights from his breadth & depth of knowledge. Explanations of difficult issues are clear and helpful without being judgmental. My only negative is that Dr. Ferguson's writing style is in a few places hard to follow. One example from page 518. "A thirteenth-century chronicler recorded that the peasants in Alsace did not object to their priests having concubines, for in such circumstances there was less concern for the virtue of their daughters." In reading this sentence I can not tell whose daughters there was less concern for, the priests or the peasants.

37 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book to own and read, June 20, 2006

By 

FBRobertson "fbrobertson2" (SC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Church History Volume One: From Christ to Pre-Reformation: The Rise and Growth of the Church in Its Cultural, Intellectual, and Political Context (Hardcover)

In this day and age when Liberals and their ultraliberal ideologies (such as Borg and Spong and E. Pagels) run amok, spouting the most insane and (lots of time) inane theories and considerations toward early Church History, it is wonderful to know that there are scholars such as Ferguson to not only bring balance and bring some sanity back to the discussion of the events after the Resurrection. Ferguson is one who believes in the truth of the Bible, and yet he is able to take the story of Christ and move it along through the first few centuries of the church's growth and population. Ferguson is able to look at all sides of the equations when dealing with points of views held in various theological factions throughout the centuries. The book is finely structured and well developed. Chapters are precise in their overall arc and aim, and the writing style is very crisp and leaves one wanting to read more and more. When I take my classes on Church history in seminary I know for a fact that I will use this book to its fullness. If you are looking for a book that can help you make some sense toward all that occurred after the resurrection up through the next few centuries after the death of the Apostles, and see why such situations as Gnosticism grew and flourished in some circles, along with the Church's canonization of the entire Bible, you will find the answers (along with answers to other questions you may have) in this book.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OH MY!, March 18, 2007

By 

SomewheresHere (Heart of Dixie) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Church History Volume One: From Christ to Pre-Reformation: The Rise and Growth of the Church in Its Cultural, Intellectual, and Political Context (Hardcover)

READ THIS BOOK BEFORE YOU ENTER SEMINARY! It is VERY helpful, and you'll have a baseline knowledge for the first semester, and this book covers many issues and people YOU WILL encounter your first week. Conservative - not crazy liberal - point of view. Kinda dry, but so helpful, you don't even notice.