Leadership Library Spotlight
by on Oct 23rd, 2009 at 8:19 am
Book: Church History in Plain Language, 2nd edition
Author: Bruce L. Shelley
“Many Christians today suffer from historical amnesia. The time between the apostles and their own day is one giant blank. That is hardly what God had in mind.”
- Bruce Shelley, xv
Bruce Shelley is a church history professor who understands that the general lack of historical understanding on the part of most Christians is a dangerous condition. Years ago, he set out to make productive use of a career’s worth of studying church history, and the result was Church History in Plain Language.
A few days ago, I described how the world needs Godly men who know their Bibles and understand the historical links between the apostles and today’s believers. I also promised to help you get started in building your historical foundations. Well, Shelley’s book is an excellent starter for Christians who know very little about their religious past.
A unique feature in Shelley’s book is that he attempts to balance the release of historical information within the context of human stories. In other words, he does not overwhelm or bore you with endless paragraphs containing names, dates, and figures. He does not bring you to a halt with countless footnotes and quotes from scholars. What he tries to do is give you accurate, documentable information within the context of the lives of the men and women who lived through those encounters. The result of such an attempt is a history book that retains the human element while constructing a basic foundation on which you can build your future historical studies.
If you are a believer and you have had a pulse for at least 12 years, you will be able to comprehend and benefit from this work. Though the treatment of 2000 years of history is broad and fast-paced, this resource will help other resources make sense when you do dive deeper into a particular person or period.
In the future, I will add other historical resources because 1) I’m passionate about history and as the one who finances this site, I’m going to claim executive privilege, 2) there are other good resources to consider, both in terms of historical surveys, specific moments/movements, and biographies, and 3) historical books offer us a look at Godly men in action.