Status
Available
Collection
Description
Over 330,000 copies sold. This is the story of the church for today's readers. Bruce Shelley's classic history of the church brings the story of global Christianity into the twenty-first century. Like a skilled screenwriter, Shelley begins each chapter with three elements: characters, setting, plot. Taking readers from the early centuries of the church up through the modern era he tells his readers a story of actual people, in a particular situation, taking action or being acted upon, provides a window into the circumstances and historical context, and from there develops the story of a major period or theme of Christian history. Covering recent events, this book also: Details the rapid growth of evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity in the southern hemisphere Addresses the decline in traditional mainline denominations Examines the influence of technology on the spread of the gospel Discusses how Christianity intersects with other religions in countries all over the world For this fifth edition, Marshall Shelley brought together a team of historians, historical theologians, and editors to revise and update this father's classic text. The new edition adds important stories of the development of Christianity in Asia, India, and Africa, both in the early church as well as in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It also highlights the stories of women and non-Europeans who significantly influenced the development of Christianity but whose contributions are often overlooked in previous overviews of church history. This concise book provides an easy-to-read guide to church history with intellectual substance. The new edition of Church History in Plain Language promises to set a new standard for readable church history.… (more)
Publication
Thomas Nelson Inc (1996), Edition: 2nd, 520 pages
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User reviews
LibraryThing member kwmcdonald
If you're looking for an overview of Christian history, this is great. He has quite a bit of detail (it's 500 pages), but it doesn't go into excessive detail, and it reads more like a novel than a textbook. Anybody could read this book and understand the basics of church history without prior
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background. One main complaint: he provides chapter notes & references at the end of the book, but they are not numbered; it's things like "the quote from Polycarp came from...." So if you are wondering where he came up with something, you have to look in the back and see if he gave any reference or not. More often than not, he didn't. I know this book is designed to be in an easy reading style rather than "textbook-ish," but he has some very interesting stories from church history that I wish he provided sources for somehow. This book was great for giving me a framework that will be useful when I delve into something a little more detailed (probably Pelikan and/or Latourette). Show Less
LibraryThing member misskate
Good reading making a very complicated subject digestable
LibraryThing member deanc
Here is a good example of a very readable, accessible one-volume church history. The second edition covers the progress -- and regress -- of Christianity from its beginnings to the mid 1990s. Shelley writes in a style that both church history novices and journeymen can appreciate. Of necessity, he
Shelley divides the history of the church into eight chronological parts or "ages":
(1) The Age of Jesus and the Apostles (6 BC - AD 70)
(2) The Age of Catholic Christianity (70-312)
(3) The Age of the Christian Roman Empire (312-590)
(4) The Christian Middle Ages (590-1517)
(5) The Age of the Reformation (1517-1648)
(6) The Age of Reason and Revival (1648-1789)
(7) The Age of Progress (1789-1914)
(8) The Age of Ideologies (1914-1996)
Footnotes (actually, end notes) are kept to a minimum -- probably too much of a minimum for the more academically-inclined reader. He includes four or five helpful "suggestions for further reading" at the conclusion of each chapter, and at the end of the book, following the "notes," there is a list of popes, and, following that, separate indexes of people, movements, and events discussed in the book.
I also own the first edition of the book (published in 1982) and have read that one at least twice. Although Shelley completely overlooks my own American religious heritage (the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement of the 19th century that resulted in today's Christian Churches/Churches of Christ), I thoroughly enjoy this book, and will probably read it yet again in a few years. (He has just published a third edition!) Every serious Christian should take the time to become familiar with the major events, movements, and people of church history. This book will help them accomplish that.
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uses fairly broad strokes to fit the whole story into a book of only 520 pages. But there is enough detail to make it interesting.Shelley divides the history of the church into eight chronological parts or "ages":
(1) The Age of Jesus and the Apostles (6 BC - AD 70)
(2) The Age of Catholic Christianity (70-312)
(3) The Age of the Christian Roman Empire (312-590)
(4) The Christian Middle Ages (590-1517)
(5) The Age of the Reformation (1517-1648)
(6) The Age of Reason and Revival (1648-1789)
(7) The Age of Progress (1789-1914)
(8) The Age of Ideologies (1914-1996)
Footnotes (actually, end notes) are kept to a minimum -- probably too much of a minimum for the more academically-inclined reader. He includes four or five helpful "suggestions for further reading" at the conclusion of each chapter, and at the end of the book, following the "notes," there is a list of popes, and, following that, separate indexes of people, movements, and events discussed in the book.
I also own the first edition of the book (published in 1982) and have read that one at least twice. Although Shelley completely overlooks my own American religious heritage (the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement of the 19th century that resulted in today's Christian Churches/Churches of Christ), I thoroughly enjoy this book, and will probably read it yet again in a few years. (He has just published a third edition!) Every serious Christian should take the time to become familiar with the major events, movements, and people of church history. This book will help them accomplish that.
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LibraryThing member texlexread
I've got to buy this book. Gee, imagine that church hasn't always been done how we do it. Interesting read alongside Barna's Revolution.
LibraryThing member MatthewN
I bought my first copy of this book several years ago. I ended up giving it to a friend who was interested in learning about the history of Christianity. I picked up another copy not long after that. This is not an exhaustive history of Christianity. However, it is an exceptionally good starting
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point for figuring out which aspects of Christian history you want more detail on. He provides just enough info to cover the major points. I would consider this the highly abridged version of church history. The one thing I do wish he would have spent more time on is the modern day church as we know it in the west. Other than that, I recommend this for anyone who wants to know more about the history of Christianity but doesn't know where to start. Show Less
LibraryThing member erin4
While it was highly readable and interesting enough for me to quickly cover the 500 pages, I was disappointed in the author's tone. I felt much more like I was reading the work of a Christian than a historian due to the value judgments that existed between the lines of this supposed work of
It was also difficult, in reading the 1996 version, to excuse some of the outdated language. In particular, it was frustrating to read the sections describing "savage" or "brutal" Native American tribes. I would hope that a more recent edition would take into account more recent scholarship, or just sheer appropriateness and human respect, with regard to non-Western groups discussed in the book.
There's also a frustrating lack of women discussed in the book. I was hoping to get Jane Addams thrown in for the Social Gospel chapters, but alas, no mention. Almost more frustrating than the lack of particular women mentioned was the male-centric language in general. For example, in the section about missionaries, the author discusses the role of "missionaries and their wives", as if the women were not also missionaries.
Finally, it was confusing to me that there was not one mention of Mormons. Given that there were whole chapters on Vatican II and the Religious Right, I would have thought that the Mormons would have at least a mention in 500 pages.
Overall, I'm glad I read it. I certainly learned some new information, and was able to contextualize some prior knowledge, and also had the interesting sociological experience of reading what I considered to be a flawed history book, particularly if reviewers elsewhere on the Internet are correct in saying that this book is widely read by students preparing for life in ministry.
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history. While all historians have their own backgrounds and points of view, I expect historians to do their best to prevent their preexisting ideas and values from interfering with the presentation of facts and analytical, researched arguments. For example, it was jarring whenever Shelley used "we" language. At the end of his chapter on the Crusades, he says, "Unfortunately the popes never held two basic truths that we must never forget..." Here, the "we" reads like an assumption on the author's part that his readers share his Christian faith. Throughout the later chapters, the author is also unable to conceal his skepticism or even disdain of secularization and liberalization--again, rather than discussing these social forces from a historian's perspective, he allows his perspective as a Christian (and as a particular kind of Christian, since Christians are not all the same) to creep in.It was also difficult, in reading the 1996 version, to excuse some of the outdated language. In particular, it was frustrating to read the sections describing "savage" or "brutal" Native American tribes. I would hope that a more recent edition would take into account more recent scholarship, or just sheer appropriateness and human respect, with regard to non-Western groups discussed in the book.
There's also a frustrating lack of women discussed in the book. I was hoping to get Jane Addams thrown in for the Social Gospel chapters, but alas, no mention. Almost more frustrating than the lack of particular women mentioned was the male-centric language in general. For example, in the section about missionaries, the author discusses the role of "missionaries and their wives", as if the women were not also missionaries.
Finally, it was confusing to me that there was not one mention of Mormons. Given that there were whole chapters on Vatican II and the Religious Right, I would have thought that the Mormons would have at least a mention in 500 pages.
Overall, I'm glad I read it. I certainly learned some new information, and was able to contextualize some prior knowledge, and also had the interesting sociological experience of reading what I considered to be a flawed history book, particularly if reviewers elsewhere on the Internet are correct in saying that this book is widely read by students preparing for life in ministry.
Show Less
LibraryThing member leandrod
Worthy reading. Only the end was too fast, too much information too condensed.
LibraryThing member igorterleg
I'm not against apologetics books.
I'm not against Church history books written unashamedly from the Christian POV.
I'm not even against shameless mixing of the two.
I like books written in plain language.
I like good books.
This one is not. Neither is in in plain language. This is a bad book, the
I'm not against Church history books written unashamedly from the Christian POV.
I'm not even against shameless mixing of the two.
I like books written in plain language.
I like good books.
This one is not. Neither is in in plain language. This is a bad book, the
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language is above all boring to death. What the book lacks in style, it has in abundance in bad history and pitiful apologetics. I can't understand how anyone could have read it, even on assignment. Show Less
LibraryThing member justagirlwithabook
This book is part of my collection that really focuses in on Biblical Commentary more than anything else (including some well known authors in the theological world). All of these books haven't been read cover to cover, but I've spent a lot of time with them and they've been helpful in guiding me
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through difficult passages (or if I desire to dig deeper). Show Less