9780767414364

This engaging new text covers the sweep of Christian history from its background in Greece and Rome to the challenges of the new century. The authors provide essential coverage of the historical and cultural settings in which major developments occurred, biographical material on important figures in Christian history, and assistance to students in identifying major themes and ideas. The perfect length for a one-term course in the history of Christianity, the text is also substantial enough for a two-term course, especially when supplemented with primary source readings.

Bradley Paul Nystrom (Sacramento, CA) is a professor at California State University.

David Paul Nystrom (Chicago, IL) is a professor at North Park University.

Preface
1. Backgrounds to Christianity
Overview
Judaism and the Context of Christian Origins
The History and Thought of Ancient Judaism
The Greeks
Greek History
The Legacy of Alexander
Greek Thought
Rome and Roman Expansion
The Beliefs and Practices of First-Century Jews
Judaism in the Greco-Roman World
Judaism in Palestine
Jewish Political Parties
Apocalyptic and Jewish Messianic Expectation
Summary
2. The Birth of Christianity
Overview
John the Baptist and Christian Origins
The Life and Teachings of Jesus
The Sources
Childhood, Baptism, and Temptations
Miracles
Teaching: The Kingdom of God and the Son of Man
Jesus the Radical
The Passion
The Resurrection and the Early Church
Paul
Paul's Theology
Christology
Judaism
Salvation
An Apocalyptic Preacher
Transformation, Freedom, and Responsibility
Christian Community
The Gospel of John
The Context of the Gospel
John's Theology
Summary
3. Christianity in the Roman World
Overview
Zenith and Decline of the Empire
The First Century
The "Five Good Emperors"
The Crisis of the Third Century
Diocletian and Constantine
The End of the Empire
The Growth of the Church
Converts and Conversion
Persecution
Martyrs and Martyrdom
The Question of the Lapsed: Cyprian, Novatian, and Donatus
Early Christian Writers
Justin Martyr
Clement of Alexandria
Origen
Tertullian
The Beginnings of Monasticism
Egypt: Anthony and Pachomius
Syria, Palestine, and Asia Minor
The West: Benedict and the Benedictine Rule
Summary
4. Councils and Creeds: Defining Orthodoxy in Late Antiquity
Overview
Establishing Ecclesiastical Authority
Challenges: Gnosticism, Marcionism, and Montanism
Bishops and Apostolic Succession
The Creation of the Canon
Rules of Faith and the Apostle's Creed
Controversies, Councils, and Creeds
Monarchianism
The Arian Controversy and the Council of Nicea (325)
The Cappadocian Fathers and the Doctrine of the Trinity
The Christological Controversy and the Council of Chalcedon(451)
Theologians of the Fourth and Fifth Centuries
The Cappadocian Fathers
John Chrysostom
Jerome
Ambrose
Augustine
The Practice of Christianity
Holy Days
Baptism and the Eucharist
Worship
The Cult of Saints
Summary
5. The Rise of the Church in the Early Middle Ages
Overview
The Western Church, the Franks, and Feudalism
The Merovingians and the Church
Charlemagne
The Carolingian Renaissance
The Conversion of Spain, England, and Ireland
The Rise of Feudalism
The Church in the Feudal World
The Eastern Church and the Byzantine Empire
Justinian
Byzantium after Justinian
The Church in the Byzantine World
The Conversion of the Goths and Slavs
The Islamic Challenge
Muhammad and Islam
The Growth of Islamic Civilization
Developments in the Eastern Church
The Seven Ecumenical Councils
The Iconoclastic Controversy
John of Damascus
Monasticism and Mysticism
Developments in the Western Church
Early Theories of Papal Authority
Gregory the Great
John Scotus Eriugena
Predestination
The Sacraments
The Saints and the Virgin Mary
The Filioque
Summary
6. The Church and Christian Culture in the High Middle Ages
Overview
The West in the High Middle Ages
Economic, Social, and Political Change
The Holy Roman Empire
Reform and Revival in the Church
Monastic Reform
Papal Reform under Leo IX and Nicholas II
The Reform Ideology of Gregory VII
Gregory VII, Henry IV, and the Investiture Controversy
The Papal Monarchy
Alexander III
Innocent III
The Papacy in the Thirteenth Century
The Crusades
Background
The Course of the Crusades
Consequences of the Crusades
Scholasticism
The Rise of the Universities
Aristotle
Anselm of Canterbury
Peter Abelard
Hugh of St. Victor and Peter Lombard
Thomas Aquinas
Women and the Virgin Mary
Cathedrals: Praise in Stone and Glass
Romanesque Style
Gothic Style
Summary
7. Dissent, Division, and Reform in the Late Middle Ages
Overview
The West in the Late Middle Ages
Decline of the Holy Roman Empire
Political Developments in France, England, and Spain
Social Unrest
The Black Death
Decline in the Western Church
The Babylonian Captivity
The Great Schism and the Conciliar Movement
Decline in Monasticism and among the Secular Clergy
Pilgrimage, the Cult of Saints, and Indulgences
Heretics and Reformers
The Cathari and Waldenses
The Dominicans and the Inquisition
The Franciscans
John Wycliffe and Jan Hus
Mystics and Mysticism
Theology in the West
John Duns Scotus
William of Ockham
Theology and Political Theory
The Church and the Renaissance
The Renaissance in Italy
Humanism in Northern Europe
The Renaissance Popes
The Eastern Orthodox Church
The Break with Rome
The Fall of Byzantium
The Orthodox Church and the Ottoman State
The Russian Orthodox Church
The Smaller Churches of Africa and Asia
The Coptic and Ethiopian Churches
Monophysitism in Syria and Armenia
Nestorian Christianity
Summary
8. The Protestant Reformation
Overview
Europe on the Eve of Reformation
Martin Luther
The Complexity of Martin Luther
The Young Luther
Professor and Reformer
Luther's Theology
Scripture
Knowledge of God
The Human Condition and Salvation
The Church
Why the Reformation Succeeded
The Early Progress of the Lutheran Movement
The Urban Reformation
The Late Medieval City
Nuremberg
Strasbourg
Erfurt
The Peasant Revolts of 1525
Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation
The Radical Reformation
The Anabaptists
The Spiritualists and the Evangelical Humanists
Summary
9. Protestant Expansion and Catholic Response
Overview
The European Scene
Royal Absolutism
Calvin
Calvin's Theology
The Spread of Protestantism
The Reformation in England and Scotland
The Reformation in England
The Reformation in Scotland
The Puritans
Congregationalists
Baptists
Cromwell and Puritan Political Power
The Glorious Revolution
The Catholic Reformation
Reforming Voices
Individual Calls for Reform
Reforming Groups
Mystics
Reforming Popes
The Council of Trent
Eastern Orthodoxy
Summary
10. The Church in an Age of Division and Expansion
Overview
The Scene in Europe: Politics, Religion, and Strife
Germany, Sweden, and the Thirty-Year's War
France and the Huguenot Struggle
The Netherlands
Prussia, Russia, and the Empire
Catholic Orthodoxy
Popes and Kings
Divergence within Catholicism
Lutheran Orthodoxy and Protestant Scholasticism
Currents in Intellectual Life: The Enlightenment, Rationalism and the Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution
Rationalism in Philosophy and Religion
Descartes and Continental Rationalism
Empiricism
The Kantian Synthesis
The Philosophes of France
Religions of the Head, Religions of the Heart
Deism
Religions of the Heart
Pietism
The Great Awakening
The Orthodox Church in an Embattled Era
The Church in Russia
Summary
11. Christianity in the Modern World: The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Overview
The Modern World: Social, Political, and Economic Change
Romanticism and Liberalism
Imperialism and Industrialization
World Wars and Communist Revolutions
The Modern World: Intellectual Change
The Natural Sciences
The Social Sciences
Philosophy
History and Biblical Criticism
The Roman Catholic Church in the Modern World
Napoleon and the Church
The Nineteenth Century
The Early Twentieth Century
Catholic Theology in the Early Twentieth Century
John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965)
Protestantism in the Modern World
Nineteenth-Century Liberal Theology
Critics of Liberal Christianity
Revivalism
Protestant Theology in the Early Twentieth Century
New Churches
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Christian Science and New Thought
Seventh-Day Adventists
Jehovah's Witnesses
The Eastern Orthodox Church in the Modern World
Orthodoxy and the Autocephalous Churches
The Russian Orthodox Church
The Expansion of Christianity
North America
South America
Africa
India
China
Japan
Summary
12. The Church and the Challenge of the New Century
Overview
Theologies Old and New
Biblical Criticism
Biblical Theology
Theologies of Hope
Liberation Theologies
Secular Theology
Fundamentalism
Evangelicalism
The Pentacostal and Charismatic Movements
Success and "Signs and Wonders" Christianity
The Ecumenical Movement
The Catholic Church after Vatican II
Hans Kung
John Paul II
World Christianity: Trends and Prospects
Summary

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The History of Christianity: An Introduction

The History of Christianity: An Introduction

0767414365

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

1. Backgrounds to Christianity

Overview

Judaism and the Context of Christian Origins

The History and Thought of Ancient Judaism

The Greeks

Greek History

The Legacy of Alexander

Greek Thought

Rome and Roman Expansion

The Beliefs and Practices of First-Century Jews

Judaism in the Greco-Roman World

Judaism in Palestine

Jewish Political Parties

Apocalyptic and Jewish Messianic Expectation

Summary

2. The Birth of Christianity

Overview

John the Baptist and Christian Origins

The Life and Teachings of Jesus

The Sources

Childhood, Baptism, and Temptations

Miracles

Teaching: The Kingdom of God and the Son of Man

Jesus the Radical

The Passion

The Resurrection and the Early Church

Paul

Paul's Theology

Christology

Judaism

Salvation

An Apocalyptic Preacher

Transformation, Freedom, and Responsibility

Christian Community

The Gospel of John

The Context of the Gospel

John's Theology

Summary

3. Christianity in the Roman World

Overview

Zenith and Decline of the Empire

The First Century

The "Five Good Emperors"

The Crisis of the Third Century

Diocletian and Constantine

The End of the Empire

The Growth of the Church

Converts and Conversion

Persecution

Martyrs and Martyrdom

The Question of the Lapsed: Cyprian, Novatian, and Donatus

Early Christian Writers

Justin Martyr

Clement of Alexandria

Origen

Tertullian

The Beginnings of Monasticism

Egypt: Anthony and Pachomius

Syria, Palestine, and Asia Minor

The West: Benedict and the Benedictine Rule

Summary

4. Councils and Creeds: Defining Orthodoxy in Late Antiquity

Overview

Establishing Ecclesiastical Authority

Challenges: Gnosticism, Marcionism, and Montanism

Bishops and Apostolic Succession

The Creation of the Canon

Rules of Faith and the Apostle's Creed

Controversies, Councils, and Creeds

Monarchianism

The Arian Controversy and the Council of Nicea (325)

The Cappadocian Fathers and the Doctrine of the Trinity