Church History: An Introduction to Research, Reference Works, and Methods (review)

James Bradley, professor of church history at Fuller Theological Seminary, and Richard Muller, professor of historical theology at Calvin Theological Seminary, have written for graduate students a guide to research, writing, and teaching in the field of church history. Expanded from an outline for a graduate seminar at Fuller Seminary in historical method, Church History: An Introduction to Research, Reference Works, and Methods will help students to cultivate the methodological rigor which separates professional church historians from amateurs and doctoral students from those studying church history on the master’s level.

Bradley and Muller address the wider theoretical issues in the historiography of Christianity in the first two chapters. In Chapter One, they first discuss the implications of current changes in the study of church history, such as the break-down of the distinction between the history of doctrine and the study of the church as an institution, the growing awareness of the social influences upon dogma and the dogmatic influences upon social phenomena and institutions, and the current appreciation for the persons and sects whose histories are unrecorded in the traditional histories of the more influential doctrines and denominations. The authors then address the differences among the traditional definitions of the discipline, such as church history and history of dogma or of Christian thought, as well as the origins of critical historiography of Christianity in the Enlightenment. Finally, they discuss the strengths and weaknesses of some common models for organizing historical research, such as the diachronic model, which traces the chronological development of doctrine but can unjustifiably systematize it, and the synchronic model, which takes into account all the contemporary ideas, of the great thinkers and the not-so-great, and influences which have contributed to Christian thought. Chapter Two turns to a discussion of the philosophy of history, including the question whether objective history is even possible, and its implications for the church historian.

In the last four chapters, the authors address the practical issues in church historiography. In Chapter Three they offer suggestions on how a student can use the major reference tools, such as dissertation abstracts, periodical indexes, and computer databases, to choose the research topic which will become the area of specialization. Chapter Four discusses the research tools which will lead students to the primary sources for each of the various periods of church history, lists some of the primary sources available in microform, and advises the student how to prepare beforehand for archival research so as not to lose time in frustration. Chapter Five moves to the art of researching and writing, including the ways in which word processing is revolutionizing research. In the last chapter Bradley and Muller suggest ways in which a young professor can best prepare lectures, publish the dissertation, and write articles and books.

Perhaps most helpful to students of church history, as well as to scholars who have been working in the field for some time, however, will be the extensive bibliography at the end of the book. Cross references to works listed in the bibliography conveniently appear throughout the first six chapters. This bibliography, comprising one fifth of the book, lists the general reference tools, such as journals, encyclopedias, dictionaries, indexes, and bibliographies with which all students of church history will need to become familiar, as well as the more specific tools, listed by period, which specialists will need to consult. An appendix listing, among other things, the on-line and CD-ROM computer databases, the online public access catalogs of various universities, and the microform collections most helpful to researchers in church history follows the bibliography.

The authors’ attention to the newer computer resources for research in church history, as well as their conjunction of both the theoretical and the practical issues in contemporary church historiography, will perhaps be the most helpful aspect of the book which separates it from other similar guides. Because Bradley and Muller draw...