The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches: 2 Volume set Vol.I and II [Paperback]

Ernst Troeltsch (Author), James Luther Adams (Photographer), Olive Wyon (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1992 | ISBN-10: 0664253202 | ISBN-13: 978-0664253202

"This unsurpassed classic is more than a history of Christian ethical ideas. It comes near to being a history of the Christian era, for it relates these ideas to the changing structures of church and society, showing the mutual influences between ideas, social forces, and institutions".--James Luther Adams, Edward Mallinckrodg, Jr., The Divinity School, Harvard University.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Paperback: 572 pages
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press (January 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0664253202
• ISBN-13: 978-0664253202
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #915,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece, May 20, 2007

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Joao H. Dos Santos (Rio de Janeiro, RJ Brazil) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches: 2 Volume set Vol.I and II (Paperback)

This book is a masterpiece by Ernst Troeltsch, providing a deep analysis of the evolution of the social thought and teaching of the Christian Churches. This book presents not only the historical, but also the sociological and even philosophical evolution of the social teachings of the Christian Churches, being thus a fundamental book for graduate and undergraduate students, historians, sociologists, scientists of religion and all those interested in learning about this matter.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars from the back of the book, May 30, 2006

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S. McDonald "Library World" (Independence, MO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches: 2 Volume set Vol.I and II (Paperback)

The work of one of the great minds of the twentieth century, this unsurpassed classic is more than a history of Christian ethical ideas. It comes near to being a history of the Christian era, for it relates these ideas to the changing structures of church and society, showing the mutual influences between ideas, social forces, and institutions. In a critical and creative way it has advanced the methods of theological and sociological analysis and synthesis. At the same time the work is more than a history, for it speaks to the present condition of the churches and the culture. This two-volume document is as substantial and original as anything that exists on the topic. It reaches from the period of early Christianity to the end of the eighteenth century when "the main body of Protestant civilization was founded and evolved." The extensive footnotes alone virtually amount to a liberal education.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indespensible, November 20, 2004

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C. Stein - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches: 2 Volume set Vol.I and II (Paperback)

I'm quite surprised to find no review of this monumental work. So, briefly: This text is INDISPENSABLE for understanding both religion in the west, but also the religious and political debates that rage across our front pages. Here you will find a key to why so many can use the same religious vocabulary to mean such different things. How "ought" the faithful live out their beliefs in relation to their neighbors and their governments? Reclusively, publicly, or leave it to the Bishops?

Troeltsch illuminates the three major historical manifestations of the Christian church in the post-reformation era: the sectarian (read, "we're right, you're wrong, but leave us alone"), the Protestant (read, "mainline"), and the Roman Catholic. Of course, published in 1911, Troeltsch's work has to be understood within the context of the pre-Great War (WWI, to us) positivism, along with its contemporaries, such as James's "Varieties of Religious Experience," for example. Both are brilliant synthetic systems that attempt to give timeless frameworks for understanding their fields. And both have the grandeur, idealism, and the tragic limitations of the (post-war) League of Nations.

Nevertheless, through Troeltsch we have sufficient tools to illuminate, for example, the monumental nature of the shift in American religion marked by the entry of Christian fundamentalism onto the political battlefield. Fundamentalism, a formerly sectarian expression of faith, is transformed into nothing less than a religious and political crusade by Jerry Falwell though the Moral Majority. Similarly Pat Robertson leads the formerly apolitical evangelical right into the fray. Together Falwell and Robertson engineer not only the political coup which finds its greatest success in the (re?)election of George W. Bush, but also a distinctively religious transformation (or deformation, depending on your perspective) of sectarian church and Christian faith into a political machine. It is a revolution - speaking now not of the political but of the ecclesial - eerily reminiscent of Cromwell's Republic, one whose repercussions will echo for decades to come.