I.B.Tauris History of the Christian Church – serie

The years 1450-1650 were a momentous period for the development of Christianity. They witnessed the age of Reformation and Counter-Reformation: perhaps the most important era for the shaping of the faith since its foundation. C Scott Dixon explores how the ideas that went into the making of early modern Christianity re-oriented the Church to such an extent that they gave rise to new versions of the religion. He shows how the varieties and ambivalences of late medieval theology were now replaced by dogmatic certainties, where the institutions of Christian churches became more effective and 'modern', staffed by well-trained clergy. Tracing these changes from the fall of Constantinople to the end of the Thirty Years' War, and treating the High Renaissance and the Reformation as part of the same overall narrative, the author offers an integrated approach to widely different national, social and cultural histories. Moving beyond Protestant and Catholic conflicts, he contrasts Western Christianity with Eastern Orthodoxy, and examines the Church's response to fears of Ottoman domination.

The creation of a new history of the Church at the beginning of the third millennium is an ambitious but necessary project. Perhaps nowhere is it needed more than in re-describing the Church's development - its life and its thinking - in the period that followed the end of the 'early Church' in antiquity. The cultural, social and political dominance of Christendom in what we now call 'the West', from about 600-1300, made the Christian Church a shaper of the modern world in respects which go far beyond its religious influence. Writing with her customary authority, and with a magisterial grasp of the original sources, G. R. Evans brings this formative era vividly to life both for the student of religious history and general reader. She concentrates as much on the colourful human episodes of the time as on broader institutional and intellectual developments. The result is a compelling and thoroughly modern introduction to devotional and theological thought in the early Middle Ages as well as to ecclesiastical and pastoral life at large.

The nineteenth century was one of the most fascinating and volatile periods in Christian history. It was during this time that Christianity evolved into a truly global religion, which led to an ever greater variety of ways for Christians to express and profess their faith. Frances Knight addresses the crucial question of how Christianity contributed to individual identity in a context of widespread urbanisation and modernisation. She explores important topics such as the Evangelical revival led by the likes of the founder of the Christian Mission - later the Salvation Army - William Booth; the Oxford Movement under Newman, Keble and Pusey; Mormonism and Protestant revivalism in the USA; socialism and the impacts of Karl Marx and anarchism; continuing theological divisions between Protestants and Catholics; and the development of pilgrimage and devotion at places like Lourdes and Knock. Her book also examines the most significant intellectual trends, such as the rise of critical approaches to the Bible, and the different directions that these took in Britain and America.The author's unique emphasis on the 'ordinary' experience of Christians worldwide makes her volume indispensable for students and general readers who will be fascinated by this sensitive twenty-first century perspective on the nineteenth century.

David Hempton's history of the vibrant period between 1650 and 1832 engages with a truly global story: that of Christianity not only in Europe and North America, but also in Latin America, Africa, Russia and Eastern Europe, India, China, and South-East Asia. Examining eighteenth-century religious thought in its sophisticated national and social contexts, the author relates the narrative of the Church to the rise of religious enthusiasm pioneered by Pietists, Methodists, Evangelicals and Revivalists, and by important leaders like August Hermann Francke, Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley. He places special emphasis on attempts by the Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch and British seaborne powers to export imperial conquest, commerce and Christianity to all corners of the planet. This leads to discussion of the significance of Catholic and Protestant missions, including those of the Jesuits, Moravians and Methodists. Particular attention is given to Christianity's impact on the African slave populations of the Caribbean Islands and the American colonies, which created one of the most enduring religious cultures in the modern world.Throughout the volume changes in Christian belief and practice are related to wider social trends, including rapid urban growth, the early stages of industrialization, the spread of literacy, and the changing social construction of gender, families and identities.

Given the diversity and complexity of developments in the twentieth century, a history of the Christian Church in the modern period is in some ways the most challenging volume of all to write. But Jeremy Morris succeeds in presenting a coherent account of the Church. He emphasises the changing relationship of Western churches to the many forms of Christianity in other parts of the world, while also departing from the Eurocentric worldview of previous histories. His volume offers three major perspectives. The first is political, in which the history of the modern Church is assessed through a prism of international conflicts and international relations. The second perspective is regional, in which coverage is given not only to Europe and the Americas, but to Christianity in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific Rim and Australasia. The author's third major perspective is institutional, in which he discusses particular Christian traditions and their relationships with each other, with other faiths and with wider cultures. An epilogue evaluates the future and prospects for Christianity in the new millennium.

The creation of a new history of the Church at the beginning of the third millennium is an ambitious but necessary project. Perhaps nowhere is it needed more than in re-describing the Church's development - its life and its thinking - in the period that followed the end of the 'early Church' in antiquity. The cultural, social and political dominance of Christendom in what we now call 'the West', from about 600-1300, made the Christian Church a shaper of the modern world in respects which go far beyond its religious influence. Writing with her customary authority, and with a magisterial grasp of the original sources, G. R. Evans brings this formative era vividly to life both for the student of religious history and general reader. She concentrates as much on the colourful human episodes of the time as on broader institutional and intellectual developments. The result is a compelling and thoroughly modern introduction to devotional and theological thought in the early Middle Ages as well as to ecclesiastical and pastoral life at large.

Given the diversity and complexity of developments in the twentieth century, a history of the Christian Church in the modern period is in some ways the most challenging volume of all to write. But Jeremy Morris succeeds in presenting a coherent account of the Church. He emphasises the changing relationship of Western churches to the many forms of Christianity in other parts of the world, while also departing from the Eurocentric worldview of previous histories. His volume offers three major perspectives. The first is political, in which the history of the modern Church is assessed through a prism of international conflicts and international relations. The second perspective is regional, in which coverage is given not only to Europe and the Americas, but to Christianity in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific Rim and Australasia. The author's third major perspective is institutional, in which he discusses particular Christian traditions and their relationships with each other, with other faiths and with wider cultures. An epilogue evaluates the future and prospects for Christianity in the new millennium.

How did the early Christians manage to establish a religion and institution which, despite persecution, flourished and grew? How did their initial experience of being a despised minority in the Roman Empire shape their sense of privileged identity and uniqueness? And how was it that - at least at the outset - the first believers were able to exist alongside the same shared traditions, rituals and beliefs of the Jews, despite the Jewish rejection of Jesus as Messiah?The Christian community was born out of paradox: its faith in a man who was also the 'anointed one' (or Christ) of God; and its growth and development often echoed those complex and contradictory origins. Morwenna Ludlow discusses the fragile context as well as the emerging core beliefs of the early Church (including divine creation, salvation, eschatology, the humanity and divinity of Christ and the inter-relationships of the Trinity) between 50-600 CE. She also examines the process of Christian self-definition in response to groups on the edge of the Church, such as Gnostics, Marcionites, Montanists and Manichaeans, as well as in relation to Judaism.Bringing to vivid life the remarkable history of the early Church, in all its conflict and struggle, the author shows why such a successful faith was able to rise out of such improbable and unpromising beginnings.

The Later Middle Ages (1300-1500 CE) have often been characterised as a period of decline for Christendom. The era seems to sit uncomfortably between the remarkable achievements of church and society in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and the revivals of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation in the sixteenth century. The period has even been called a 'Babylonian Captivity' for the Church, echoing the struggles of the Israelites in exile, and reflecting the transferral of the papacy to Avignon in 1309.Norman Tanner challenges this negative view, examining a vibrant period of ecclesiastical history in its own right rather than just through the lenses of the centuries that preceded and succeeded it. He discusses the trials of the age in the form of the papal schism between 1378-1417, the heresies of Cathars, Lollards and Hussites, the Hundred Years' War, and the terror of the Black Death. Yet he focuses, too, on the great ecumenical councils, the flowering of intellectual life in the Renaissance and the extraordinarily rich spirituality of mystics like Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Siena and Meister Eckhart.What comes to light in this lively and readable volume is that the later medieval age was actually one of extraordinary achievement for the Church: of deepening and enrichment, as well as of schism and conflict.

The years 1450-1650 were a momentous period for the development of Christianity. They witnessed the age of Reformation and Counter-Reformation: perhaps the most important era for the shaping of the faith since its foundation. C Scott Dixon explores how the ideas that went into the making of early modern Christianity re-oriented the Church to such an extent that they gave rise to new versions of the religion. He shows how the varieties and ambivalences of late medieval theology were now replaced by dogmatic certainties, where the institutions of Christian churches became more effective and 'modern', staffed by well-trained clergy. Tracing these changes from the fall of Constantinople to the end of the Thirty Years' War, and treating the High Renaissance and the Reformation as part of the same overall narrative, the author offers an integrated approach to widely different national, social and cultural histories. Moving beyond Protestant and Catholic conflicts, he contrasts Western Christianity with Eastern Orthodoxy, and examines the Church's response to fears of Ottoman domination.