Church History in Plain Language, Fifth Edition

by Bruce Shelley, Marshall Shelley (Revised by)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310115960
Publisher:	Zondervan Academic
Publication date:	07/13/2021
Edition description:	Fifth Edition
Pages:	624
Sales rank:	119,342
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 5.80(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Marshall Shelley (MDiv, DD, Denver Seminary) is director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Denver Seminary. He has previously served as an editor and vice president at Christianity Today International for thirty-four years, including several years as executive editor of Christian History magazine.

Table of Contents

List of Profiles of Faith xiii

Preface to the Fifth Edition xv

Contributors to the Fifth Edition xix

Prologue 1

Part 1 The Age of Jesus and the Apostles, 6 BC-AD 70

1 Away with the King! The Jesus Movement 7

2 Wineskins Old and New: The Gospel to the Gentiles 20

Part 2 The Age of Catholic Christianity, 70-312

3 Only "Worthless" People: Catholic Christianity 35

4 If the Tiber Floods: The Persecution of Christians 48

5 Arguing about the Event: The Rise of Orthodoxy 59

6 The Rule of Books: Formation of the Bible 69

7 School for Sinners: A Structure That Fits 80

8 Apostles to Intellectuals: Interacting with Other Worldviews 90

9 Countries of the Sunrise: Early Christianity in Asia and Africa 100

Part 3 The Age of the Christian Roman Empire, 312-590

10 Laying Her Sceptre Down: Conversion of the Empire 117

11 Splitting Important Hairs: The Doctrine of the Trinity 127

12 Emmanuel! Christ in the Creeds 138

13 Exiles from Life: Beginnings of Monasticism 148

14 The Sage of the Ages: Augustine of Hippo 159

15 Peter as "Pontifex Maximus": Beginnings of the Papacy 168

16 Somewhere between Heaven and Earth: Eastern Orthodoxy 178

17 Bending the Necks of Victors: Mission to the Barbarians 190

Part 4 The Christian Middle Ages, 590-1517

18 God's Consul: Gregory the Great 203

19 The Search for Unity: Charlemagne and Christendom 213

20 Lifted in a Mystic Manner: The Papacy and the Crusader 224

21 The Nectar of Learning: Scholasticism 236

22 A Song to Lady Poverty: Francis and the Apostolic Lifestyle 247

23 Chaos and the Law of Necessity: Decline of the Papacy 260

24 Judgment in the Process of Time: Wyclif and Hus 271

Part 5 The Age of the Reformation, 1517-1648

25 A Wild Boar in the Vineyard: Martin Luther and Protestantism 283

26 Radical Discipleship: The Anabaptists 293

27 Thrust into the Game: John Calvin and Reformed Rule 303

28 The Curse upon the Crown: The Church of England 312

29 "Another Man" at Manresa: The Catholic Reformation 320

30 Opening the Rock: Uttermost America and Asia 330

31 The Rule of the Saints: Puritanism 342

32 Unwilling to Die for an Old Idea: Denominations 352

Part 6 The Age of Reason and Revival, 1648-1789

33 Aiming at the Foundations: The Cult of Reason 365

34 The Heart and Its Reasons: Pascal and the Pietists 375

35 A Brand from the Burning: Wesley and Methodism 387

36 A New Order of the Ages: The Great Awakening 399

Part 7 The Age of Progress, 1789-1914

37 Restoring the Fortress: Catholicism in the Age of Progress 413

38 A New Social Frontier: Nineteenth-Century England 426

39 To Earth's Remotest People: Protestant Missions 436

40 The Destiny of a Nation: A Christian America? 448

41 A Bridge for Intelligent Moderns: Protestant Liberalism 461

42 Nothing to Lose but Chains: Slums and the Social Gospel 473

Part 8 The Age of Ideologies, 1914-1989

43 Graffiti on a Wall of Shame: Twentieth-Century Ideologies 489

44 Rootless Immigrants in a Sick Society: American Evangelicals 501

45 New Creeds for Breakfast: The Ecumenical Movement 514

46 The Medicine of Mercy: Roman Catholicism and Vatican II 525

Part 9 The Age of Technology and the Spirit, 1990-

47 New Technologies, New Contexts: Christian Ministries in the West 539

48 More Peoples, More Tongues: Emergence of the Global South 554

Epilogue 569

Notes 575

For Further Study 583

Index of People 585

Index of Movements 591

Index of Events 595