An Introduction to the History of Christianity: From the Early Church to the Enlightenment

(Hardback)

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Description

An Introduction to the History of Christianity is a beautifully crafted and clearly written introduction to Christianity over its 2,000 year history concentrating on the interraction between the sacred and the secular.

This book will adopt an approach radically different to that of many general Church histories in terms of length, structure and presentation. The broad underlying theme of the book will be the interraction between Christianity and the secular world, exploring how the one has shaped and been shaped in its turn by the other. In order to achieve this the book will not attempt to cover the whole of Christian history in detail ( this has been done frequently by others ) but rather it will focus on a number of sepecific chronological periods and themes. Three, two hundred year periods have been chosen as pivotal in the development of Christianity, reflecting the conventional divisions into ancient, medieval and early modern. As well as considering the broad themes of belief, practice, organisation and propagation, it will also examine what Christians have meant by their use of terms like authority, tradition, reform or hierarchy. Manageable in length, this will enable the book to be used either as a general introduction to Christian history or as a starting point for further investigation of one or more periods. To help facilitate this each chapter concludes with a detailed section of suggested further reading.

Reviews

'This is a veritable tome of a book but one that needs to be kept on the bookshelf of any theological student and read and dipped into regularly.' ~ Ian Gibson, The Good Book Stall
"George Hering's Book is the fruit of a long career in teaching and offers an excellent introduction to Church history up to the time of the Enlighten ment, botrh for undergraduates and a wider readership" "Theological and other issues are constantly intertwined and the author's judgements are very careful and thoroughly backed up by evidence. This is an excellent introduction to Church History , and my only criticism stems from how good it is." The Pastoral Review, vol.5 issues 2
Title mention in Baptist Times, 2007 * Baptist Times *
"George Herring...has written the kind of book which every undergraduate or non-specialist postgraduate historian longs to have at his or her disposal....the overview is both comprehensive and wide-ranging, and the depth achieved through a range of fascinating details which lighten and illuminate Herring's general thesis." -- John Greenhalgh, Catholic Herald * Catholic Herald *
'[W]ell done, detailed, and clearly written...This author is an experienced teacher of church history, and...knows how to convey information. He is aware of recent scholarship, and there are good bibliographies to each chapter...This is a book that can be recommended to readers who want to concentrate on these three periods of history....this hardback offers a great deal of sound scholarship.' Rev'd Dr Raymond Chapman, Church Times, 03/11/2006 -- Rev'd Dr Raymond Chapman * Church Times *
"...highly readable..." "...insightful..." -- Marilyn Lewis, Ripon College, Cuddesdon * Expository Times *
'[A] satisfying book that will be of interest to general readers and a valuable tool for students.' ~ Rev David Blatherwick, Methodist Recorder,2006 -- Rev David Blatherwick * Methodist Recorder *

Author Bio

Dr George Herring is a Church historian who studied history at Leicester University as an undergraduate and did his doctoral research at Keble College, Oxford. He has taught history in higher education for over 25 years and currently teaches part time for the Schools of Lifelong Education at York and Bradford Universities. He is the author of 'What Was the Oxford Movement' also published by Continuum.