These are general surveys of Christianity in America, covering multiple perspectives and groups. Several include primary texts or 'documents' from this period.
Invitation to Church History - America
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A two-volume introductory survey of church history from its origins to the present day Designed for an educated lay audience and students in introductory college and seminary church history courses, these visually stunning textbooks are carefully written for first-time learners in the subject areas. Invitation to Church History: World walks readers through the story of God's people from Christ to the contemporary church around the world. Invitation to Church History: American chronicles American church history from the pilgrims to contemporary denominations in the United States. In these full-color textbooks, many features facilitate learning: photos make the material come alive for the reader; diagrams clarify and distill complex concepts and sets of information; and review materials aid the student in processing and retaining the concepts in each chapter. Readers will gain a clear understanding of the meaning of the gospel, the wonder of divine redemption, and the majesty of God. The story of the church is presented as part of the redemptive history of God and His people. With a conservative, Christ-centered perspective, Hannah writes with fairness and generosity toward diverse views.
A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada
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A best-selling text thoroughly updated, including new chapters on the last 30 years "An excellent study that will help historians appreciate the importance of Christianity in the history of the United States and Canada." - The Journal of American History "Scholars and general readers alike will gain unique insights into the multifaceted character of Christianity in its New World environment. Nothing short of brilliant." - Harry S. Stout, Yale University "A new standard for textbooks on the history of North American Christianity." - James Turner, University of Notre Dame Mark Noll's A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada has been firmly established as the standard text on the Christian experience in North America. Now Noll has thoroughly revised, updated, and expanded his classic text to incorporate new materials and important themes, events, leaders, and changes of the last thirty years. Once again readers will benefit from his insights on the United States and Canada in this superb narrative survey of Christian churches, institutions, and cultural engagements from the colonial period through 2018.
A Documentary History of Religion in America
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Up-to-date one-volume edition of a standard text For decades students and scholars have turned to the two-volume Documentary History of Religion in America for access to the most significant primary sources relating to American religious history from the sixteenth century to the present. This fourth edition--published in a single volume for the first time--has been updated and condensed, allowing instructors to more easily cover the material in a single semester. With more than a hundred illustrations and a rich array of primary documents ranging from the letters and accounts of early colonists to tweets and transcripts from the 2016 presidential election, this volume remains an essential text for readers who want to encounter firsthand the astonishing scope of religious belief and practice in American history.
The Religious History of America
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In this landmark work, award-winning Princeton historian Leigh Schmidt teams up with eminent American religious history scholar Edwin Gaustad to produce a fully revised, updated, and expanded version of a modern classic. First published in 1966, The Religious History of America made the religious dimensions of our common history readily accessible to a generation of readers. This edition remains true to the literary grace of earlier editions as it expands its scope, increasing the emphasis on pluralism, religious practices, and spiritual seeking, as well as the direct connection of religion to social and political struggle. The authors have updated the structure of the text, replacing the five distinct ages of Gaustad's previous editions with a more explicit emphasis on specific historical markers, carrying the multifaceted story of religion in the United States into the twenty-first century. Extensively illustrated, and with a new emphasis on African-American and Native American religious life, Eastern religions, and the recent boom in spirituality, this new edition of The Religious History of America is the master telling of the heart and soul of the American story.
Early Evangelicalism
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Early evangelicalism flourished during the transatlantic revivals of the eighteenth century, coinciding with the emergence of the Enlightenment in America and Europe. Today, most people associate it with only a few of its leaders-namely Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, and George Whitefield-despite the fact that this religious movement crossed nations as well as different traditions within Christianity. Those responsible for the growth of evangelicalism were Anglicans, Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, Moravians, and Presbyterians and could be found in America, Canada, Great Britain, and Western Europe. They published hymns, historical works, poems, political pamphlets, revival accounts, sermons, and theological treatises. There are also records of their conversion experiences, and diaries that chronicle their spiritual development. Jonathan M. Yeager's anthology introduces a host of important religious figures, providing biographical sketches of each author and over sixty excerpts from a wide range of well-known and lesser-known Protestant Christians. Early Evangelicalism: A Reader promises to be the most comprehensive sourcebook of its kind.
The American Evangelical Story
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The American Evangelical Story surveys the role American evangelicalism has had in the shaping of global evangelical history. Author Douglas Sweeney begins with a brief outline of the key features that define evangelicals and then explores the roots of the movement in English Pietism and the Great Awakening of the eighteenth century. He goes on to consider the importance of missions in the development of evangelicalism and the continuing emphasis placed on evangelism. Sweeney next examines the different subgroups of American evangelicals and the current challenges faced by the movement, concluding with reflections on the future of evangelicalism. Combining a narrative style with historical detail and insight, this accessible, illustrated book will appeal to readers interested in the history of the movement, as well as students of church history.
A Religious History of the American People
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This classic work, winner of the 1973 National Book Award in Philosophy and Religion and Christian Century's choice as the Religious Book of the Decade (1979), is now issued with a new chapter by noted religious historian David Hall, who carries the story of American religious history forward to the present day. Praise for the earlier edition: "An unusual and praiseworthy book. . . . It takes a modern, almost anthropological view of history, in which worship is a part of a web of culture along with play, love, dress, and language."--B.A. Weisberger, Washington Post Book World "The most detailed, most polished of the works in its tradition."--Martin E. Marty, New York Times Book Review "An intellectual delight that one does not so much read as savor."--America "The definitive one-volume study by the leading authority."--Christianity Today "No one writing or thinking hereafter about America's past will be able to ignore Ahlstrom's magisterial account of the religious element."--American Historical Review
Turning Points in the History of American Evangelicalism
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Lucid, authoritative overview of a major movement in American history The history of American evangelicalism is perhaps best understood by examining its turning points--those moments when it took on a new scope, challenge, or influence. The Great Awakening, the rise of fundamentalism and Pentecostalism, the emergence of Billy Graham--all these developments and many more have given shape to one of the most dynamic movements in American religious history. Taken together, these turning points serve as a clear and helpful roadmap for understanding how evangelicalism has become what it is today. Each chapter in this book has been written by one of the world's top experts in American religious history, and together they form a single narrative of evangelicalism's remarkable development. Here is an engaging, balanced, coherent history of American evangelicalism from its origins as a small movement to its status as a central player in the American religious story. Contributors & Topics Harry S. Stout on the Great Awakening Catherine A. Brekus on the evangelical encounter with the Enlightenment Jon Butler on disestablishment Richard Carwardine on antebellum reform Marguerite Van Die on the rise of the domestic ideal Luke E. Harlow on the Civil War and conservative American evangelicalism George M. Marsden on the rise of fundamentalism Edith Blumhofer on urban Pentecostalism Dennis C. Dickerson on the Great Migration Mark Hutchinson on the global turn in American evangelicalism Grant Wacker on Billy Graham's 1949 Los Angeles revival Darren Dochuk on American evangelicalism's Latin turn
Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism
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Evangelicalism retains the doctrine of biblical authority that developed during the Protestant Reformation as well as the sense that each individual stands in need of a life-transforming experience of forgiveness of sins that can only come through faith in Christ. With the rise of the Christian Right in American politics over the past quarter-century, there has been renewed interest in Protestant evangelicalism and fundamentalism and their roles in American culture. Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism is a collection of key primary readings tracing the history and development of this religious movement and its intersections with American life and politics, spanning the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. The documents deal with issues such as biblical criticism, theology, revivalist preaching, religion and science, religion and politics, and social concerns such as gender and race. Countering notions among some that evangelicalism is monolithic, the diversity of the movement is made evident in texts from the evangelical Left as well as the Christian Right. Each section and many individual texts are prefaced by a brief editor's introduction explaining their background and context. During the period the book covers, evangelicalism went from being the dominant form of religion in America, then to the fringes, then back into the mainstream. These texts provide the reader with a sense of the central core as well as the range of evangelical thinking in the past century.
Extensive collection of digitized works from leading research libraries worldwide, providing access to rare, out-of-print, and public domain materials
The following are introductions to global Christianity. They survey the spread of the gospel over the centuries as Christianity moved into new countries and territories.
Invitation to Church History
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A two-volume introductory survey of church history from its origins to the present dayDesigned for an educated lay audience and students in introductory college and seminary church history courses, these visually stunning textbooks are carefully written for first-time learners in the subject areas. Invitation to Church History: World walks readers through the story of God's people from Christ to the contemporary church around the world. Invitation to Church History: American chronicles American church history from the pilgrims to contemporary denominations in the United States.In these full-color textbooks, many features facilitate learning: photos make the material come alive for the reader; diagrams clarify and distill complex concepts and sets of information; and review materials aid the student in processing and retaining the concepts in each chapter.Readers will gain a clear understanding of the meaning of the gospel, the wonder of divine redemption, and the majesty of God. The story of the church is presented as part of the redemptive history of God and His people. With a conservative, Christ-centered perspective, Hannah writes with fairness and generosity toward diverse views.
A World History of Christianity
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Christianity is the most global of religions. However, most books on the subject fail to do justice to the history of Christianity outside Europe and North America. This prodigious work provides the first genuinely global one-volume study of the rise, development, and impact of the Christian faith. Written by an international team of specialists, this comprehensive volume covers the full breadth of Christian history while also taking seriously the geographical diversity of the story: extensive chapters cover North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, India, China and its neighbors, and Australia and the Pacific. Though unified in scope, these chapters each focus on what matters most in the specific time and place covered, ensuring that readers are introduced to the major themes--social, theological, political, and cultural--that together constitute Christianity's role in world history. Ideally suited for classroom study as well as for independent reading, A World History of Christianity will serve as the definitive study of church history for the coming generation worldwide. Contributors: Mary B. Cunningham Gillian Evans Robert E. Frykenberg Martin Goodman Adrian Hastings Mary Heimann David Hilliard Robert Bruce Mullin Andrew Pettegree Gary Tiedemann Philip Walters Benedicta Ward Kevin Ward
The New Shape of World Christianity
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2010 Christianity Today Book Award winner With characteristic rigor and insight, in this book Mark Noll revisits the history of the American church in the context of world events. He makes the compelling case that how Americans have come to practice the Christian faith is just as globally important as what the American church has done in the world. Noll backs up this substantial claim with the scholarly attentiveness we've come to expect from him, lucidly explaining the relationship between the development of Christianity in North America and the development of Christianity in the rest of the world, with attention to recent transfigurations in world Christianity. Here is a book that will challenge your assumptions about the nature of the relationship between the American church and the global church in the past and predict what world Christianity may look like.
The Unexpected Christian Century
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In 1900 many assumed the twentieth century would be a Christian century because Western "Christian empires" ruled most of the world. What happened instead is that Christianity in the West declined dramatically, the empires collapsed, and Christianity's center moved to Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific. How did this happen so quickly? Respected scholar and teacher Scott Sunquist surveys the most recent century of Christian history, highlighting epochal changes in global Christianity. He also suggests lessons we can learn from this remarkable global Christian reversal. Ideal for an introduction to Christianity or a church history course, this book includes a foreword by Mark Noll.
History of the World Christian Movement
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Beginning with the missionary expansion of the 15th century, this story goes on to trace the fracturing of the Christian movement among Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant versions; the impact of modern colonialism and the emergence of a new global reality; the wars of religion, the impact of the Enlightenment, the rise of Christianity in North America, and the modern missionary movement.
The Christian World: A Global History
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In this cogent volume, renowned Christian historian Martin Marty delivers a brief yet sweeping account of Christianity and how it spread from a few believers two thousand years ago to become the world’s largest religion. Comprising nearly one third of the world’s population–more than two billion followers–Christianity is distinctive among major faiths in that it derives both its character and its authority from the divinity of its central figure, Jesus Christ. Examining this facet of Christianity from historical and sociological viewpoints, Marty lays bare the roots of this faith, in turn chronicling its success throughout the world. Writing with great style, and providing impeccable interpretations of historical, canonical, and liturgical documents, Marty gives readers of all faiths and levels of familiarity with Christian practices and history a highly useful and supremely accessible primer. He depicts the life of Christ and his teachings and explains how the apostles set out to spread the Gospel. With a special emphasis on global Christianity, he shows how the religion emerged from its ancestral homelands in Africa, the Levant, and Asia Minor, was imported to Europe, and then spread from there to the rest of the world, most often via trade and conquest. While giving a broad overview, Marty also focuses on specific issues, such as how Christianity struggles with the polar tensions inherent to many of the faith’s denominations, and how it attempts to reconcile some of its stances on armed conflict, justice, and dominion with the teachings of Christ. The Christian Worldis a chronicle of one of the great belief systems and its many followers. It’s a magnificent story of emperors and kings, war and geography, theology and politics, saints and sinners, and the earthly battle to save souls. Above all, it’s a remarkable testament to the teachings of Christ and how his message spreads around the globe to touch human experience everywhere.
A Survey of the History of Global Christianity, Second Edition
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Since Jesus's resurrection, Christianity has expanded across the globe and shaped a vast array of groups and movements. A Survey of the History of Global Christianity, Second Edition, provides an overview of the Christian faith from the apostolic age to the global present. In a friendly and informative tone, author Mark Nickens outlines the historical context of important developments in doctrine and practice, including: The persecution and resilience of the early church. The results of increasing papal power in Europe during the Middle Ages. The Reformation and later movements that influenced European Christianity. The various sects of American Christianity that arose in cycles of revival. An examination of Orthodoxy and the history of Christianity in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the West Indies. In addition to historical information, this book features quotes and spiritual lessons from noteworthy Christians throughout the centuries. By understanding how Christian doctrine has developed over the ages and across the globe, readers will better understand where their own faith tradition comes from.
How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind
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Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture from its infancy. Some of the most decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity were explored and understood in Africa before they were in Europe.If this is so, why is Christianity so often perceived in Africa as a Western colonial import? How can Christians in Northern and sub-Saharan Africa, indeed, how can Christians throughout the world, rediscover and learn from this ancient heritage?Theologian Thomas C. Oden offers a portrait that challenges prevailing notions of the intellectual development of Christianity from its early roots to its modern expressions. The pattern, he suggests, is not from north to south from Europe to Africa, but the other way around. He then makes an impassioned plea to uncover the hard data and study in depth the vital role that early African Christians played in developing the modern university, maturing Christian exegesis of Scripture, shaping early Christian dogma, modeling conciliar patterns of ecumenical decision-making, stimulating early monasticism, developing Neoplatonism, and refining rhetorical and dialectical skills.He calls for a wide-ranging research project to fill out the picture he sketches. It will require, he says, a generation of disciplined investigation, combining intensive language study with a risk-taking commitment to uncover the truth in potentially unreceptive environments. Oden envisions a dedicated consortium of scholars linked by computer technology and a common commitment that will seek to shape not only the scholar's understanding but the ordinary African Christian's self-perception.
The Next Christendom
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In this new and substantially expanded Third Edition, Philip Jenkins continues to illuminate the remarkable expansion of Christianity in the global South--in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Drawing upon the extensive new scholarship that has appeared on this topic in recent years, he asks how the new Christianity is likely to affect the poor, among whom it finds its most devoted adherents. How should we interpret the enormous success of prosperity churches across the Global South? Politically, what will be the impact of new Christian movements? Will Christianity contribute to liberating the poor, to give voices to the previously silent, or does it threaten only to bring new kinds of division and conflict? Does Christianity liberate women, or introduce new scriptural bases for subjection?Acclaim for previous editions of The Next Christendom:Named one of the Top Religion Books of 2002 by USA TodayNamed One of the Top Ten Religion Books of the Year by Booklist (2002)Winner of the Christianity Today Book Award in the category of "Christianity and Culture" (2002)"Jenkins is to be commended for reminding us, throughout the often gripping pages of this lively work...that the history of Christianity is the history of innovative--and unpredictable--adaptations."--The New York Times Book Review"This is a landmark book. Jenkin's thesis is comprehensively researched; his analysis is full of insight; and his projection of the future may indeed prove to be prophetic."--Baptist Times"A valuable and provocative look at the phenomenon widely ignored in the affluent North but likely to be of enormous importance in the century ahead.... The Next Christendom is chillingly realistic about the relationship between Christianity and Islam."--Russell Shaw, Crisis"If the times demand nothing less than a major rethinking of contemporary global history from a Christian perspective, The Next Christendom will be one of the significant landmarks pointing the way."--Mark Noll, Books & Culture
Dictionary of Mission Theology
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A spectre is haunting Europe-the spectre of Communism. All the Powers of old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope and Czar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies.Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as Communistic by its opponents in power? Where is the Opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of Communism, against the more advanced opposition parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?Two things result from this fact.I. Communism is already acknowledged by all European Powers to be itself a Power.II. It is high time that Communists should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the Spectre of Communism with a Manifesto of the party itself.
The Lost History of Christianity
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"Jenkins is one of America's top religious scholars." --Forbes magazine The Lost History of Christianity by Philip Jenkins offers a revolutionary view of the history of the Christian church. Subtitled "The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--and How It Died," it explores the extinction of the earliest, most influential Christian churches of China, India, and the Middle East, which held the closest historical links to Jesus and were the dominant expression of Christianity throughout its first millennium. The remarkable true story of the demise of the institution that shaped both Asia and Christianity as we know them today, The Lost History of Christianity is a controversial and important work of religious scholarship that sounds a warning that must be heeded.
The Church from Age to Age
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The Church in History examines key historic events in the life of the Church from the time of the apostles through today. The book gives a basic overview and summary of political, social, and economic factors that contributed to the development of the Christian Church.
