This is a very detailed book covering many years and topics regarding the history of the mainstream Christian church. It does tend to meander back to Catholicism most of the time, but they are the leading Christian group.
Overall, a very worthwhile book if you try not to get bogged down with all the dates and names put forth. From my limited experience, I think this is also a very thorough book which has gone through several revisions to keep it current.
Except for the fact I needed this for a class, I would not have purchased it at full price, or close to full price.

I once heard a taped lecture in which the late church historian John Gerstner recommend Williston Walker's text as the best single volume work on the history of Christian Church that one could find. I have since concluded that Gerstner's assessment is correct. Any single volume work that attempts to cover such a broad and complex field is bound to suffer from gaps and over generalizations, but I must say that Walker, and his later revisers, have nonetheless done a fantastic job with the material covered. One of this book's strengths is the way it successfully ties together both theological issues and the broader historical context as they played a role in shaping the doctrine, life, and practice of the Church. There are a about nine maps scattered throughout, but apart from these there is nothing else in the way of images, just meaty text. An extensive bibliography can be found in the back of the book that is nicely divided up by periods, with each period further divided into various topical categories such as, "Sources and Documents," or "Thought and Theology." It should be noted, however, that this bibliography has not been updated since around 1984.

Despite the fact this is a one volume survey, I do not think this work is for the casual reader looking for a light introduction to church history. I don't mean to suggest that it is difficult reading, because I think it is actually written very well. It just seems to me that this text's appeal and value will be for the serious student who desires a more scholalry survey.

A History of the Christian Church by Williston Walker was first published in 1918 and has gone through significant revision over the years. This is the fourth edition and includes the latest scholarship in the field of Christian history. The book is the major text for many seminary and university courses on the subject and with good reason, it includes quality research and scholarship. If you are a serious student of the subject you will enjoy the book and find it helpful in your own research. If you are a novice or casual inquirer, I recommend you look elsewhere. It does not offer a smooth flow through history like other texts of this nature. On the spectrum of Christian scholarship, the text is on the liberal end. The reading is more difficult than most introductory texts. Also, the book does not seem to give equal print to subjects of equal value to the history of the world wide Church. Yet, for the serious student of church history, it is an outstanding resource.

After admittedly a scan, not detailed reading, the book has problems. It appears to tell readers what they expect or want to hear, but not necessarily what actually happened in the history of the Church of Christ. If you are going to rely on this book, be sure to read other histories to get balance.

Reviving the Ancient Faith is by far one of the three best histories of the Stone-Campbell Reformation in print, the others being Leroy Garrett's Stone Campbell Movement, Revised Edition, and Robert Hooper's A Distinct People. Anyone interested in the origins and history of the Church of Christ, and what makes those "peculiar people" so peculiar will find Hughes' book most enlightening.

Hughes traces the two main streams of our tradition, exemplified by "founders" Barton Warren Stone and Alexander Campbell and how Stone's apocalyptic, countercultural worldview and Campbell's "progressive primitivism" and focus on restoring the ancient gospel merged in second and third generation leaders like Tolbert Fanning, David Lipscomb and James A. Harding. As one who grew up in the church of Christ, I was intrigued to learn from Hughes in the book, that our tradition had several pre-millennial evangelists (actually a pre-millennial "wing" of our brotherhood), which I had never realized before (most traces of it were "stamped out" by conservatives such as Foy Wallace, Jr., until memory of this branch of our tradition was lost by the mainline churches). Those sections of the book alone make it worth reading.

Hughes continues by examining in detail the triumphs and controversies of the twentieth century, through the insitutional wranglings of the fifties and sixties, the Crossroads movement of the seventies and on into modern times.

Some readers may be suprised at much of the material presented, as much of it has been consciously or unconsciously "swept under the rug," as it were, by the church as a whole. For this reason, many have inaccurately accused Hughes of "revisionist history."

My one problem with the book is the absence of any substantive material on Alexander Campbell's father Thomas, and the latter's pivotal 1809 "Declaration and Address," which greatly influenced the thinking of his son Alexander and, at least in the early years served as the movement's Magna Carta.

But all in all, Reviving the Ancient Faith is a great primer on the Churches of Christ and what makes us tick.

The author provides a well-balanced, readable and compelling overview of the people and issues that have influenced the modern history of the churches of Christ. The book was fourteen years in the making and is extremely well-researched and well-documented. It includes dozens of historic photographs and drawings of people who figure prominently in the text.

The book covers the standard history starting with Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone, continuing through the various controversies that divided and subdivided the body in the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century: missionary societies, instrumental music, premillennialism, moderization and institutionalism. It then provides excellent sections on more recent trends and controversies, including racial issues, campus ministries, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Crossroads and Boston movements, the emphasis on grace, the "new hermeneutic" crisis, and the role of women in the church.

I would highly recommend this book for every member of the church of Christ and for anyone who wants an excellent overview of the church's modern history.

it was ok, but i am not very sure on how to cast the spells. it has a good, but confusing, background. the spells are good, but I am not sure if all i say is the words given or if there is something i should knwo, not given in the book. i expected different.

In an environment where 'what we do is religion and what they do is magic' attitude, these compilers prefer to speak of 'ritual' as a less value-ridden word and since the spells relate to that sphere of life we call 'religion' the sub-title may be a more appropriate description. There are 135, dating from the first 1000 years of Christianity, in English, with notes and written originally on papyrus, parchment, rag paper, pottery or bone. There are love spells, healing spells, sexual spells, protective spells, spells to drive out demons, spells for a good singing voice or to silence a dog, and curses. A book for specialists.

With so much interest in things magical (from card games to Harry Potter) and mystical (from Celtic chants to Zen monastic biographies) I have been surprised that this book is not better known, and yet it remains, despite a prestigious university press pedigree (Princeton University Press) and marketing by one of the powerhouses of publishing (HarperCollins, their HarperSanFrancisco division here) a relatively unknown text. Not perhaps coincidentally, many of the texts contained herein were, for most of Christian history, relatively unknown. Indeed, it is virtually unknown that, in many parts of Christendom, magic was not only tolerated, but expected of the priestly class; miracles, after all, often seem magical events, much to the chagrin of rational theologians who try to explain them metaphorically, symbolically, or any way other than as Houdini-esque happenings.

In particular, the Coptic Christians, who were concentrated mostly in Egypt, spreading (as all Christians were wont to do) throughout the Roman and non-Roman world from a centre not too far from Alexandria, one of the major cities of the world of the time. The Coptics never really died out, but always remained a strange Christian aberration from orthodoxy on the fringes of East and West. The texts contained in 'Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power', by Marvin Meyer and Richard Smith, come from these people.

These texts contain the whole slate of magical utterances -- rites, spells, amulets, curses, recipes. The magical practices contained herein include a spell for protection against headless powers, an invocation to a thundering power to perform every wish (shades of the 'Prayer of Jabez' here), an amulet to protect against the mischief of evil spirits, and even an erotic spell for a ma to obtain a male lover (lest we think that modern controversies in the church have no historical bases or parallels).

Lest we think that the magical period of Christianity was only in the remotest of history, this collection includes texts as early as the first century after the time of Jesus to the twelfth century -- more than half the span of Christian history. Almost all texts are from Egypt, centre of the Coptic and Gnostic communities.

The users of these texts, the authors contend, had the same disdain for 'magic' as traditional Christians have for 'magic' today -- magic is usually assumed to be alien, evil, something dark and probably demonic. Yet, these texts were used in much the same way, with an intention rooted in Christianity that somehow would serve to make the practice acceptable, even holy.

Within this text are 135 Coptic texts. They originated in Old Coptic, Greek, and Gnotic texts. This volume combines them in three sections.

Ritual Power in Egypt
These texts come from various sources, manuscripts held in museums all over the world, including the Great Magical Papyrus of Paris, texts from Cairo, Berlin, Cologne, Amsterdam, Florence, and Oslo, and of course, the Nag Hammadi collection.

Other interesting texts in this section spells for seeking vengeance, spells for ascending through the heavens, spells to drive out demons and various amulets and prayers.

Coptic Texts of Ritual Power
Most of these texts are individual constructs; i.e., spells or curses from a particular person to a particular person or need. However, many are templates, with placeholders or blanks to be filled in later. Often these (perhaps a precursor to indulgences later) were for sale. There are spells to help a woman conceive, and spells to help a woman avoid pregnancy. There are several spells and charms to woo a woman; there are several curses directed at barreness and impotence. Life was harsh!

Coptic Handbooks of Ritual Power
This section consists of masters and collections, like the cookbook from Cairo, and the hoards, portfolios and books of spells held at other major museums. 'In a world where ritual dominated the resolution of most crises in life, these handbooks seem to have been a prized component of private collections and the mainstay of temple libraries ' Many of these collections were loose-leaf collections, and sometimes short on Christian imagery. 'While this neglect of Christian traditions might suggest that the handbooks' owners worked independently from the monasteries, it may also reflect the type of language and symbolism that worked in the villages beyond the monasteries.'

Unlike our sense of magic as being something devious or sneaky, in fact magic has more often intended to be useful and practical. Thus, these rituals were meant to invoke power and meaning into the lives of those using it .

Addendum
A joy of a book will have a bibliography, an index, and appendices that give further guidance. This book magically has much here to commend it. It does lack an index, which is less critical here than in many texts, but one would hope that a future edition would have one.

The appendix contains previously unpublished Coptic texts from the Beinecke Library at Yale. These are annotated but not translated, so brush up your ancient languages for this one. Thirty pages of textual notes expand the translations in the earlier sections. A good glossary is provided, which is useful for this and other Coptic and Gnostic texts. The bibliography is a gem, and one could devote years to follow-up research based on the hundreds of items contained herein.

The book is not lavishly illustrated, but it does have original drawings, a few photographic representations, and original language sections that enhance the readability. This is a book which is both scholarly and fun, interesting and educational. Mysterious combination, indeed!

An excellent introduction to Anglican thinkers, although these interesting and informative essays are essentially starting places for more in-depth reading. And once we get past the obvious early figures, the choices of the profiled sometimes seem a little arbitrary, with echoes of an editor somewhere saying, "Can't we get some more women and people of color in here?" But Schmidt+ has done his homework, and there's food for thought between the covers.

As a concept, "Glorious Companions" rates five stars. In execution, it occasionally falls to three. So let me give it four stars and say at the start I recommend the book highly, although with several caveats.

"Glorious Companions," a selection of the Episcopal Book Club, is a anthology or compendium into the hearts and minds of twenty-nine significant figures in Anglican spirituality. Proceeding chronologically, the author, Fr. Richard Schmidt, begins with Thomas Cranmer, the father of the Book of Common Prayer, and ends with Desmond Tutu, the prophet of forgiveness. In between, he covers figures as representative and as diverse as Richard Hooker, John Donne, Joseph Butler, Charles Gore, Dorothy Sayers, C.S. Lewis, and Verna Dozier. Some of his choices are inspired; it was a delight to see Samuel Johnson, a powerful writer whose writings on spirituality are largely unknown. Others, however, seemed arbitrary. Why Hannah More, for instance, but not Florence Nightingale? William Law but not William Laud? Thomas Traherne but not Benjamin Whichcote? Why Madeleine L'Engle over T.S. Eliot or W.H. Auden?

An especially strong feature of the book is its excellent Introduction. Schmidt writes his introductory essay as a road map not just to his book, but to spirituality, Anglicanism, and theological imagery as well. Each of the twenty-nine sections of the book are divided into four parts: an ink drawing of the subject by Dean Mosher; a short spiritual biography of the author; a selection of passages from the subject's writings; and questions for reflection and discussion to be used by study groups.

Generally Schmidt does a good job of placing his subjects in their historical, literary, and spiritual contexts and selecting appropriate passages for consideration and edification. But he can misstep on occasion. The section on John Donne was a disappointing example of these lapses. Schmidt focused more on Donne as a preacher of sermons than as a major English poet. Donne's poetry is difficult, but to ignore it in favor of his lesser talents is a lost opportunity for real spiritual discovery.

Although the author says this book is aimed at laypeople, rather than clergy, I wish every member of the clergy would read it, especially those who think a sermon has to be long and address every possible angle. Using clear language and examples from people's everyday lives, a skillful writer -- like Schmidt -- can convey deep thoughts without beating the issue to death.

Schmidt's introduction was, for me, the best part of the book. It really got me thinking and examining my own views.

The selection of profiles of influential Anglican thinkers was excellent, although I wished he would have included even more non-white, English men.

Because of its structure, the book is perfect to pick up and read when you have a few minutes. It is also suited for use by a discussion group.

The peasants in medieval society remain silent in history, neither speaking themselves through writings they were not able to produce or being ignored by the literate classes of the aristocracy or clergy, until those occasional moments when the peasants turn their despair into anger and their enemies cannot write enought about them. Richard Wunderli captures simply and perfectly one of these moments in Peasant Fires (The Drummer of Niklashausen) when the peasants in Southern Germany are led on a very brief pilgrimage by the enigmatic peasant/shephard Hans Behem and his visions of Mary that threaten to turn the society upside down. The author is great at capturing this period of time for the reader and setting the stage for the main event. It is unfortunate that the main event itself could not be meatier but that is not the point. A smaller eruption in society such as this is appropriate for this little volume. It allows the general reader into medieval history a chance to get a clear look at an interesting time. A well-written and presented book.

Peasanta fires is an interesting, imaginative account of the pilgrimage of Niklashausen. Richard Wunderli has done a good job of recreating the story of Hans Behem and the pilgrimage of Niklashausen in 1476. The ever-present and extremley important themes that run throughout the book are that of pilgrimage, indulgences, and social classes. Although some of the story is the imagination of Wunderli himself, he clearly explains the story of Hans Behem. This novel is a useful tool when studying the history of Germany in the 15th and 16th centuries. It is not the usual reading material that one would find when learning about history. Nonetheless, it gives a different perspective than that of a usual textbook.

This book created a new insight into the way we look at peasants. It is quite difficult to assemble together a story this well, and the parts that Wunderli creates seem believable considering the context of the novel. In addition, it shows how peasant life revolved around the festivals and that the time inbetween was rather dead time. It helped me look at the life and struggles of peasants (even the oppression) in a whole new light.

Professor Horsley has repeatedly offered us books impeccably researched and annotated in great detail. Yet despite the promise of those works, Horsley has too often hidden his gifts behind an impenetrable wall of technicalities and minutia. In his attempts to demonstrate his intelligence, Horsley has sometimes made his writing obtuse and inaccessible to the average reader.

This, however, is not one of his failures. Here Horsley finally gets it right. Here Horsley fulfills the promise of his other works.

Examining the politics, sociology, psychology and religion of the renewal movements founded by John the Baptist, Jesus of Nazareth, and Paul of Tarsus, Horsley and Silberman weave an exhilarating narrative that exposes the historical roots of Christianity. Thoroughly comprehendible by the lay reader, without sacrificing scholarship, this book demonstrates that the authors can strike an appropriate balance between academia and popular reading.

Harsley and Silberman provide a social and economic setting of the time of Jesus and Paul (10 BCE - 70 CE) and the "Jesus Movement". Without addressing the religious truth of Christianity, they describe its social context and the impact it had on Palestine and the eastern Mediterranean.

The authors draw on recent archaeological finds to present a picture of life during this time. Along with the Bible and writings of Josephus, they use non-canonical early Christian writings, and Roman documents and inscriptions.

Bibliographical Notes in addition to the Bibliography make it easy to refer to more original sources in topics of interest.

The book is somehat hard to read, visually. This edition uses a very light serif font, and the paragraphs are rather long. Some familiarity with Biblical accounts of Jesus and Paul would be helpful for the reader.

A candid look at why Protestant Christianity and particularly the United Methodist Church has declined in membership since 1960. A very good book to read if you are Christian, Protestant, and Methodist.

The use of OT in the NT is of major importance in studying the hermeneutical practice of the biblical authors. Longenecker systematically presents the foundational and relevant information necessary for all the NT students.It covers the Jewish background like Midrash, Pesher, and allegory etc. It also includes how Jesus, Paul, and the early Christians preachings uses the OT. Particluarly helpful to me is the session on Paul in which Longenecker listed Paul's quotation of the OT and then traces his exegetical techniques back to the Hebrew roots. I consider these basics for any work on NT exegesis which takes seriously the continutiy between the NT and the OT.

An unusually sophisticated joining of ethics and economics -especially interesting if you are informed about Catholic Social Teaching.

Niebuhr's book has been seen as a classic for nearly half a century now, and to be honest, when I first read it I too was captivated by his typology: Christ Against Culture, Christ of Culture, Christ Above Culture, Christ and Culture in Paradox, and Christ the Transformer of Culture.

There are several nit-picky complaints about it-- for example, his desciption of the Mennonite Church as Christ Against Culture is not accurate. He probably meant the Old Order Amish. Second, culture seems to shift during his exposition, so that by the time you get to the end of the account you forget how he defined it. Third, and sorry if I am giving anything away, he fails to critique the fifth option (transformer) to the same extent as he does the first four. It is a bit of intellectual cheating that this position is his position of preference-- a quasi-calvinistic reformist view that wants desperately to keep Christianity relevant to the society in which it finds itself. Not to the extent of his brother, Reinhold, but certainly more than enough.

This book is more a theological treatise than an accurate historical account. The trouble is that the examples then become straw men for the theological or polemical point instead of being able to stand on their own merits.

Typologies are dangerous because they do not allow for a lot of barrier-transcending. Calling a group "Christ Against Culture" fails to consider that it too may be triving for some sort of "transformation". It may be one that is much more overtly Christian, which is considerably different from a perspective that sees the Church as the moral conscience of the secular state.

Finally, some revisions are necessary today for the diferent movements that have come up more recently. Christ the Liberator of Culture, for example.

Niebuhr's views, historical, cultural and religious, were solidly based in the context and culture of the late 40's and early 50's. He wrote as an ethicist who, in 1950, fully comprehended the cataclysmic failure of the German National Church. Now, over fifty years later, with the republishing of Niebuhr's book, his inquiry into the relationship of the Church and the contemporary culture remain valid, though the world and the church have dramatically changed.

In "Christ & Culture" Niebuhr describes five models of how the sacred & secular can interact. Ultimately he seeks to give insight into the question of "how shall we, as Christians, live?" I will not go into the five types, but of the five types, Niebuhr favors most the "Christ transforming Culture".

Faith, in Christ, Niebuhr believed, needs to go beyond separation, accommodation, adoration or polarization and engage dynamically the culture with the values of life that Christ espoused. Faith in Christ, through presence and social action, will transform the world. Thus, for Niebuhr, if Christ identified with the poor, we should too. If Christ took in the orphans and widows, we should too. If Christ healed the sick, we should too. Jesus is God-with-us, not to rescue us out of "all of this," but to redeem, transform, restore us and all of this. God's work of redemption is not at odds with God's work of creation. We live in the world, we create the world and we, through faith, are involved in bringing God's "kingdom come, here on earth as it is in heaven."

This is a must read for any student of Christianity. This is a serious read and it can be a bit dense and daunting at times, but it is non-the-less a Christian Classic that every pastor and thinking Christian should have in their library. Strongly recommended.

Christ and Culture is one of those books that will forever change the way a person of faith understands their relationship to God and those around him. In part, Niebuhr is able to make this book so impactful because he himself avoids most value judgments about the merits of the perspectives he looks at; while he does (persuasively, I would add) advocate the fifth position, his discussion of each of the five categories is fair and even-handed. Indeed, his typology is consistant with his view that there is no single answer to this "enduring dilemma". No matter which of the categories you most feel compelled by, this method of even handed analysis is sure to build your appreciation of other Christian answers to the problem, and it forces you to examine your own view of this critical question.