Church History in Plain Language

Description

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. List of Profiles of Faith Preface to the Fifth Edition Contributors to the Fifth Edition Prologue PART 1: The Age of Jesus and the Apostles, 6 BC–AD 70 1. Away with the King! The Jesus Movement 2. Wineskins Old and New: The Gospel to the Gentiles PART 2: The Age of Catholic Christianity, 70–312 3. Only “Worthless” People: Catholic Christianity 4. If the Tiber Floods: The Persecution of Christians 5. Arguing about the Event: The Rise of Orthodoxy 6. The Rule of Books: Formation of the Bible 7. School for Sinners: A Structure That Fits 8. Apostles to Intellectuals: Interacting with Other Worldviews 9. Countries of the Sunrise: Early Christianity in Asia and Africa PART 3: The Age of the Christian Roman Empire, 312–590 10. Laying Her Sceptre Down: Conversion of the Empire 11. Splitting Important Hairs: The Doctrine of the Trinity 12. Emmanuel! Christ in the Creeds 13. Exiles from Life: Beginnings of Monasticism 14. The Sage of the Ages: Augustine of Hippo 15. Peter as “Pontifex Maximus”: Beginnings of the Papacy 16. Somewhere between Heaven and Earth: Eastern Orthodoxy 17. Bending the Necks of Victors: Mission to the Barbarians PART 4: The Christian Middle Ages, 590–1517 18. God’s Consul: Gregory the Great 19. The Search for Unity: Charlemagne and Christendom 20. Lifted in a Mystic Manner: The Papacy and the Crusader 21. The Nectar of Learning: Scholasticism 22. A Song to Lady Poverty: Francis and the Apostolic Lifestyle 23. Chaos and the Law of Necessity: Decline of the Papacy 24. Judgment in the Process of Time: Wyclif and Hus PART 5: The Age of the Reformation, 1517–1648 25. A Wild Boar in the Vineyard: Martin Luther and Protestantism 26. Radical Discipleship: The Anabaptists 27. Thrust into the Game: John Calvin and Reformed Rule 28. The Curse upon the Crown: The Church of England 29. “Another Man” at Manresa: The Catholic Reformation 30. Opening the Rock: Uttermost America and Asia 31. The Rule of the Saints: Puritanism 32. Unwilling to Die for an Old Idea: Denominations PART 6: The Age of Reason and Revival, 1648–1789 33. Aiming at the Foundations: The Cult of Reason 34. The Heart and Its Reasons: Pascal and the Pietists 35. A Brand from the Burning: Wesley and Methodism 36. A New Order of the Ages: The Great Awakening PART 7: The Age of Progress, 1789–1914 37. Restoring the Fortress: Catholicism in the Age of Progress 38. A New Social Frontier: Nineteenth-Century England 39. To Earth’s Remotest People: Protestant Missions 40. The Destiny of a Nation: A Christian America? 41. A Bridge for Intelligent Moderns: Protestant Liberalism 42. Nothing to Lose but Chains: Slums and the Social Gospel PART 8: The Age of Ideologies, 1914–1989 43. Graffiti on a Wall of Shame: Twentieth-Century Ideologies 44. Rootless Immigrants in a Sick Society: American Evangelicals 45. New Creeds for Breakfast: The Ecumenical Movement 46. The Medicine of Mercy: Roman Catholicism and Vatican II PART 9: The Age of Technology and the Spirit, 1990– 47. New Technologies, New Contexts: Christian Ministries in the West 48. More Peoples, More Tongues: Emergence of the Global South Epilogue Notes For Further Study Index of People Index of Movements Index of Events