History of Christianity: Home

"The Atlas of Christian History is built new from the ground up. Featuring more than fifty new maps, graphics, and timelines, the atlas is a necessary companion to any study of Christian history. Concise, helpful text, written by acknowledged authorities, guide the experience and interpret the visuals. Consciously written for students at any level, the volume is perfect for independent students, as well as those in structured courses." - Augsburg Fortress Press

"The last 20 centuries of Christian history have witnessed the emergence of numerous theological traditions. Many of these traditions today have relatively minor significance, while others remain a vibrant part of contemporary religious culture. And while some theologians, such as Martin Luther, Thomas Aquinas, and John Calvin, are relatively well known, others have become more obscure. This reference provides alphabetically arranged entries for more than 450 Christian theologians from antiquity to the close of the twentieth century. Entries are restricted to theologians who died before 1994, when this project was begun. Included are profiles for the most important and representative theologians from the Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions, with special attention to theologians of the English-speaking world." - Greenwood Press

"The Cambridge History of Christianity will provide the first complete chronological account of the development of Christianity in all its aspects – theological, social, political, regional, global – from the time of Christ to the present day. This ambitious project in nine volumes will connect the institutional history of the churches with the study of systematic and applied (pastoral) theology, and will cover popular piety and non-formal expressions of Christian faith as well as the more formal. The sociology of Christian formation, worship and devotion will be placed in a broad cultural context, and proper attention will be paid throughout to issues of spirituality and the spiritual content of Christianity's development.This is not a history merely of Western Christianity. Into the study of the early church and beyond, consideration of Eastern and Coptic Christianity will be properly integrated; and later, African, Far Eastern, New World, South Asian and other non-European developments in Christianity will receive proper coverage. The relations between Christianity and Islam, Christianity and Hinduism, and Christianity and Judaism will be kept in sight." - Cambridge University Press

"The New York Times bestseller and definitive history of Christianity for our time—from the award-winning author of The Reformation and Silence. A product of electrifying scholarship conveyed with commanding skill, Diarmaid MacCulloch's Christianity goes back to the origins of the Hebrew Bible and encompasses the globe. It captures the major turning points in Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox history and fills in often neglected accounts of conversion and confrontation in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. MacCulloch introduces us to monks and crusaders, heretics and reformers, popes and abolitionists, and discover Christianity's essential role in shaping human history and the intimate lives of men and women. And he uncovers the roots of the faith that galvanized America, charting the surprising beliefs of the founding fathers, the rise of the Evangelical movement and of Pentecostalism, and the recent crises within the Catholic Church. Bursting with original insights and a great pleasure to read, this monumental religious history will not soon be surpassed."

"The story of Christian thought is essential to understanding Christian faith today and the last two millennia of world history. This fresh and lively introduction explores the central ideas, persons, events, and movements that gave rise to Christian thought, from early beginnings to its present forms. By highlighting the important but often neglected role of women and the influence of non-Christian ideas and movements, this book provides a broader context for understanding the history of Christian ideas and their role in shaping our world. This work chronicles the impressive developments of Christian thinking which arose from these contexts and have transcended the ages." - Routledge

"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." - HarperCollins

"David W. Bercot has painstakingly combed the writings of these early church leaders and categorized the heart of their thinking into more than 700 theological, moral, and historical topics to create A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs. Wonderfully suited for devotional or thematic study as well as sermon illustration, this resource offers a window into the world of the early church and affords a special opportunity to examine topically the thoughts of students of the original apostles, as well as other great lights in the life of the early church. • Collects relevant comments on key Christian concepts from prominent figures such as Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Clement of Rome, and Hippolytus." - Hendrickson Publishers

"An A to Z companion to 2,000 years of encounter between Judaism and Christianity, A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations is a pioneering work which explores and defines the many factors which characterise the historic and ongoing relationship between the two traditions. From Aaron to Zionism, the editors have brought together over 700 entries - including events, institutions, movements, people, places and publications - contributed by more than 100 internationally renowned scholars. The Dictionary offers a focus for the study and understanding of Jewish-Christian relations internationally, both within and between Judaism and Christianity. It provides a comprehensive single reference to a subject which touches on numerous areas of study." - Cambridge University Press

"A general introduction to the origin and development of Christianity, from its Jewish background in the land of Israel up to its contribution to the thought and art of medieval Europe." - Gorgias Press

"Uniquely authoritative and wide-ranging in its scope, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church is the indispensable one-volume reference work on all aspects of the Christian Church. It contains over 6,000 cross-referenced A-Z entries, and offers unrivalled coverage of all aspects of this vast and often complex subject, including theology, churches and denominations, patristic scholarship, the bible, the church calendar and its organization, popes, archbishops, saints, and mystics. In this revision, innumerable small changes have been made to take into account shifts in scholarly opinion, recent developments, such as the Church of England's new prayer book (Common Worship), RC canonizations, ecumenical advances and mergers, and, where possible, statistics. A number of existing articles have been rewritten to reflect new evidence or understanding, for example the Holy Sepulchre entry, and there are a few new articles. Perhaps most significantly, a great number of the bibliographies have been updated." - Oxford University Press

"The nature and story of the Christian church is immensely important to theology students and scholars alike. Written by an international team of distinguished scholars, this comprehensive book introduces students to the fundamental historical, systematic, moral and ecclesiological aspects of the study of the church, as well as serving as a resource for scholars engaging in ecclesiological debates on a wide variety of issues." - Routledge

"Creeds and confessions throughout Christian history provide a unique vantage point from which to study the Christian faith. To this end, Donald Fairbairn and Ryan Reeves construct a story that captures both the central importance of creeds and confessions over the centuries and their unrealized potential to introduce readers to the overall sweep of church history. The book features texts of classic creeds and confessions as well as informational sidebars." - Baker Academic

"Prominent scholars in the fields of Archaeology, New Testament Studies, and the Dead Sea Scrolls have come together to focus on early Jewish and Christian communities of faith and their impact on the collections of texts that were their scriptures (and would become, in due time, part of the various canons). Professors, students, and pastors who are interested in how these communities lived—how they developed, what they believed, and how they regarded and preserved the written documents that were their scriptures—will be interested in this comprehensive volume drawn from presentations made to key conferences on the subject. This book's emphasis on a variety of communities of faith (not just Christian) and their early (and critical) influence on the development of religious canonical materials sets it apart from other works on New Testament-period culture." - Hendrickson