Story of Christianity Volume 2

I love the book. It complimented my collection on various book Church History.

This book is breathtaking in its breadth and depth, describing not only the people, events and theological developments of Christianity, but also the political environment, and philosophers and theologians who might not all be Christian. I loved Volume I of this two-volume set, and Volume II did not disappoint. Gonzalez seems to be very thorough and very fair towards each theology shift that he describes. I thought I read on Amazon somewhere that he is Roman Catholic, but his Wikipedia page says that he is Methodist and his wife is a professor at a Presbyterian seminary. When Gonzalez tells about Luther’s spiritual journey and his theology, he puts himself in Luther’s place and tells it in a way that is sympathetic to Luther.The book has three parts: The Reformation (p 6-171), Orthodoxy, Rationalism, and Pietism (p 172-292), Beyond Christendom (p293-530)The Bainton biography of Luther and this book have differing explanations for the origin of the word “Protestant.” According to Bainton, the Emperor decreed that each territory could choose between Lutheranism and Roman Catholicism. In Lutheran territories, individuals could choose either Lutheranism or Roman Catholicism. In Roman Catholic territories, only Roman Catholicism was allowed. So the Lutherans protested. According to Gonzalez, in 1529 the Second Diet of Spire the Edict of Worms was reaffirmed. This edict condemned Luther and his followers and his books to be erased from human memory (Page 37), so the Lutherans protested. (Page 44) Maybe both explanations are true.The first four chapters describe the corruption and problems in the Roman Catholic church, Luther’s journey from monk to priest to Bible professor to Reformer, and Luther’s theology. The next several chapters describe other Protestant initiatives, the Roman Catholic response, and the role of emperors, kings, and princes, and religious wars that ensued. All of the persecutions, the burning of “heretics,” burning of books, and wars seem strange to us today, in our age of religious freedom guaranteed by the government. But since the age of Constantine, the church was closely tied to the government. Rulers believed that it was essential that all citizens should be church members of the same church and should be in agreement on dogma. Religious leaders knew that either their own dogma would be imposed on everyone, or someone else’s dogma would be imposed on them. This made it urgent to snuff out any opposing doctrine. The remaining ten chapters in Part 1 deal with other Reformed theologians and the Reformation in other countries. This is where you get a very thorough review of the secular history and how politics impacted Christianity, especially in Great Britain.Part II covers the Thirty Years’ War and various sects, philosophers and theologians, ending with the history of Christianity in the Thirteen Colonies.Part III starts with the American Revolution and ends with the present day. During the time of Pope Pius IX, 1846 – 1878, the Pope lost his influence over civil government, and made up for it by asserting himself in the ecclesiastical government, establishing the doctrine of papal infallibility. This doctrine was used once, in 1950, for the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary. Then Pope John XXIII, 1958 – 1963 and Pope Paul VI (1963 – 1978) convened the Second Vatican Council, relaxing the authoritarian power of the pope and maybe moving a bit toward the Protestant position. Some of the philosophers and theologians: Hegel, Hume, Kant, Wesley, Kierkegaard, Schleiermacher, Descartes, Barth, Bonhoeffer.I have a couple of bones to pick, but not to take away from the wonderful contribution of this book. There is a very brief mention of dispensationalism, but only as an example of fundamentalism (page 343). Cyrus Scofield is mentioned, but not Charles Nelson Darby. It seems that everywhere I turn, I run into people who adhere to Dispensational Premillennialism, and many seem to feel that if you are not a Dispensational Premillennialist, you are not really Christian. So it seems like a very big movement to me, and it gets very little attention in this book. Maybe it’s not as big as it seems.In discussing the turbulent time of the 1960s in America, he says “Then it was discovered that the public – and Congress -- had been purposefully misinformed on the incident in the Gulf of Tonkin which had precipitated the escalation of the war.” This seems over-stated. It is widely agreed that the U.S.S. Maddox was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats on August 2, 1964. Two days later, there was much confusion. A SONAR operator thought there was a torpedo attack, but was almost certainly mistaken. Then he says “The very prosperity that resulted from the war – followed as it was by a significant recession – led some to wonder if the economic system on which the nation was founded did not require the artificial stimulus of war.” This is silly, because there have been many times when the United States was prosperous without the stimulus of war.On my Kindle Paperwhite, I don’t get page numbers or percent finished displayed. I can get page numbers if I tap the top of the screen, then tap an icon that appears at the bottom of the screen. As far as I can tell, this is not because of any settings that I might have changed.I bought the Kindle version in 2017, and the copyright I got is 2010, and it says second edition on the copyright page. I’m not sure this is the latest version. Amazon gives the publication date as November 25, 2014 on their web site.I have only mentioned a few of the topics covered in the book. It is densely packed with information and requires careful reading, or re-reading. I found it very worthwhile and enjoyable, but I know many of my friends do not want to read history, so it is not for everyone.

Excellent book. Bought for my husband who is extremely pleased with it.

Provides a sweeping view of Christianity around he world from the Reformation on. Easy to read, and well organized. You can set it down and pick it up later to read as each section stands on its own. Massive task, and decisions required to decide what to put in or not. He did a very good job on all accounts. A must read for someone wanting to know the history of this time in one book.

Brilliant introduction to Christian Church History. Read it like a novel, and enjoyed it immensely

I enjoyed how this books focuses on how various religious organizations that from the Christian viewpoint, are explained and put into context. It is helpful to know how the story of Christ has been viewed around the world, and how different denominations have interpreted that message. I’m sure it was no easy task to compile this information and I greatly appreciate the author’s efforts.