Patrology and Church History
353781
This book is hands-down one of the most scholarly reads on the subject of patrology and patristic literature. Quasten does the subject-matter justice with great research and compilation. Drawing on most of the material available us from the period dating post-Apostolic fathers to Irenaeus, Quasten keeps the material accessible and readable. Great book for people interested in early church literature. Im looking forward to reading Volume II.
1127751
Very fine job of detailing history @ personalities of the greatest move of the Spirit since Pentecost. Objective, thorough, and articulate work. Great volume on modern church history.
2573818
Merkt does a very fine job of exploring the potential applicability of the alleged consensus of the undivided Catholic Church of the first five hundred years. His case study is the German theologian Georg Calixt, an ecumenical thinker who lived during the madness of the Thirty Years War. Calixt sought religious toleration, if not reunification, on the basis of what was common to the entire Christian Church before it splintered into East and West, Protestant and Catholic. Calixt's quest proves quixotic and did not stand the test of time, but it is still worth reading about. Those interested in the church fathers or ecumenism will appreciate this work.
4261737
In this book, the author provides an accessible introduction to early Christian monastic literature from Egypt and beyond. He introduces the reader to the major figures and literary texts, as well as offering an up-to-date survey of current questions and scholarship in the field. The text is enhanced by the inclusion of chronologies, maps, outlines, illustrations, and bibliographies. The book will not only serve as a text for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses on early Christianity, the Desert Fathers, and Christian asceticism, but it should stimulate further research by making the fruits of recent scholarship more readily and widely available.
1055106
I find this a very meticulously and carefully study of the medieval monk John of Rupecissa by one the key scholars working on this author. Rupecissa was a best seller in Europe in the middle ages and had a great deal to say about the expected apocalypse, drawing on The Book of Revelations. I am personally no historian, but I believe this will be a key work on Rupecissa for many years to come. There is another work on the topic written about the same time but independently. However, I have read only the present volume. It includes the Latin text with English translation and detailed commentary, analysis and answers many of the difficult questions of scholarship. The author drew on all the available original manuscripts in European archives and gives detailed comparisons of the different versions. From this he draws conclusions on the scribes, inserted or deleted texts, the copyists' accuracy, and many other issues. Certainly this is a work that extended over hundreds of hours or perhaps thousands and was done with great attention to detail and love of scholarship. It is a book especially for specialists in medieval church history and manuscripts. It would probably be of less interest to readers of popular texts on the apocalypse, of which there are many that would be suitable for non-scholars. One will presumably not discuss it on popular radio shows that interpret current history as heading toward an imminent end time. But for serious scholars, professors and doctoral candidates, this will be a valuable addition to the secondary literature. I highly recommend this work.
2023308
Enjoyed reading this book. If you are looking for snapshot ,this is an excellent book. It makes the church history easier to digest. If you are looking for scholarly research/details,then look somewhere else. This book is great resource for Sunday school review materials if you teach.
1200527
Through an in-depth, comprehensive examination of source material, this book provides a summary of laws related to sexuality from the early days of Christianity through the Reformation.

Brundage has divided this book into 12 chapters, 10 of which cover different time frames, one devoted to Gratian's Decretum, and a final chapter titled, "Modern Sex Law and Modern Society: Recapitulation, Reflections and Conclusions." This last chapter is largely Brundage editorializing but I won't criticize that too heavily. Based on the quality of the other 11 chapters, I'd say he's earned the right.

The way Brundage organized this book is by taking time frames, such as from 1140-1190 or 1234-1348 and examine a relatively consistent set of issues for each period. This allows the reader either to go through the entire book as a whole and glean a narrative evolution of sexual laws and restrictions, or to examine, for example, how the laws and penalties regarding nonmarital sex differed between the 14th and 11th centuries.

The book begins with an examination of sexual laws in the ancient world and proceeds through the 11th century. With much less source material to work from, these first 4 chapters are briefer, though still valuable. When Brundage begins relating the impact of Gratian's Decretum, first "published" around 1140, this work really hits its stride. At this time a great deal of material becomes available and Brundage dives in, discussing the Church's views on marriage, sex within and out of wedlock, divorce, marital property, clerical celibacy, homosexuality, prostitution and concubinage and also how Canon law influenced civil law.

There are dozens of interesting aspects which he discusses. Personally, I find greatest interest in what constituted marriage vows during the early Middle Ages, how marriage was a product of mutual consent between two parties, completed through consummation, and without any requirement of participation by a Priest, and how that proceeded to change over time. However there are numerous other examples - the evolution of clerical celibacy is also very interesting as are some of the divorce laws.

This work is heavily footnoted which will allow readers to do additional research if they like. Keep in mind this is an academic book and refers heavily to primary and secondary source material. For a work of this type I consider it well-written but even so it is not an easy read. And I would be remiss if I didn't at least give recognition to the chart on page 162. It's titled, "FEELING RANDY?" and has a flow chart indicating whether it's OK to have sex based on the many religious restrictions, ranging from, "Is Wife Menstruating?" to "Is it daylight?" Once you work your way through that, it's a wonder Western Civilization didn't become extinct.

If you're really wondering what The Church thought about sex during the Medieval period and would like to learn more on how this influenced civil law, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. Just be ready to spend some time working your way through it. Brundage examines a tremendous amount of source material in some detail and that's anything but light reading.
3961828
The book provides a large amount of early Christian writings with particularly helpful footnote comments and an exhaustive index section with references to Biblical scriptures.  As such, one can find good information for research on early Christian Church history.
2101300
While I do not agree with the landmark premise JMCarol uses in tracing heritage, I do believe he made some good points about separate/independent church polity. He shows how the church doctrine of Baptist is directly tied to the new testament churches and Christ's teachings. He also points out how anyone that dissents from the "universal" (or Catholic) church is denigrated and persecuted leading to little or no information on the heritage of these dissenting groups.

The term Baptist is not found in the heritage line all the way back, but only since 1610 (Holland). So the actual traceable history is only 400 years. Prior to that is amusing speculation (though some is solid, researchable clues.
738178
In this volume, and its companion, Wilson's English language translation of Schneemelcher's magnum opus, is presented in a most scholarly, critical edition.  This book is a must, not only for the serious student of sub-New  Testament literature, but also for pastors who wish to be informed as to  the highest scholarship in this field.
This volume, dealing with the  apocryphal Gospel material, shows clearly Early Church thinking and beliefs  concerning the life and ministry of Christ, as well as the views of certain  heretical sects.  It also provides an insight into early "popular  piety" which has played such an important role in the development of  the Christian Church.
4469586
This classical work of the writings of the earliest church Fathers points to an ecclesiastical structure before the close of the first century. Any student of the Bible will benefit immensely from knowing the history of the early Church, from which all the doctrines of Christendom emerged. This book also demonstrates that the Catholic Church existed from the Apostolic Age and was fundamental in forming the Scriptures, and determining the Canon as it presently exists. The devotion of the early Church to Christ is evident in the number of martyrs, as well. I highly recommend this book, as well as the other two volumes in this collection.
1218612
This book, "A Translation of St. Jerome's Chronicon With Historical Commentary," a work for the serious scholar, contains St. Jerome's Latin continuation to Eusebius' "Chronological Canons with an Epitome of Universal History, Both Greek and Barbarian." The editor/author Malcolm Drew Donalson, who has prepared an English translation of Jerome's Latin continuation to Eusebius's Greek "Chronicon," has produced a solid, well documented study. Note that this text contains only St. Jerome's continuation from AD 327-379, and is not the complete Eusebius-Jerome "Chronicon."
Donalson has done a fine job of translating and coordinating the commentary which follows the English translation of Jerome's Latin text. The bibliography and notes are useful to any scholar interested in Late Antique historiography. Helpful, too, is the reprint of the edition by R. Helm's "Eusebius' Werke 5: Die Chronik des Hieronymus," which allows the reader access to a text not otherwise readily available.
The real tour de force is Donalson's preparation of a complex text using several type faces and sizes and languages (Greek, Latin, German, etc.) as well as footnotes and a excellent bibliography.  Just formatting and preparing such a complicated text for publication must have been difficult. However, the end product is useful, usable, and a welcome addition to body of scholarly work on St. Jerome.
4559235
A collection of articles originally written by the authors for THE TABLET, the book progresses from a consideration of theological bases of the liturgy and of liturgical principles to explorations of architecture, both of churches already built and of those yet to be built, with a view toward implementing those bases and principles.  The book culminates with very practical considerations of the various ways in which a church might thereby be arranged.  Of especial interest is the treatment of the ambo, a church feature that has, over the centuries, come to be almost totally ignored in ecclesiastical architecture, but the importance of which the book explains clearly and in fascinating detail...and a feature that the book highly recommends be resurrected.  For anyone interested in implementing the Second Vatican Council's document on the liturgy and subsequent liturgical documents and directives, for anyone interested in continuing to recover authentic liturgical tradition, this book should prove to be a marvelous incentive and a valuable guide.
1520322
Categorizes each of the theological issues as taught by the early Church Fathers.  It is wonderful to see what the early Church believed.  It also goes into the heresies that plagued the early Church and the councils that fought them.  Great Book!
841668
I think this book presents the earliest periods of Church history, from Jesus Christ to 600 AD, in a very readable and entertaining manner. The book will suit everybody, but particularly the average reader, who might lack formal theological training. By the average person, I mean someone whose knowledge of Church history might only extend back to when his or her pastor was born, but who has a sense of history and wants to know about the origins of his or her faith.
The book has many charts, pictures, and anecdotal stories, thus making it suited for those who do not have the time, or the will, to read volumes on Church History (since many Church History books are densely written for the scholar). The charts are particularly useful, such as the ones detailing the four views of Christ during the 4th century Trinitarian controversies, and the canon chart, showing which early writers accepted which books as holy. There is a nice index, and a glossary of important terms for easy access. If there was ever a Church History coffee table book, this is it!
I am saddened that this is now out of print. Whenever a friend asks me why I study church history in graduate school, and what exactly it is, I usually let them borrow this book. It is scholarly (Jaroslav Pelikan, noted Church Historian, contributed to it), as well as readable. I hope someday it is back in print, so that non-scholars and scholars alike can benefit from it! When I teach a Church History class in the future I would like to use this book as kind of a primer, to get the students interested and prepared to dig deeper.
183948
I had originally been looking for a single-volume history of the Christian church as background reading for a study of Renaissance art. Unfortunately, all of the single-volume histories I looked at were disappointing, primarily because of the extent to which the confused they history of church doctrine with the history of the church. Chadwick's volume is a refreshing change: he devotes significant attention not only to the doctrinal history but also to the substantial quasi-secular dimensions of Church history. Though his language and conclusions are at times a bit over-cautiously vague, this is an excellent place to start for someone looking for a short history of the church. I can only hope that the other volumes in the Penguin series are as good.
3819215
Well organized and clean distilled truth of early church history. Part of my Ph. D. program. Highly recommend.