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Groundwork of Christian History
Book by MacCulloch, Diarmaid
- GenresTheologyChristianity
320 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 18, 2025
Compared to MacCulloch's magna opus, The History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand years, this book is a moderated history of Christianity. Representing Christianity the birth of Christianity to the late 20th century, Groundwork of Christian History represents a snapshot history of Western Christianity.
Groundwork of Christian History introduces the subject by laying out the different historical approaches possible in Christian history including the "imperial approach" of Christianity being God influenced history; the "sectarian approach" that emphasises the different sectarian groups in Christian history; the "liberal western approach" that looks at all the secular contexts behind Christian history focusing on "objective history ' and finally the "marxist approach" which looks at the economic power structures.
The book emphasises the Greek historical contexts of Christian development. Groundwork of Christian History argues that Greek historical developments were crucial for the rise of Christianity within the first century. In particular, Greek philosophy was essential for the development of early Christianity.
Groundwork of Christian History emphasises there were many different Christian traditions that arose from the First and Second centuries including the Gnostics, Marcionism, the Montanists. Groundwork of Christian History shows how these different groups conflict shaped how the early church development and things such as the canon came as a direct consequence of these conflicts.
The conversion of Constantine was seen as a major part of Christian history as Christianity shifted to a state religion. It was then that major theologians like Augustine came into significance but even then he had to deal with conflicts such as with the Donatists and Plegians. Groundwork of Christian History emphasises the multiple differences in opinion within Christianity from the beginning and shows how Western Christianity has always had conflicts in opinion.
Groundwork of Christian History does put forward that there were two Reformations within Western Christianity's history. One in the Medieval period that led to the rise of different priestly orders including the Franciscans and Dominicans and then in the 16th century with Martin Luther. It is worth remembering that Martin Luther came into the context of other proto-Protestant movements and individuals such as the Lollards, John Wycliffe and the Hussites led by Jan Huss.
After the brutal Reformation, Christianity had to deal with the rise of the Enlightenment. This was a mixed success, with the Enlightenment challenging broad assumptions of Christianity through science and reason. The historical method also brought problems with understanding the Bible. There were two broad responses in Protestantism to this; Liberal Christianity which attempted to demythologise the Bible and make Christianity more of an ethical system and Fundamentalism which doubled down on "Biblical truths".
The further impacts of history led to a weakening of Christianity until the 20th century where Christianity was thoroughly less influential. The book was written a few decades before the dominance of American Christian nationalism today.
The book offers a moderate form of Christian history. It is lacking in citations and bibliography which The History of Christianity has. Ground of Christian History offers a brief history overview of Christianity. It gives a broad understanding of Christian history and is helpful for those who want to understand Christian history. 3 stars.
Groundwork of Christian History introduces the subject by laying out the different historical approaches possible in Christian history including the "imperial approach" of Christianity being God influenced history; the "sectarian approach" that emphasises the different sectarian groups in Christian history; the "liberal western approach" that looks at all the secular contexts behind Christian history focusing on "objective history ' and finally the "marxist approach" which looks at the economic power structures.
The book emphasises the Greek historical contexts of Christian development. Groundwork of Christian History argues that Greek historical developments were crucial for the rise of Christianity within the first century. In particular, Greek philosophy was essential for the development of early Christianity.
Groundwork of Christian History emphasises there were many different Christian traditions that arose from the First and Second centuries including the Gnostics, Marcionism, the Montanists. Groundwork of Christian History shows how these different groups conflict shaped how the early church development and things such as the canon came as a direct consequence of these conflicts.
The conversion of Constantine was seen as a major part of Christian history as Christianity shifted to a state religion. It was then that major theologians like Augustine came into significance but even then he had to deal with conflicts such as with the Donatists and Plegians. Groundwork of Christian History emphasises the multiple differences in opinion within Christianity from the beginning and shows how Western Christianity has always had conflicts in opinion.
Groundwork of Christian History does put forward that there were two Reformations within Western Christianity's history. One in the Medieval period that led to the rise of different priestly orders including the Franciscans and Dominicans and then in the 16th century with Martin Luther. It is worth remembering that Martin Luther came into the context of other proto-Protestant movements and individuals such as the Lollards, John Wycliffe and the Hussites led by Jan Huss.
After the brutal Reformation, Christianity had to deal with the rise of the Enlightenment. This was a mixed success, with the Enlightenment challenging broad assumptions of Christianity through science and reason. The historical method also brought problems with understanding the Bible. There were two broad responses in Protestantism to this; Liberal Christianity which attempted to demythologise the Bible and make Christianity more of an ethical system and Fundamentalism which doubled down on "Biblical truths".
The further impacts of history led to a weakening of Christianity until the 20th century where Christianity was thoroughly less influential. The book was written a few decades before the dominance of American Christian nationalism today.
The book offers a moderate form of Christian history. It is lacking in citations and bibliography which The History of Christianity has. Ground of Christian History offers a brief history overview of Christianity. It gives a broad understanding of Christian history and is helpful for those who want to understand Christian history. 3 stars.
June 29, 2017
The history of the church is the history of Christianity in relation to the world around it. MacCulloch wants to establish that the most important events in the history of the church are events which do not take place within the church such as councils and reformations, but secular political events.
I think he has a point. We Christians tend to search church history for theological purposes, and we tend to ignore what we aren’t interested in. The result can be an incomplete explanation of events which leads to a failure to understand them. Luther only succeeded because his reformation became, in the providence of God, politically viable in a way that Wyclife’s or Hus’s never did, for example. We can’t evaluate something we don’t understand. When we attempt to evaluate without understanding, we end up with junk history. History is about remembering honestly, and one of the things MacCulloch can help us to do is to remember those parts we may wish to ignore.
I do think his thesis is overstated, and even that his book does not quite bear it out. But the important thing is to remember that political events have shaped outcomes in the church, even as theological ideas have. The point is to remember accurately, not to favor one influence over the other but to understand what happened and the degree to which each influence shaped the outcome or situation we are remembering. I don’t think we can understand something we can’t explain, and we can’t explain it unless we investigate thoroughly.
I have noticed that this book’s sentences and paragraphs are repeated at times exactly in his greater work on Christianity. So this work appears to be an earlier attempt which one can view as a preliminary condensation of the latter. I think the explanations he offers are in general persuasive, with some deep reservations about his account of the facts of the Old and New Testament times.
I think he has a point. We Christians tend to search church history for theological purposes, and we tend to ignore what we aren’t interested in. The result can be an incomplete explanation of events which leads to a failure to understand them. Luther only succeeded because his reformation became, in the providence of God, politically viable in a way that Wyclife’s or Hus’s never did, for example. We can’t evaluate something we don’t understand. When we attempt to evaluate without understanding, we end up with junk history. History is about remembering honestly, and one of the things MacCulloch can help us to do is to remember those parts we may wish to ignore.
I do think his thesis is overstated, and even that his book does not quite bear it out. But the important thing is to remember that political events have shaped outcomes in the church, even as theological ideas have. The point is to remember accurately, not to favor one influence over the other but to understand what happened and the degree to which each influence shaped the outcome or situation we are remembering. I don’t think we can understand something we can’t explain, and we can’t explain it unless we investigate thoroughly.
I have noticed that this book’s sentences and paragraphs are repeated at times exactly in his greater work on Christianity. So this work appears to be an earlier attempt which one can view as a preliminary condensation of the latter. I think the explanations he offers are in general persuasive, with some deep reservations about his account of the facts of the Old and New Testament times.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews