Founding of the Church Books

As a husband whose wife does not go to church with him, I read this book from the perspective of a man having a similar problem but with his wife - the same spiritual truths apply to men! If a man would implement what this book instructs, he too could learn to operate in faith and allow God to move on his situation. Armed with knowledge of the scriptures and an understanding of the actions I can take, I have every expectation that my wife will soon be going to church with me! This book provided me with the hope and tools that not only this situation but any situation I may face can be turned around by God

As a single woman, never married, I was not sure how this book would apply to me. I found this book to be an outstanding account of "Faith in Action." The biblical references and examples of standing in faith for God's promises apply to all of us. I was moved by the honesty of the author to share her experience and the willingness of her husband to allow this story to be told. I also learned a lot about the importance of respecting your husband, standing on the promises of God (regardless of how the situation looks) and faith that the Lord will accomplish his plan for our life if we don't give up. It is a story of hope, perseverence and victory! I highly recommend it.

When I started reading this book I could not put it down. I was astounded by its practicality to my every day life. The principles used in this book can be applied to any situation. The book is a loaded with scriptures and also real life experiences which gives you hope that you are not alone. Loved the book, and greatly recommend it.

This book is packed with little known bible techniques to help carry out God's plan for you and your family. Don't let your denomination hinder your exploration of God's Word.

This book lends instruction on how to get the promises of God to manifest in your life. The best kind of prayer is ANSWERED PRAYER. It is a read that will get you excited about what is truly available to you through the scriptures. I have never read a book that offers instruction on 'How to be baptized in the Holy Spirit'. These principles apply to anything that you are praying for, not just a husband who isn't going to church. It's worth its weight in scriptures!

Great collection by 12 authors in this edited book. We must remember that "Biblical Truth provides the only foundation of a just society", and therefore just law.

Funny how the two negative reviews said the same thing on the same day, but "different" cities. Were they friends or just the same person?

This book is an edited work, not written by the author as one reviewer mentions who claims to have read the book. The chapters cover important issues of the nature, function, history, and practice of law and the Constitution. Certainly not pieced together materials as one reviewer surmised. The editor and a number of distinguished legal scholars and theologians tackle important questions regarding the nature, history, function, and practice of law in American society as it regards Christianity's impact. A virtual whos who in evangelical circles.

The editor, a professor of law and a professor of theology, writes an essay on the duty of Christians to disobey the government at times. Thought provoking and well documented.

Quoting from the deeply religious John Adams to the dramatic deist Jefferson, God of Our Fathers provides an interesting window into a time when God was much more a part of the cultural vernacular, consciousness, and everyday conversation. There is no way to properly understand the culture at the time of our country's formation without considering the role religion played in the lives of the people. In a clear and user-friendly way, God of Our Fathers presents an important aspect to any study or understanding of the world that the Founding Fathers inhabited.

God of Our Fathers is an excellent compilation of some of the most fascinating writings and statements by the Founding Fathers regarding God, religion, and virtue. This highly-engaging book is clearly the result of meticulous research, and I highly recommend it.

I am a student of history working on my thesis and have found this book to be very benifical to my work. This is due to the fact that all the important and or useful sermons are in the book and makes my job so much easier.

~Political Sermons of the American Founding Era: 1730-1805~ is an excellent source of political sermons from the American colonial and founding era. Themes cover everything from the Biblically-ordained role of civil authorities to patriotism to the dangers of prosperity to the sovereignty of God. Sermons in this anthology feature a cross-section of early American Christian denominations: including Congregationalist Puritans, Baptists, and High Anglicans like James Madison. Samuel Langdon's Sermon on the "Republic of the Israelites, An Example" is particularly intriguing and no doubt inspirational to all who heard his message. Issac Backus was a New England Baptist who also made an impassioned plea for religious liberties in 1773, echoing a theme of the founders that religion is the duty we owe are creator. John Adams once avowed our Constitution was for a religious and moral people. The reality that virtue is a prerequisite for a Republic is often forgotten. Most of the founding fathers believed that virtue was to be found in the tenets of Christianity. James Madison said it best, "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."

English Version "This 40 days prayer journal will help to establish the habit of prayer based on adoration, thanksgiving, confession and supplication. This is a practical way to learn to have a daily conversation with God. It is necessary for the growth of any believer and is essential for all human beings. Thanks to God for this beautiful prayer journal and the gifts that have been given by author Jennifer Hope Webster."
-David Fuchs, Pastor
La Catedral de Amor
Editor of The Purpose Driven Life (Spanish Version)

Who was Richard Allen? Among other things, he was the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, first black author to be granted federal copyright and spiritual leader of early black America.

Richard Newman has delivered a compelling account of Allen's ascension to leadership, his symbolic representation of black religion and his personal sacrifice to the cause of justice. Through humanizing anecdote, well crafted prose and lucid analysis, this book has succeeded in its goals:

1.) The story keeps coming back to the meaning of black leadership through the lens of Richard Allen's work. "Black prophetic leadership has historically critiqued American glorification in favor of a broader vision of national salvation." (Newman, 297) With this in mind, Newman observes that Allen uses his faith, the print press, and access to power in the nations capital to achieve his goals--or more specifically God's goals. Newman takes care to avoid reducing Allen's faith to ideology. The suggestion that Allen inaugurates a tradition of abolitionism in the media is quite powerful adding layers to Allen's image as a black founding father.

2.) Allen is something of an untarnished historical figure. Newman makes it clear that many found Allen to be overbearing, and annoyingly persistent as an individual. Not to mitigate his historical importance, but to shed light on personal characteristics.

3.) Newman's treatment of the 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic with respect to Richard Allen's leadership is a brilliant description of an understudied and underappreciated, but defining moment in American history.

Some scholars say that our Founding Fathers were Deists. We hear of their freethinking and skepticism. I have been catechized about the influence of the Enlightenment on our country. Such mantras as "pluralism", "separation of church and state", and "secularism" have all been drummed in my mind by the academic elite. Oh surely, the Founding Fathers were members of the established churches, but that was as irrelevant then as now.
Thomas Paine, the infidel, molded the Revolutionary American mindset. Thomas Jefferson, the Deist, formulated the American ideal. John Locke, the secular thinker, fashioned the principles of the Revolution. The American Revolution seemingly sprang out of the soil even though the colonies had a long and rich history by 1776. But there is more to the story.
Pastor and theologian David W. Hall's The Genevan Reformation and the American Founding shows that America's heritage is Christian and Calvinistic. Reformed and Calvinistic people largely colonized America. America did not invent a new order of the ages in 1776. It continued a process of refining a Biblical and Reformational theory of government that acknowledged the sovereignty of God and resisted the sovereignty of kings. Calvin of Geneva created the mindset that governed this country. More than the Greeks and Romans, more than the Enlightenment thinkers, more than the explorers and colonizers, Calvin established America. And Calvin was not alone. Such theologians, writers, and pastors as William Farel (Calvin's co-pastor in Geneva), Peter Viret of Geneva, Theodore Beza (Calvin's successor), John Ponet of Strasbourg, the anonymous author of Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos in France, and Johannes Althusius (the author of Politica) all weighed in on the theological implications of governmental tyranny, persecution of the Christian faith, and the limits of obedience to ungodly rulers.
If these continental Reformers did not say enough, from the British Isles came another regiment of political and theological thinkers. John Knox, Andrew Melville, and other Scots put their theology in action during the turbulent reigns of such tyrants as Queen Mary Stuart and her worthless son James. Scotsmen George Buchanan and Samuel Rutherford penned great treatises on government to teach rulers how to rule and to admonish and remove them when they misruled. As this Calvinist political philosophy was being debated and thought out among the Puritans in England, some opted to pack the ideas for their trek across the Atlantic to the New World.
William Bradford, John Winthrop, John Cotton and others set the norms for Biblical and covenantal civil government in Colonial America. By the time of the American War for Independence, the war for the hearts and minds of the people, the true revolution, had been completed by scores of pastors who had faithfully preached election sermons for generations. The language of the colonial charters, the resolutions preceding the Declaration of Independence, the ongoing sermons and theological pamphlets all testify to the Reformed heritage in this country's founding and the extent to which Calvinism sparked our independence. Presbyterian and Congregationalist pastors and laymen filled the ranks of both officers and soldiers in the Continental armies. The War for Independence was truly a Presbyterian Rebellion.

Dr. Hall's first major witness to testify is a surprise: Thomas Jefferson, the `creator' of the wall of separation of church and state, the arch-Deist and unbeliever among the Founding Fathers, the primary secular and Enlightenment thinker of his age. Jefferson's motto was "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God", which was a Cliff's Notes version of the political theology of the Reformers, the Covenanters, the Huguenots, and the Puritans.
As a further proof of Jefferson's wonderful inconsistency, Hall cites the case of Jefferson's efforts to move the entire faculty of Calvin's Academy of Geneva to northern Virginia. Jefferson knew that this Calvinistic faculty would flourish in this land if transplanted.
Hall's book is weighty, long, heavily documented, filled with analyses of theological and political tomes, devoid of anecdotes, plodding in its lining up the proofs of the thesis, scholarly, sober, and academic. In other words, it is the kind of book to make a Calvinist's heart throb with excitement. This is certainly no easy read; it will not fit at your bedside or near your fattest easy chair. This book calls for a desk, a notepad, strong coffee, and quiet children.
This book is expensive, but worth the cost of buying and reading it.

I had the great fortune of receiving this four volume set of early church
history as a gift from a friend while working on my Ph.D. at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Honestly, I did not realize at the time what a valuable gift I had been given. "The Founding of the Church Universal" is volume two of this set, an English translation of the work of Hans Lietzmann. Lietzmann was an excellent scholar, known mainly for serving as the chair for divinity studies at the University of Berlin (1924-1942). He had the ability to communicate the problematic intricacies of early christian history in a way that was easy to read and to digest. I do not read German, but have no doubt that Woolf's translation is equally excellent.

This current volume begins with a splendid discussion of the Roman empire to give the reader an historical backdrop as Lietzmann then discusses the church, the New Testament (including many extrabiblical writings), second century critics and the apologists, and concludes with chapters on the dominant regions of the second century (Asia Minor, Gaul, Africa, Rome, Syria, and Egypt).

Probably because my primary focus is the second century, this volume is my favorite in the set. Lietzmann allows the early christian writings to speak for themselves. This does not mean that he refrains from offering critical commentary, but he does not assume (as is common among more modern historians) the ancients to be simpletons, only politically motivated, or fabricators.

Here is a selection I typically read aloud when lecturing on second century persecutions,
"In the year A.D. 177 a similar persecution broke out in Lyons and Vienne
owing to popular passion, and these churches also wrote a letter about it to Asia Minor. The vivid descriptions in this letter arouse the deepest emotions in every new generation of readers. In this case, the Christians were genuinely hunted out: we can see the alarmed confusion in the churches; the first instances of torture spread terror abroad, a few recanted, the majority kept themselves timidly in the background, pagan slaves said what was required of them. Then the passion of the populace broke loose, the prison was filled with those who confessed themselves Christians, and all the torments of a brutal, murderous blood-lust broke upon the heads of the unfortunates. Then those who had at first recanted were once more arrested, and gained new courage when brought face to face with death. Pictures painted in blood glower dreadfully before our eyes. Bishop Potheinos at ninety years of age lay in prison, beaten by the fists and trampled by the feet of the mob, until death mercifully released him after two days. The slave girl, Blandina, hung on a cross, her body mangled and her bones broken, as food for wild beasts: to no purpose, for the beasts did not touch her, and so she ended her life on the funeral pyre. In the middle of the arena stood a chair glowing red hot holding the Christians in its Moloch-like arms: the smoke of the burning bodies rose to the sky, and unceasingly from all the places where the martyrs stood, the death cry sounded: I am a Christian, I am a Christian. In the prison, they lay in rows fixed helplessly in stocks, and died a silent death: their bodies provided useful food for the dogs. The executioner piled the pitiable remains into a heap, crowned by the heads of the decapitated Roman citizens: finally, the flames flared up and reduced everything to ashes, and these were thrown into the Rhone with scoffing laughter in order that the Christian hope of resurrection, too, might be destroyed.

In all these bloody terrors, however, the reflection of another world gleamed with light. Heaven opened for the Christians in their agony, Christ descended from His throne at the right hand of God where Stephen had seen Him at the moment of his own death, and spoke encouragement to them; all earthly torments paled before the blessedness of the vision of God. No more pain touched the souls of the blessed: their enraptured faces reflected the glory of the Lord as they left their human condition behind, and became like the angels. Hitherto they had bravely confessed their faith, but their entry into the other world conferred on them the dignity of "martyrs", "witnesses of God", who had warranted the truth of their testimony with their lives---just as had been done by Christ, the "genuine and true witness", and their example. The Church of the earliest period insisted on reserving the title of martyr entirely for those who had suffered death for Christ: only by suffering thus was their witness made perfect." pp.161-62

I see this volume priced as low as $6. What a bargain! I would urge you to complete the set - at this price you cannot go wrong.
Volume I - The Beginnings of the Christian Church
Volume III - The Era of the Church Fathers
Volume IV - From Constantine to Julian

R.A. Baker
Ph.D. Ecclesiastical History

Samuel Huntington played a major role, but has been relegated to a minor part, in the American Revolution. This book gives a detailed account of day to day activity in the Continental Congress during the years 1779-1781, the years of Samuel Huntington's Presidency. In this way we see the actions of all the prinicpal players of the time, feeling the treacherous path of the American Revolution in 1779 only to gain hope in the events of 1781 which led to the victory at Yorktown. Also detailed is the uprising colonial spirit, revealed in the subversive pamphlets of the time, authored and circulated by members of Huntington's family. This book could be sumarized as the "Best of C-Span" from 1779-1781, two years of immense importance in the birth of our nation.

Carroll's book is very influential. He argues that men, women, and God make an impact on history. We are even seing this today. There is no other tme in our life where the Church has been persecuted this bad (scandals, and now the Davinci Code) For many of you "DAVINCI LOVERS", this is a great book from an orthodox Christian point of view.I highly recommend it.

At last! After literally years of reading and perusing dreary histories of the Christianity evidently written by nonbelievers, I finally found this set.

As far as I know, the History of Christendom is the only competent history in English that is written from the perspective of an actual Christian ("Triumph" was well meaning, but not very good history, and I was unable to finish it.) The astounding truth and significance of the incarnation gives meaning and excitement to every word of the text, which is packed with good reliable information, including wonderful footnotes.

This is the set you must have for yourself and your children.

The first third of the book is great, full of excitement, in the typical style of its author. The big picture of the empires evolving in succesion up to the time of Christ, told fluently, minding the key events, without dwelling too long in secondary events. Some of these pages make us really wonder about possibilities that remain obscure in the past: it's what we don't know that intrigues us, rather than what we know. The main talent of this author is his ability to pose the right questions, the intriguing possibilities... An example: "The two faiths existed (Abraham's and Akhenaten's in Egypt) in such very different spheres that any bridge between them must have been close to supernatural ... if inspiration there was, it came from Israel and the God of Israel to Akhenaten."

Even more puzzling is the comment he makes on the ancient Greek philosopher Parmenides (ca. 500 b.C.) and a quote from him: "The only tale which yet remains to tell of the Way is that it is; and many signs there are upon this path that it is Unborn and is without destruction."

His chapter on the Greeks and the Peloponnesian War is superb. It's not just the facts that he tells, it's the connections that he makes between parallel events, the implications that poorer narrators always miss. The chapter on Alexander, I sincerely recommend for the same reasons: delicious.

Up to here great. Then it slows down. The tone changes. After the Resurrection of Christ, with the beginning of the persecutions of the Christians in the Roman Empire, the author seems to have set to write a different book. Granted that his point of view is totally Catholic, with not even a chance for other denominations, but he has know forgotten to use the background scenarios and the main events as the milestones in his story. Rather, he now picks the little events, a succession of popes, persecutions, tortures, schisms, theological disputations, etc. and brings them to the foreground. I am not dismissing the importance and truthfulness of the things happened, only pointing out that he has changed the focus and style completely. Basically, it is a Catholic hagiography to the end of the book. It's just a repetition of facts only with different people tortured and in different times and places. If it's due to his Catholic exclusive point of view -which I respect, though don't agree with in many aspects- he could have been less narrow, for the benefit of all history enthusiasts.

Professor Carroll declares at the outset that he intends to trace the "reign of Christ" as it "appears as a social, cultural and poliltical presence in the world," and that he intends to do so from a Roman Catholic perspective. His history, alas, is all too often a struggle to justify, first, the historicity of all books of the Old and New Testament and then of all traditions and stories about the first centuries of the Christian church (the sort of thing which those of us old enough to remember were fed a steady diet of in Catholic grade school in the 1950s). So it is that he spends three pages attempting to validate stories about the martyrdom of St Cecilia while he rushes through in a paragraph the profound social and economic changes endured by the Roman empire in the third century, and dismisses a 150-year evolution of the Roman military system in a sentence. Second, while claiming to be a faithful Roman Catholic, the professor feels free to question the orthodoxy of his fellows. With some dismay I noted that his annotated bibliography contains none of the works of Father Raymond E. Brown, perhaps the greatest American Catholic Scripture scholar of the 20th century, and even charges that one of those edited by Father Brown, "The Jerome Biblical Commentary," has tendencies toward heresy. How can the professor justify making such a judgment? Father Brown's works always contained a nihil obstat and imprimatur (declarations by Catholic authorities that the work is free from doctrinal or moral error), whereas the five volumes of the professor's history published thus far have neither. That, and the restriction of the works in his bibliography almost entirely to those published before 1965 and his annotations, suggests that Professor Carroll is one of those Catholics who believe that their church has been in serious error since the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65 but cannot say so publicly lest they openly contradict the tradition and authority to which they profess loyalty and obedience. A shame, too, since serious Catholic readers are in need of a multi-volume history of their church and its place in history, one which reflects the best of solid contemporary scholarship without being ponderous. This, however, is not it. (And for the reader who is wondering: yes, I am a Catholic; I have been for sixty-two years; I am orthodox in both my beliefs and my practice; and I have always read a great deal.)

To understand the background of Western Civilization, one would be well advised to read Dr. Carroll's "Founding of Christendom", but one must do so clearly understanding the author's unique perspective. The book undertakes to cover Christendom virtually from pre-historic times to the reign of Constantine, the Great in 324 A.D. And the work is delivered in a style that is both enjoyable and edifying. Truly, this is a history of our Civilization that reads like a novel. In particular, I was amazed at the description of the Church in the first couple of centures following the Resurrection, the time of the Martyrs. This section is absolutely great!

There is a very necessary qualification to this recommendation. Throughout the first half of the book, there is constant referral to the "chosen people". I found this rather surprising in a writer with Dr. Carroll's academic and theological pretensions. Certainly, the faith of Israel prior to the Incarnation prefigured Christianity. But, by the time of the ministry of Christ, this Scriptural faith had already been polluted by the machinations of the Pharisees, those against whom our Lord and Savior inveighed throughout the Gospels. Of late, we have come to understand much better Dr. Carroll's perspective, as opposed to his pretensions. On the cover of this book and of all of his histories, he proudly displays the sigil of the profoundly evil Knights Templar, demonstrating that he is either in sympathy with or an active member of the various masonic cults that emanated from these miscreants. Masonic allegiance such as this would not be tolerated knowingly in the Church of the pre-Vatican II era. It is only during the modernist times of our present that one such as Dr. Carroll could even continue with such a pretense. This apparent allegiance of his explains the otherwise very puzzling emphasis in the corpus of his books. That being said and understood, Carroll's works are worthwhile, if placed in proper perspective.