Academic discipline studying the history of Christianity
Church history orecclesiastical history as anacademic discipline studies thehistory of Christianity and the way theChristian Church has developed since its inception.
Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual side of the history of civilized people ever since our Master's coming".[ 1] A. M. Renwick , however, defines it as an account of the Church's success and failure in carrying out Christ'sGreat Commission .[ 2] missionary activity ,church organization ,doctrine and "the effect on human life".
Church history is often, but not always, studied from a Christian perspective. Writers from different Christian traditions will often highlight people and events particularly relevant to their owndenominational history. Catholic and Orthodox writers often highlight the achievements of theecumenical councils , whileevangelical historians may focus on theProtestant Reformation and theGreat Awakenings .
Notable church historians [ edit ] Empey, Mark; Ford, Alan; Moffitt, Miriam, eds. (2017).The Church of Ireland and Its Past: History, Interpretation and Identity .Four Courts Press .ISBN 978-1-84682-637-5 Gleixner, Ulrike (2009)."Gendering Tradition and Rewriting Church History" . In Epple, Angelika; Schaser, Angelika (eds.).Gendering Historiography: Beyond National Canons . Campus Verlag. pp. 105– 116.doi :10.25595/775 .ISBN 978-3-593-38960-8 van Roaden, Peter (2004)."Power and Piety in Contemporary Church History and Social Science" . In Frishman, Judith; Otten, Willemien; Rouwhorst, Gerard (eds.).Religious Identity and the Problem of Historical Foundation: The Foundational Character of Authoritative Sources in the History of Christianity and Judaism . Jewish and Christian Perspectives Series.Brill Publishers . pp. 513– 532.doi :10.1163/9789047412830_027 .ISBN 978-90-04-13021-0 Anderson, Josh J. (December 2006). "A Profile of the Membership of the American Society of Church History".Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture 75 (4):963– 972.doi :10.1017/S0009640700112302 . Aubert, Annette G. (June 2016). "Henry Boynton Smith and Church History in Nineteenth-century America".Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture 85 (2):302– 327.doi :10.1017/S0009640716000019 . Bebbington, David W. (2013). "The Evangelical Discovery of History".Studies in Church History 49 :330– 364.doi :10.1017/S0424208400002229 .Berezhnaya, Liliya (Fall 2009). "Does Ukraine Have a Church History?".Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 10 (4):897– 916.doi :10.1353/kri.0.0123 . Brakke, David (September 2002). "The Early Church in North America: Late Antiquity, Theory, and the History of Christianity".Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture 71 (3):473– 491.doi :10.1017/S0009640700130239 .JSTOR 4146416 .Cook, C. W. (1970). "The Writing of South African Church History: Our Appraisal of the English-speaking Traditions".South African Historical Journal 2 :107– 116.doi :10.1080/02582477008671477 . Costelloe, M. Joseph (1961). "Church History in American Colleges and Universities".The Journal of Higher Education 32 (2):70– 76.doi :10.1080/00221546.1961.11777654 . Denis, Philippe (November 1997)."From Church History To Religious History: Strengths and Weaknesses of South African Religious Historiography" .Journal of Theology for Southern Africa .99 :84– 93. Foot, Sarah (2013). "Has Ecclesiastical History Lost the Plot?".Studies in Church History 49 :1– 25.doi :10.1017/S0424208400001984 .Heitzenrater, Richard P. (December 2011). "Inventing Church History".Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture 80 (4):737– 748.doi :10.1017/S0009640711001193 . Hillerbrand, Hans J. (March 2001). "Church History as Vocation and Moral Discipline".Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture 70 (1):1– 18.doi :10.2307/3654408 .JSTOR 3654408 . Hudson, Winthrop S. (April 1960). "Shifting Trends in Church History".Journal of Bible and Religion 28 (2):235– 238.JSTOR 1460071 . Kollman, Paul V. (Fall 2004). "After Church History? Writing the History of Christianity from a Global Perspective".Horizons 31 (2):322– 342.doi :10.1017/S0360966900001572 . Liptak, Dolores (Spring–Winter 1993). "Women Church Historians: First and Second Generation".Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia 104 (1– 4):19– 30.JSTOR 44211200 . Mallard, William (December 1968). "Method and Perspective in Church History: A Reconsideration".Journal of the American Academy of Religion 36 (4):345– 365.doi :10.1093/jaarel/XXXVI.4.345 . Molendjik, Arie L. (2004)." (PDF) .Dutch Review of Church History .84 :358– 387.doi :10.1163/9789047406242_017 .ISBN 978-90-474-0624-2 Printy, Michael (March 2021). "History and Church History in the Catholic Enlightenment".Modern Intellectual History .18 (1):248– 260.doi :10.1017/S1479244319000118 . Ramirez, Daniel (December 2022)."Puritans, Padres, and Pentecostals: Perspectival and Pedagogical Shifts inAmericana Church History" .Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture 91 (4):864– 884.doi :10.1017/S0009640722002815 Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E. (September 2002). "Women, Gender, and Church History".Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture 71 (3):600– 620.doi :10.1017/S000964070013029X .
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