A Brief History of Sunday: from the new testament to the new creation

by Justo L. González

In this accessible historical overview of Sunday, noted scholar Justo González tells the story of how and why Christians have worshiped on Sunday from the earliest days of the church to the present. After discussing the views and practices relating to Sunday in the ancient church, González turns to Constantine and how his policies affected Sunday observances. He then recounts the long process, beginning in the Middle Ages and culminating with Puritanism, whereby Christians came to think of and strictly observe Sunday as the Sabbath. Finally, González looks at the current state of things, exploring especially how the explosive growth of the church in the Majority World has affected the observance of Sunday worldwide. Readers of this book will rediscover the joy and excitement of Sunday as early Christians celebrated it and will find fresh, inspiring perspectives on Sunday amid our current culture of indifference and even hostility to Christianity.

Genres: History, Church History, Theology, Christianity, Nonfiction, Religion, Church

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

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 MA at Yale, and was the youngest person to be awarded a PhD 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 Theological Education and the Hispanic Theological Initiative. Dr González is now on the faculty of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.

Reviews

[George Mayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those historical surveys that could have easily been twice the size (and I wish it would have been). Gonzalez traces Christian thought and practices across 2000 years, showing how Saturday (Sabbath) and Sunday moved from distinct days until the idea of Sunday as "the Christian Sabbath" eventually emerged. His argument is persuasive, and has significant repercussions for both the theology and practice of the Lord's Day. Despite this persuasiveness, however, the work would have been greatly strengthened, in my opinion, by even more direct quotes from primary sources.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fun little book exploring the transformation of Sunday worship from the the first Christians to the present day. This is the kind of church history that is really fun: seeking to show how and why things are, things seemingly as banal as Sunday.

[Adam McKinney · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful history of the Lord's Day/Sunday/that thing where Christians weekly gather together, even though it seemed a bit repetitive at times. I appreciate how González provides a summary at the end of every chapter of that developments within that time period. This is not really a theological book, but a concise chronicle of how the Church understood and lived out their beliefs about Sunday.

I found his analysis of the early Church along with the age Puritans to be the most compelling sections. As I transcribed my notes from this, it felt like material that would certainly be useful for teaching material in the future.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend this book to just anyone, but if you are especially interested in, well, exactly what the title says, then this might be for you.

[Madison Hinton]

This took me a LONG time to get through. It wasn’t long by any means, but it was a history book and I haven’t read anything like this in SO long (I’ve been out of school since 2017). If you are looking for a book on sabbathing, this isn’t for you. If you are looking for a history book on how we went from Saturdays to Sundays, here you go! It was interesting just a little dense for me and it wasn’t really what I was looking to read.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most people who attended a seminary, my first encounter with Justo L. González was his masterful The Story of Christianity volumes. What made these two volumes so refreshing was González's writing of church history in such a way that it read like a novel rather than like a dry textbook. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for this book.

In A Brief History of Sunday González traces the history of Sunday from the New Testament to today. Initially, the church (which was mostly Jewish) met after sunset on the seventh day/the Sabbath to celebrate "The Lord's Day." This was marked by celebration, singing of hymns, and the Lord's Supper. Christians began to separate the seventh day/the Sabbath from the the first day/the eighth day/the Lord's Day. When Christianity went from being an oppressed minority to being the ultimate civic authority (in the form of Constantine), many things changed. No one (with the exception of those living in the country) were permitted to work on Sundays. Eventually, Christians started celebrating the mass on Sunday mornings and the remainder of Sunday was filled with celebrations. Communion went from a communal celebration to a theatrical performance which was only celebrated by the priests. Many Christians began to see Sunday as the new Sabbath. The old Sabbath was often seen as a type of the new Sabbath. As Christianity fragmented into multiple denominations during the Reformation, views on the Sabbath and the Lord's Day became so diverse that it is hard to keep up with.

González attempts to condense 2,000 years of history into 153 pages. Many times he states that he does not have the time or space to elaborate further. This cramming of material into such a short book makes for a dry, challenging read. I could never quite figure out who the intended audience was for this book: specialists or non-specialists? The book is short enough that a non-specialist could approach it. However, González makes many assumptions about his audience's knowledge of church history. It seems like this book goes a bit further than most introduction to church history, but it seems to lack the critical notes that you would expect in a scholarly work.

Overall, I am glad I read the book. The read itself was not very enjoyable and was often confusing, but I learned quite a bit.

Thanks, NetGalley, for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review!

[Catherine Wicker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is anything but brief, maybe in page numbers but the history is dense.

[Micah Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Deft handling of many primary sources and illuminating analysis. Most of all I appreciated the proper focus on the glory of Christ in the Lord’s Day.

[Brendan Barlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent primer for this topic from a church history perspective.

[Jhon Alvarado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente introducción a la historia del Domingo

[David Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been my experience that the more you know Church history, the more you realize that, one, it's a lot messier than anyone today would really like and, two, stuff was being done and believed in the first couple centuries that would made adherents of any modern tradition uncomfortable in places. But it is no criticism of the legitimacy of the Church just to point out that life is often messy.

Here historian Justo Gonzalaz traces a history of the Christian understanding of the first day of the week. He begins with an early Church that saw it as a day of celebration and worship, but not really as a new "Sabbath" or mandated day of rest (most Christians really being unable to control when there were permitted to rest anyway), and which often interpreted the related commandment in a spiritual rather than more literal manner. (I also found the details of early Church worship especially interesting.) He then progresses through Constantine and a gradual growth in the idea that Sunday was now the Sabbath in some way (with associated legal mandates for rest, now that Church and state were allies), and then through arguments about exactly what scripture or the Church required pre- and post-Reformation (if anything!). Along the way there are plenty of linguistic and other cultural tidbits - does Sunday begin at sundown or midnight? How did the fact that many languages kept calling Saturday "Sabbath" or some derivative affect the thinking of people who spoke those languages? He then walks through the growth of Seventh-Day-Sabbatarianism and then American Puritan ideas and laws about the Sabbath that were codified to a really Pharisaical degree. And he finally concludes with the more disputable present day when many Christians (at least until very recently) place less emphasis on the first day of the week than Christians have for perhaps a millenia... but in other ways might be closer in thought to the early Church than they realize.

A recommend and interesting read with lots of fun information that cannot be captured in mere summary.

[M W · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a really interesting overview of the evolution of Christian gathering for worship, specifically how Sunday became the day for worship. González discusses how the first day of the week became the day for worship over the 7th day Jewish Sabbath day, both through church and civil decisions. As the title clearly states, this is a very brief overview, but it pointed me in the direction of other sources on the topic and fueled my interest in church history, specifically the evolution of traditional forms of worship. I particularly was interested in how the taking of communion evolved from a regular, celebratory, and integral part of Christian gathering, to a rare, sacred, and solemn (even mournful) act. The author resummarizes the general trend of changes in each chapter, which some may find repetitive, but as this seems to be designed to be accessible for the lay reader, I found those summaries to be appropriate and helpful.

I happened upon this book at my local library while searching for another book in the "religion" section. It caught my eye because I've been thinking a lot lately about what the purpose and function is of gathering for communal worship, having come from an Anglican liturgical background but for the last twenty years having been involved in churches that would not claim to have a liturgy and yet clearly have set parameters of rites and observances and actions that are rarely strayed from.

[Glenn Crouch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had looked forward to reading this book, as it was going to cover all of Church History in respect to the role of Sunday - and I was not disappointed. I think the Author has done a fine job of covering a 2000 year period in a reasonably short book - and that he has been quite positive as he looked at the different approaches of various church groups and periods. I think the Author did a good job of his dealing with the events at the time of Constantine - which in current times I see often "distorted".

What did surprise me is how much coverage of worship and liturgy, as well as a pretty involved coverage of Holy Communion, that the Author has many to include - especially when it comes to the Reformation side of things.

An excellent easy-to-read book that covers a good chunk of Church History - as well as addresses many issues in regards Sunday (the Day of the Lord) and the Sabbath. Plus it has a nice section at the end for further reading, which I appreciated.

[Steve Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

TGC article about it here: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/re....

[Vincent Waldron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Justo Gonzalez in this short book discusses the history of Sunday, as well as touching a bit on the relationship between the Christian observance of Sunday and the Jewish Sabbath. He notes in the introduction that his Seventh Day Adventist friends were hopeful that he would blow up the new-fangled concept of Sunday services, while his conservative evangelical friends hoped that he would instruct the younger generations on the importance of observing strict rest on the "Christian Sabbath." He proceeded to satisfy neither group.

"As a part of its 'Cult of Reason,' the French Revolution proposed a supposedly more rational calendar, with ten-day weeks; but it soon became clear that the tradition of a seven day week was too deeply ingrained in the popular mentality -- particularly since the heavenly bodies would not cooperate by subjecting the rhythm of their movements to what the French considered reasonable!"

It is important to note that Gonzalez is not attempting to be prescriptive in this book, but rather descriptive. He is setting down the facts as we are aware of them.

Very early on, the church did rest on the Sabbath Day (Saturday). Most of the earliest believers were Jewish and in Israel, it was a strict day of rest. They celebrated Jesus' death on Sundays (since the Sabbath ended at sundown on Saturday, this could have been on Saturday evening, by our way of measuring time) by the breaking of bread and a short service. The remainder of Sunday would have been a typical work day.

As gentiles entered the church and became a majority of believers, everything shifted, but Sunday celebration of sacraments continued.

All of this changed when Constantine issued an edict making Sunday a day of rest. Gonzalez notes that it isn't clear at all that this was a nod to the Christians in the empire. Constantine's father was a member of a monotheist group that worshiped the sun, and Constantine seems to have been giving the cult of the sun predominance of the cult of Saturn (our weekend days in English are still named thus -- "Saturn's Day" and "Sun's Day").

"Throughout most of his life, Constantine's allegiance to Christianity was rather amiguous, as he apparently tried to please both his Christian subjects and others who were devoted to Sol Invictus. He did end all persecution and did offer the church and its leaders all sorts of privileges. But he did not renounce the Sol Invictus, whose high priest he was."

In the later Roman Empire and into the Middle Ages the church tended to use the state to put into place restrictions on business performed on what became known as "The Lord's Day."

Gonzalez traces these threads through into the Reformation, where he touches on the attitude that different Reformers had towards how Sundays should be kept. Luther, for instance, believed that Communion should be celebrated weekly, but that to turn the day into a strict day of rest would be to follow the Jews' practice and his views on the Jews were unfortunate, to say the least.

The Anabaptists were all over the place on this subject -- as with many others.

"Most Anabaptists simplified the Sunday service, making it much less formal, often discussing a biblical text rather than having someone preach on it, and culminating with the celebration of the Lord's Supper as a common meal -- often sitting at a common table. Some insisted on sanctifying the day of rest as directed by Scripture. Still others, however, carried the principle of doing everything according to Scripture to the point of insisting that worship should be on the seventh day of the week, and not the first, and also that this should be a day of rest."

Along the way, he also mentions the differences in languages and believes that this affects the attitude that people take towards the subject. In Spanish, the word for Saturday is "Sabado" (the Sabbath) and the word for Sunday is "Domingo" (of the lord), meaning that in daily speech people refer to the Sabbath and the Lord's Day as the seventh and first days of the week respectively. Trying to convince them that Domingo was Sabado would simply confuse them.

He finishes with a description of the Puritan influence on England and the American colonies and touches a bit on the Seventh Day Adventist movement.

I found the book enlightening. Gonzalez doesn't tell us how we should celebrate Sabbath Days or Lord's Days, but he does dispel a number of myths and concisely shares bits from different edicts and quotes from various Reformers along the way.

I think this book would be excellent reading for anyone who is interested in the subject and wants to know how we got to where we are today -- both in terms of secular society and in the church.

[Terrence O'Hare · Rating 4 out of 5]

This brief look at the development of and the practices on Sunday, and its meaning for Christians is the work of a retired octogenarian Methodist minister. Amazing. At 150 pages, this book is easily readable, enjoyable, and informative.

His purpose is to inspire Christians to maintain this badge of Christianity with hope and perseverance much like the early Christians who esteemed their time of instruction and fellowship on Sunday despite difficulties, rejection, and persecution from the world. It is as if González looks at the broad history of Sunday worship and anticipates, perhaps, coming days that echo the early Christian experience.

To do this, he examines the relevant literature and presents it succinctly, methodically, didactically, and for the most part, with integrity. Most of what he presents was already familiar to me, including his assessments of the historical data and competing viewpoints. But again, his focus is on history, not ironing out any theological arguments for the day of the week on which Christian should worship. Yet he does provide the evidence that Christians met on the first day of the week prior to the close of the first century, that the Sabbath on Saturday and the Lord's Day on Sunday were two different religious institutions, and that Sabbatarianism was a later development in the sixteenth century. The earliest Christians continued to meet on the Sabbath as they transitioned to the Lord's Day, but he casts this transition as an ad hoc development as opposed to a divinely inspired "tradition." But at the same time, he notes the relationship to Christ's resurrection, the new creation, and the symbolism of the number eight. These are the same features that characterize the God-given calendar ceremonies of Israel. If you want to think more deeply about the theological issues brought up in his book, then read my book. His mission is to just tell the story how Sunday began, how it was modified and adapted by extrinsic and ecclesiastic forces, and then came to compete with another day of worship (Saturday/Sabbath). He finishes with the hope of returning to the ideals that hallmarked the Lord's Day in the earliest centuries.

There were many times that I wish he provided references for some of his statements. In his section for further reading, he did not mention From Sabbath to Lord's Day, D. A. Carson, ed., which is a seminal work on this topic. As is common nowadays, even Christians attribute the seven-day week to ANE cultures other than the Jews and that it somehow evolved and became acculturated within Judaism, rather than believing what the Bible relates: God gave the Jews the Sabbath. To me, that's history. And nothing he cited comes close to refuting this claim.

The Lord compelled Israel to record their history, rather His history with them: the highs and the lows, so they could avoid past mistakes and have hope for the future. Likewise, it is beneficial for believers to understand the history of the Christian day of worship for the same reasons. Unfortunately, not many Christians can articulate why they meet on Sunday and the theological importance of this particular day, the first day of the week. I heartily recommend this book to help Christians rethink their Sunday experience and recommit to this essential practice.

[Zachary Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to find a book to read during my time off around Christmas, and this book was fascinating. I had never traced the history of Sunday in the Church, and this book, though concise, was extremely helpful. Here are some interesting points that I learned: (1) In the early church, the Lord's Day (Sunday) was consistently distinguished from the Sabbath (Saturday). (2) The idea that Sunday has "replaced" the Sabbath as a day of rest did not develop immediately. (3) The mood of Sundays was very jubilant in the early church because of the joy of the resurrection, but this waned over time, especially in the middle ages. (4) There was once an office of the church in early colonial America called the Tithingman who would poke/stab/prod people who fell asleep in church on Sundays (yikes). (5) Much of the modern understanding of the Sabbath today (on Sundays) has been adopted from British/American Puritanism.

I enjoyed the read!

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having been brought up in the late 1950s and 1960s in a home that regarded Sunday as sacred I was interested to read this book. I admire the work that went into this work. There are to my mind a few weaknesses however even taking into account, as the title clearly indicates, that is it is a brief history of Sunday. The book is written in dry unappealing style and some of the author’s conclusions seem too rapid, lacking debate and interaction with other scholars of a different opinion. That said it is a book on an unusual and, for me, fascinating topic!

[Paul Prins · Rating 4 out of 5]

González does a very good job surveying the history of Sunday within the western Christian tradition. I particularly appreciated the insights into the pre-Constantine era. This survey has helped encourage me with my own continued shifting of understanding of Sunday, and for the general encouragement well written history can bring us.

[Tyler Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for my Sabbath and Jubilee course under Dr. Dana Preusch at Nazarene Theological Seminary. It was an excellent and informative guide to the Christian practice of worship on Sunday, its connection to the Jewish Sabbath, and the various traditions and practices that arose on the day of Christian corporate worship.

[Stuart Chase · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful, if meandering, read

A very helpful book for those who want to understand the development of Sunday as a day of worship in the Christian church. It shines best in discussing the early centuries—between the apostolic era and Constantine—but meanders quite appreciably thereafter. In all, a helpful work on an important subject.

[Laurie Myer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow SO enlightening! This book, written by a theologian/historian was concise and easy to follow. I’m doing a lot of Reformation reading right now and this was a great companion resource. It has also given me insight to my own church life here and now

[Jeannine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting topic but this book was a tough read. Fortunately it is brief but it is very dry and academic. The author does make use of a lot of primary sources so the history is interesting. It is just not the most readable book.

[Jon Cheek · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This was an enjoyable survey of how Christendom has observed Sunday since the resurrection. The key areas Gonzalez discusses are communion, Sabbath vs Lord’s Day, Rest on Sunday, liturgy, and the role of preaching.

[Alan Conrow]

You'll never look at Sunday the same way again

A great read! Very informative! Only downside, is the book mostly follows the history of Western Christianity. I would have like to know about how Sunday changed in the East. But still the book is great!

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recommend this book to anyone interested in observing the various branches of thought related to Sabbath and Sunday observance in the Christian church. It is also helpful in broadening your understanding of communion observance.

[Rachel Fahrenbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absoulte must-read for Christians to understand how we've ended up without a true day of rest within our western churches. I appreciate how Gonzalez doesn't attempt to sway but to simply present the facts.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this accessible historical overview of Sunday, noted scholar Justo González tells the story of how and why Christians have worshiped on Sunday from the earliest days of the church to the present.

[Marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning this history. Easy to read, but made me really think.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb read on the History of the Lord's Day.

[jacob van sickle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short history of how Christians have celebrated Sunday.

When I get to it, I’ll add some interesting notes…