The Spreading Flame: The Rise and Progress of Christianity From its First Beginnings to the Conversion of the English

by F.F. Bruce

Towards Baptist Catholicity contends that the reconstruction of the Baptist vision requires a retrieval of the ancient ecumenical traditions. Themes explored include catholic identity tradition as a theological category the relationship between Baptist confessions of faith and the patristic tradition the importance of Trinitarian catholicity catholicity in biblical interpretation Karl Barth as a paradigm for evangelical retrieval of the patristic theological tradition worship as a principal bearer of tradition and the role of Baptist higher education in shaping the Christian vision.

Genres: History, Church History, Christian, Church, Nonfiction, Biblical Studies, Christianity

434 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Frederick Fyvie Bruce FBA was a Biblical scholar who supported the historical reliability of the New Testament. His first book, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (1943), was voted by the American evangelical periodical Christianity Today in 2006 as one of the top 50 books "which had shaped evangelicals".

Reviews

[Mitch Teemley]

I first read this as a young believer many years ago, and must say I enjoyed it much more the second time around. Bruce's merit is not in "bringing history to life!" but in presenting it with solid, well-reasoned, richly researched facts. You know you can trust him--and the world-changing event he writes about--and you're grateful for that. Well done, sir!

[Don Bemis]

An interesting, well written history of the Church up to its establishment in Britain.

[Paul Gosselin]

has a good chapter on Christianity as the State religion pp. 293-301