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7th out of 36 books
—
15 voters
The Story of Christianity: Volume 2: The Reformation to the Present Day (The Story of Christianity #2)
Beginning with the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, this fully revised and updated second volume of The Story of Christianity continues the marvelous history of the world's largest religion. Award-winning historian Justo Gonzalez bring to life the people, dramatic events, and theological debates that have shaped Protestantism, Catholicism, and Orthodoxy. Fr...more
Paperback, 2 Revised Updated edition, 560 pages
Published
December 7th 2010
by HarperOne
(first published 2010)
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I know Tim Prussic loves these two volumes unabashedly, but I have some reservations. Once González gets going on European political machinations, its hard to make him stop and its hard to be interested. However, he is a very good story teller, so when he concentrates on individuals, it is gold. Also, his neo-orthodoxy is painfully obvious at time. I don't mind people having a point of view, I just wish he would be more up-front about it. Also, it would be better if he were a Calvinist! :-)
If I...more
If I...more
This, with its companion volume (Story of Christianity: Volume 1, The: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation), comprises a good initial orientation to Church history. These heavy volumes (each over 500 pages) are a good overview of the depth and breadth of Church history. Gonzalez does an excellent job of calling attention to minority and non-western branches of the church. Despite its length, it still feels brief. Augustine, arguably the most influential theologian in the church, gets...more
I thought overall the book tried to give a good picture of Christianity. The later chapters just don't cover it though. The largest problem is its grasp of the drastic effects that Protestant Liberalism has had in Europe. The theological bend of the 20th century has emptied the church in Europe. It emptied the church of true believers because it emptied the gospel of true power. When confronted with these issues in the United States we would do well to consider our own trajectory towards the sam...more
Another reliable survey of church history with a good balance between breadth and depth, similar to volume one. However, I felt that in volume two Gonzalez was less objective. Perhaps as the story comes closer to the present it's natural that as a reader I look for those elements which reflect my own current-day convictions and am disappointed when they receive less attention than I would give, or are presented differently to the way I would present them. And certainly as history moves closer to...more
Justo Gonzalez' work is not groundbreaking, in that there are no controversies or shocks in this narrative. However, it is a successful overview of Christian history. If someone wants to better understand Christian history (in the case of Volume 2, Reformation-1980s history), and understand it reasonably quickly, you can't do better than this book.
PART I: THE REFORMATION
The author really enjoys getting into politics. I enjoyed this aspect in the first volume because politics were simpler then. You were dealing with one guy at a time: first the Roman emperor, then the Byzantine emperor, and finally Charlemagne. But in the Reformation era, you have the English, French, and Spanish crowns plus the Holy Roman Emperor. And he even gets into the intrigues of Scandinavia and the Low Countries! Although not ignoring the theological strains of the...more
The author really enjoys getting into politics. I enjoyed this aspect in the first volume because politics were simpler then. You were dealing with one guy at a time: first the Roman emperor, then the Byzantine emperor, and finally Charlemagne. But in the Reformation era, you have the English, French, and Spanish crowns plus the Holy Roman Emperor. And he even gets into the intrigues of Scandinavia and the Low Countries! Although not ignoring the theological strains of the...more
Since I hadn't focused on church history since an undergrad class in the late 1990s, there was much here for me to absorb, both in terms of new information and also in terms of new understanding and interpretation of things previously known and studied. Looking forward to starting the class that goes with this book in a few weeks, when I'm sure I will have my understanding broadened even more.
Considerably lesser quality than his first volume. The most glaring deficiencies included (in sequence of the book's chapters): inadequate treatment of Wesley (who didn't even get his own chapter), a highly selective narrative of the Thirteen Colonies, a superficial account of the First Great Awakening, and a noticeable Liberal bias in the latter half of the book. More generally, missions was almost entirely absent; instead, Gonzalez spends too much time trying to detail the secular history arou...more
Overall I think it is a good introduction to the history of Christianity from the Reformation to the present. I do think that the title should include "Western" because this is where the main focus of the book lies. Christianity has been in many parts of the world for a long time, but only the Western section of Christianity gets any press. Gonzalez does include some information about Eastern Orthodox churches and Christianity on the fringes, but claiming Western Christianity as "The Story of Ch...more
A readable history of the church from the dawn of the reformation to modern evangelicalism. An important book for those who desire to know how the modern church arrived in its present form.
Dec 24, 2011
David Lord
added it
I read this book as part of a rehired reading list for Seminary. It is one of the best books on Christian history that I've encountered. It is a very quick read and does not have any obvious bias.
We used the Gonzalez texts, volume 1 and 2, are our primary texts in Church History (two sections) in my Masters of Divinity program. The course was challenging, and although in college I could have cared less about history one way or the other, I really enjoyed learning all of this church history.
For anyone concerned that Christianity's story might be painted in a nuanced or romanced way, while that is inherent in any telling of history it is not exacerbated by any means by Gonzalez. People of...more
For anyone concerned that Christianity's story might be painted in a nuanced or romanced way, while that is inherent in any telling of history it is not exacerbated by any means by Gonzalez. People of...more
Dr. Gonzalez has written a readable history of the Christian church for any thinking adult who wants to know how the church of today got here. I highly recommend it.
Read this for seminary. It's a useful book for its exposition of Christian history from the time of the Reformation to (roughly) the present.
I am really not a history guy, but Gonzalez offers an excellent overview of important history of the church- and actually a pretty fascinating read.
Sep 02, 2008
Kj
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
own-it,
seattle-school-of-theology
I love any book where Louis XIV and Billy Graham share equal page time.
Gonzalez' second volume is again, an excellent survey of the history of (mostly) the Western church, which works hard to attend to not only the big names and movements, but heeds marginalized voices, cultures and many under-told legacies.
Because its now 20 years old, the book only takes you to the beginning of the cultural shifts taking place in the 1980's, but this is still an outstanding resource for bridging the gap to our...more
Gonzalez' second volume is again, an excellent survey of the history of (mostly) the Western church, which works hard to attend to not only the big names and movements, but heeds marginalized voices, cultures and many under-told legacies.
Because its now 20 years old, the book only takes you to the beginning of the cultural shifts taking place in the 1980's, but this is still an outstanding resource for bridging the gap to our...more
Eminently readable and highly engaging, I am quick to recommend this to anyone looking for an accessible history of Christianity.
*Note: Although I read much of this book, I did not read the entire book. I only read what was required by my graduate school.*
Justo definitely paints with a broad brush and thus opens himself up to criticism at many points - how else could you cover several hundred years in a single book? That said, it's an excellent book for seeing the general sweep of Christian history and many of the specifics as well.
Not a bad book at all. Worth the read for a large overview of church history
Good overview from the Reformation to today. I recommend the updated versions.
Really great introduction to Historical Theology/Church History.
This book serves its purpose as an introduction to church history. Gonzalez has a winsome way of telling the story of Christ's church. It does get frustrating, however, when he deals with the Puritans, or rather how he often ignores their contribution to the church. He generalizes a little bit too much and downplays Calvinist theology. Towards the end race and social justice take on a more prominent role. Gonzalez clearly has a liberation theology. But leaving these aside he has given an interes...more
A very good treatment for a survey. Fun to read.
Apr 14, 2010
C
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
spirituality-religion
This book is just as good as Vol. I, if not better. Justo Gonzales is a genious. Like the first one, I had to read this for a class, but soon gave up reading the bits assigned (out of order, to follow instructors' syllabus), and am just reading through because it is interesting. And well-written. A rare scholar that can make a history survey book readable w/o compromising scholarship. Certainly from a Christian perspective, but well-balanced account of an important aspect of the history of Weste...more
pretty standard
This is my prefered text for church history.
It is not as "pretty" as say Wright's An Introduction to the History of Christianity but the style is easy to read and the major points are hard to miss. There is also a hardcover version available that combines both vol 1. and vol 2. into a single binding, but I found it much less convenient to carry along.
It is not as "pretty" as say Wright's An Introduction to the History of Christianity but the style is easy to read and the major points are hard to miss. There is also a hardcover version available that combines both vol 1. and vol 2. into a single binding, but I found it much less convenient to carry along.
Coverage of the reformation was fasicinating.
This is a very good introduction to church history. The style i simple, yet lucid and interesting. I like how Gonzalez includes some of the philosopher/theolgians as well. I hoped that he would have included more of a South American perspective though. But, you can't get it all.
The book is very readable. It hits the broad scope, and is a good beginning text.The down side is that it was written in the early 80's and ends there, so you will have to find a complimentary text for anything more recent then that.
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Justo L. González, author of the highly praised three-volume History of Christian Thought and other major works, attended United Seminary in Cuba, received his M.A. at Yale, and was the youngest person to be awarded a Ph.D. in historical theology at Yale. He is one of the few first generation Latino theologians to come from a Protestant background. He helped to found the Association for Hispanic T...more
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Jun 12, 2013 07:38am