Introduction to the History of Christianity (review)

If you are looking for an introduction to church history that gives a balanced overview of 2,000 years, this is not the book. If, however, you are looking for an introduction to church history that looks at representative periods, written with passion and commitment, then Herring's volume is for you. George Herring, author of What was the Oxford Movement?, has written a book that he wanted to write, focusing on three, two-hundred-year periods that were critical for the development of Western Christianity and which, Herring says, are "things which particularly interest me" (p. xiv). It is clear that as he discusses these three historic periods (300-500; 1050-1250; 1450-1650) Herring writes about material he has traversed many times and about issues he greatly values.

Why focus on only three periods in a book that purports to be an "Introduction?" Herring is concerned to understand how Christianity, as a religion that both embraces and insulates itself from culture, develops authority, relies upon tradition, how it reforms and expresses authority. He does not ignore traditional historical categories, but he has special concerns about the Church's authority and its ongoing reform. One example should make this clear. His section on reformations ("Grace and Authority: Western Christianity c. 1450-1650") is a delightful interplay arguing that there were ongoing reformations in Western Christianity up to 1517. But then he states clearly that both Protestant reformers and the Council of Trent were of a completely different order. Although the Church goes through reforming movements every century, there was something great, dramatic, and final about "The Reformation," as we call it.

In terms of style, Herring writes for the most ill-informed historiographic neophyte, but then leads one quickly to see the major academic arguments concerning the material. In his section on the Crusades (pp. 165-171) he tells the story of the Crusades focusing on the various explanations: economic, political, religious, spiritual. He pauses in the discussion and takes a little side-trip to explain two interpretations of 1054. Then he says that the Runciman and Chadwick view, which sees 1054 not as an institutional break, but as personal excommunications, is the view to be preferred. In many places throughout the book Herring introduces material, gives contrasting interpretations, and then analyzes how best to understand the event or period.

The volume has two other very helpful components. An appendix of twenty-four short documents helps the reader enter into some of the actual material of history. Of course it is very cursory, but it does whet the appetite for further primary-source reading. Secondly, there is a forty-three page introduction to the first centuries of Christianity. This section, titled "Making all Things New," is a wonderful stand-alone introduction to earliest Christianity that could be used to introduce some of the unique features of Christianity and some of the themes that should be followed. I found this whole volume a wonderful read and would encourage its use, but now I am not sure how to encourage its use. Unless someone is teaching a class on themes or periods of premodern Christianity, it would be difficult to use this as an introductory text. As a supplemental text it would be excellent, but it discusses only the European church, as church history, rather than as Christianity. The writing style is engaging and accessible; the material is covered in a fair manner, and many of the presentations are creative, covering well-worn territory with a freshness seldom seen in an introductory volume.