Customer Reviews

Introduction to the History of Christianity

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Compiled and edited by Tim Dowley from the contributions by more than sixty specialists from ten countries, Introduction To The History Of Christianity is a very highly recommended single-volume reference that spans Christian history from the first century AD down to the present day. Enhanced with a wealth of black-and-white and color photographs, maps, diagrams, The History Of Christianity is a thoroughly "reader friendly", straightforward, and comprehensive chronological presentation of the Christianity's many evolutions. Introduction to The History Of Christianity is a solid, basic, well organized and easily accessible reference which is particularly ideal for use by the non-specialist general reader

This is certainly not the worst book I have read on church history, but it is far from the best. The way the book is laid out: Instead of Dowley writing everything from cover to cover, he had many different church historians write various chapters and sections of the book. It makes the book very hard to read. One of the most important facets of reading a history book is you are able to get the viewpoint of one author on everything - this gives the book cohesion. Written from so many different perspectives, this book lacks cohesion. I think this is a fine format if a book is about one issue and you want multiple perspectives on a topic, person, etc. This is what a collection of essays is for, not an attempt at a comprehensive history of the Christian church. Another annoying weakness in the book is the very poorly laid out index in the back of the book. It is divided up into three sections: Events, People, Places. I think literate people could do with just one index - this is not a brain buster. I also found myself annoyed by its incompleteness.
Certain events are completely (again, lack of cohesion) left out of the book. As an example, there is not one word about the meeting of the Westminster Assembly in the whole book. This baffles me.
Lastly, the printing of the book is not very good. The text is forced deep into the binding and you will find yourself practically tearing the binding open to read all of the text.

On the positive side, the writers who contribute to the book are very
good. Especially informative are the brief biographical sketches found throughout the text.

These other reviewers who criticise this book as being anti-Catholic are being absurd. There is no such thing found here. These people are no doubt Catholics who don't like the fact that some of their church's more embarrasing moments are written of in this book - I would pay no attention to these criticisms - they are without foundation completely unwarranted.

For a much better introduction to Christianity I would suggest Williston Walker's "History of the Christian Church"; LaTourette's "A History of Christianity" or even Justo Gonzalez's "The Story of Christianity".

This is a beautifully illustrated overview of 2000 years of Christian history. Great graphics, good biographies and short, readable articles all make for an excellent start to Christian history. If you are looking for a place to begin, or just a single volume that gives you breadth without drowning you in the details, this volume is for you.

I purchased this as a textbook for a seminary class. I can't comment yet on the content, but I would like to provide a warning regarding the accompanying Libronix CD-ROM for those who have Vista and Windows 7. It may not run unless you download drivers. I couldn't get it to run and tried a number of solutions including downloading a program called "DriverMender." It still didn't work at first, but then I restarted my computer with the CD-ROM in, and it installed, although with errors. Not sure if it was DriverMender or something else. Good news is it seems to be working. I bought this product used-likenew from KZOO and they contacted me within 30 minutes of my complaint email and gave me a partial refund for all the trouble. Kudus to KZoo.

There are two stories which every Christian must know: the story of the Bible and the story of the church. Both of these provide identity to contemporary Christians. Lacking a knowledge of history we are adrift in the sea of ideas and histories without any connection to any. How do we navigate new ideas or leaders? What is the church supposed to look like? Has anyone else ever faced the issues we're facing?

History provides us with answers to these questions which are essential for the life of the church. But, history can be difficulty terrain to navigate. We need a reliable guide. Fortress Press has put out Introduction to the History of Christianity for this reason. It is edited by Tim Dowley and full of well-written chapters, excurses and side-bars which provide a thorough and accessible entry into the Church's history.

This is a volume which avoids all the pitfalls of a historical text while retaining all the strengths. It is well-written and informative without being technical or verbose. It is descriptive and provides maps, pictures and diagrams. These additions bring history to life rather than keeping it within the confines of disconnected inquiry.

I've had to read a few history books during my education. I think this one is one of the best. It would be a great addition to any professor, pastor or lay-person's bookshelf.

This book is good to read.
And there are many informations in it.

Introduction to the History of Christianity is a text book made for students wishing to learn the basics of Church history. Interestingly enough, no references are given in the entire book, suggesting that the authors are above citing their work. It is obvious just from flipping through this book that all the authors accept the theology of "faith alone" and they all reject papal authority. This wouldn't really matter much if the content was still fair and balanced, but it is far from it. One blatant example is found on page 354, "for all its ideals, piety and art, Catholicism differed from the church of the New Testament in doctrine, morals, and administration. Most men and women of conscience realized this..." The author fails to give evidence for this contemptuous claim, and furthermore, seeks to back it up through other ad hominem attacks on Catholic roots.

All this aside, the book is laughable in that many of its claims are reproved by itself. Throughout the book the author's make the claim that the sacramental system was an invention not to be found in the Bible, and that early Christians believed different doctrine than the latter Catholic Church (p. 265, p. 354, p.372). They particularly point out that the Eucharist (communion) was believed to be symbolic at the earliest Christian "services" (p. 129). Yet, on page 128, the author provides a portion of Justin Martyr's Apology I (65-66, AD 150), and Justin clearly states "We shall call this food `Eucharist', which no one is allowed to share unless he or she believes that the things which we teach are true...For we do not receive them as common bread and common drink, but as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the word of God...similarly we have been taught that the food which is blessed by the word of prayer transmitted from him, and by which our blood and flesh are changed and nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh." This example points directly to the fact that the Early Christian Bishops presiding over the Church understood that the bread and wine become Jesus through the sacrament of the Eucharist, just as is described in I Corinthians Ch. 11:

24 When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me."
25 In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me."
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Additionally, the authors claim that the reformers, for which they are packing them all together as a consolidated one, all knew that the sacraments weren't instituted by Christ and that they were not scriptural (p. 372 bottom of column 1). This is rather ignorant because they are all in the Bible, besides the obvious fact that the reformers themselves couldn't agree on which ones to accept. Luther, for instance, accepted Matrimony, the Eucharist, and Baptism of Infants (p. 374), while other reformers rejected the Eucharist and Infant Baptism but accepted Matrimony.

There are so many gross errors in this book that it would be hard to tackle even a few of them here.

For those curious about the roots of Christianity, it would be time better spent researching the origins of the Papacy, or the works of the Early Church Fathers. The author claims on page 200 that the Pope wasn't given supreme authority until 366 AD. However, quotes from Against Heresies 3:3:2 [A.D. 189] by Irenaeus clearly show that Rome was given authority earlier in Christianity, starting with Peter on whom Jesus states He will build His Church (Matthew 16: 18-19). Apostolic succession is demonstrated in the writing of the Early Church Fathers, the sacramental system is clearly understood in these writings, and Church structure/unity is also demonstrated in them as well. In general, The Writings of the Early Church Fathers would provide much more information on the basis for Christian doctrine than this book. Likewise, if you are looking for a book on the history of Christianity, and aren't so much concerned about doctrine, I would suggest at least finding a book with references in it.

Don't waste your money. This book was clearly written for Protestants who wish to eat up what others say without doing the research for themselves. The contributing authors of this text are surely guilty of this in several places; there are quite a few instances where Protestant rhetoric is obviously being regurgitated in regards to early Church documents. I recommend The History of the Church, one of the texts in the Didache Series.

Edit: Amusingly, at least a few of the contributing authors of this text have since become Catholic. Not surprising. :)