Why Study The Past?: The Quest For The Historical Church (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The well-worn saying about being condemned to repeat the history we do not know applies to church history as much as to any other kind. But how are Christians supposed to discern what lessons from history need to be learned?

In this small but thoughtful volume, respected theologian and churchman Rowan Williams opens up a theological approach to history, an approach that is both nonpartisan and relevant to the church’s present needs. As he reflects on how we consider the past in general, Williams suggests that how we consider church history in particular remains important not so much for winning arguments as for clarifying who we are as time-bound human beings. Good history is a moral affair, he advises, because it opens up a point of reference that is distinct from us yet not wholly alien. The past can then enable us to think with more varied and resourceful analogies about our identity in the often confusing present.

About the Author

Rowan Williams is the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury. His many books include "Arius: Heresy and Tradition," "Christ on Trial: How the Gospel Unsettles Our Judgement," "The Dwelling of the Light: Praying with Icons of Christ," "The Truce of God," and "Writing in the Dust: After September 11" (all Eerdmans).

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Product Details

• Paperback: 129 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (July 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802829902
• ISBN-13: 978-0802829900
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #453,035 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Faithful Narration, October 15, 2005

By	Billy O. Daniel (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a must read for historians, and should be required reading for students entering Divinity School. Archbishop Williams gifts us with a candid picture of ecclesial scholarship from its inception on. It is not a detailed investigation into specific movements in church history, but reveals to the reader how specific movements tailored history in such a way that the 'winners' articulation of these occurrences prevailed--leaving us with a less than honest narration of that history. Williams presents an argument, much like Alisdair MacIntyre does in "Who's Justice? Which Rationality?," stating that 'we need to understand the other on the other's own grounds.' And in Williams' case, we need to do the grunt work necessary for doing history so to contextualize each period, as best as we can, as the events and language would have been understood to those who actually lived them. (As MacIntyre put it, 'languages can be learned, but they cannot be translated'). This does not mean that tradition and doctrine cannot be timeless. It does, however, mean that they must undergo constant renewal in the community through, as Williams puts it (using the language of Georges Florovsky), the "charismatic memory" as it is located in the liturgical activity of the church.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Discerning Overview of Church History, May 13, 2007

By	Carlton B. Turner (San Luis Obispo, CA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In 4 chapters and only 114 pages Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams gives a penetrating and discerning theology of church history. How has the church described what is unique to itself from the first early centuries, through the Middle Ages, the Reformation and modern times? Williams traces deep patterns of how the church has struggled through the pressures of different historical eras to witness to the unique community that is created by the work of God in Christ. A discerning look at the past will discover something strange and different from ourselves but in a way that helps us discover our community with the past in ways that will change how we see ourselves in the present and so face new challenges as we move into the future.

4.0 out of 5 stars R U Ready?, January 10, 2007

By	Hugh Curtin (Santa Fe, NM United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Everyone will increase their knowledge of early Christian Churches. There
were significant diferences, culturaly, theological, and socialy to
understand. For those not knowledgable of the causes for those diferences
it may be slow going. The author should be acquainted with what WSC
calls the power of the English simple sentence, Unfortunately because
of the complex subject very few are present.