Documents of the Christian Church

by Henry Bettenson (Editor), Chris Maunder

This selection of writings from the most important moments in the history of Christianity has become established as a classic reference work, providing insights into 2000 years of Christian theological and political debate.While retaining the original material selected by Henry Bettenson, Chris Maunder has added a substantial section of more recent writings. These illustrate the Second Vatican Council; the theologies of liberation; Church and State from 'Thatcher's Britain' to Communist Eastern Europe; Black, feminist, and ecological theology; ecumenism; and inter-faith dialogue. The emphasis on moral debate in the contemporary churches is reflected in selections discussing questions about homosexuality, divorce,AIDS, and in-vitro fertilization, amongst other issues.This further expanded fourth edition brings the anthology up-to-date with a new section looking at issues facing the twenty-first century churches. This includes extracts exploring the churches' responses to questions of social justice, international politics, trade and debt, environmental change, and technological development. New material also covers the global growth of Christianity, the progress of Christian unity, and mission in multi-faith and postmodern societies.

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

554 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 30, 1946

Reviews

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me one year and three months, but I've finally finished this comprehensive survey of writings relating to the Christian Church that I bought for the Church History class I audited last Fall. Reading just a little bit at a time eventually adds up! This collection was originally compiled in 1943 and has been updated four times, most recently for this edition in 2011. It includes representative sections of key documents dating from the 1st century through the 21st, covering early Christianity, the Reformation, changes to denominations in the New World, Vatican II, ecumenism, liberation theology, and reactions of the modern church to racism, sexuality, LGBTQ congregants and ministers, and so much more. Each document gets a small introduction putting it into context, which was invaluable in allowing the reader to keep their bearings.

It's an odd book in that you only get a page or two from any single document, and it attempts to fit in reactions of a score of denominations to a score of issues and conflicts, over 2000+ years. Still, the bite-sized chunks make this relatively easy to approach and what it loses in depth, it makes up in scope. As an archivist, I always like reading the original sources, and Bettenson and Maunder deliver.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book lives up to its name. An excellent resource to read primary sources from all points of church history (and all theological sides).

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic reference tool - Documents of the Christian Church runs through primary documents from ancient Catholic ecclesiastical ordinances and papal bulls, to Protestant confessions of faith. A great resource to have on the shelf, and a very insightful read. Any lover of church history should definitely book this one up.

Brent McCulley

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful selection of theological and political sources that have shaped the church and the world. I go back to it again and again, but some of the introductions need to be taken with a couple grains of salt.

[Josiah Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very comprehensive compilation of the past 2000 years of the history of Christianity, seen through the various Christian writers through that time. Broken down into both sections of periods of time as well as the major topics during those particular eras.

The only downside to this book is that you often find yourself reading fragments and wondering if the context of both the writing and the sitz im leben is doing you justice in interpreting the fragments. This isn't the case for the whole book as there are certainly large portions of selected writings that give a much better idea of what the writer was trying to say. Very helpful and informative.

[JR Snow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Switched editions because even though I'm reading the 5th edition, a full 1/4 of it is concerned with developments since about 1980, which, if I'm doing my math right, is only 2% of the history of the church. Reading though the Liberation theology stuff, then gagging and calling it quits.

Wish there were a reader that didn't overrepresent Roman Catholicism and recent church developments over...everything else

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a cover-to-cover book. But a delightful Saturday night / Sunday perusal for years.

Got a copy at a yard sale. Later, gave it away to a good friend. Later, got another copy at another yard sale (after I had purchased the third edition, retail). Ha! God must really want me to have this old book!

[Isaac]

This is a good resource for reading the early Church documents. The best way would be to read everything of Church History that is available; however, that is impossible for most people, including myself.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Priceless. It was fascinating to read the words of Arius (from what I understand no surfing documents penned by his hand exist ). Lots
Of good stuff. But not an exhilarating read if you are looking for more commentary or opinion.

[Alan Gerling · Rating 3 out of 5]

I understand why it was needed to only include bits and pieces for this to be a manageable book, but more often than not, I had to go hunting for the original source so that it could be in context.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read first half for a history of Christianity class.

[Ryan Enser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of early Christian non-biblical primary source documents that shed light on what the early church was doing after the Bible was written.

[Joshua Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Church history from the horses' mouths...what's not to like?

[Wesley Roth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Key documents in the history of the Christian church. I read part of this book as part of my Church History II class. Gives clarity to the vast history of what we Christians believe!

[Jeff Crompton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book at a book sale a couple of days ago, and interrupted my reading of a novel to explore it. I didn't read it cover-to-cover (and it probably wasn't intended to be read that way), although I read some sections carefully. As someone who is interested in the Bible and its history, I was most interested in the earlier sections, the first non-Biblical writings to mention Christ and Christianity. After those pieces, the remainder of the book is mostly a history of doctrinal disputes, which brings into focus the fact that many of the doctrines which are now pretty much universally accepted by Christians - the Trinity, the nature and divinity of Jesus, and even what writings constitute divine scripture - were the subject of much debate and discussion during the first several centuries after Jesus' death. The now-accepted doctrines represent the beliefs of the winners in those debates. The losers often paid with their blood; the early church had no qualms about executing heretics.

[Bill Forgeard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A useful collection of primary source documents for the study of church history. Although although almost all these primary sources are freely available online now, a collection like this is still useful in providing a thematic selection of the most relevant documents, and also for the excellent introductory paragraphs before every document. The twentieth century section was by necessity more selective and unfortunately seemed more influenced by Maunder's own convictions than the earlier sections -- the selection was heavily weighted towards the official positions of the historic mainline denominations at the expense of less established Christian organisations. Little attention is given to evangelical perspectives.

[Justin Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is exactly what the title says it is, Documents of the Christian Church. Bettenson takes parts of important Christian documents. He also adds commentary, but wisely he uses that to give the reader settings to the documents. He does not intentionally try to persuade the reader, but he undoubtedly chooses his texts from an Anglican perspective.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Woo. Nothing like reading primary sources for a good time.

[John]

Essential for reference and a pleasure to browse. Bettenson's collection covers every period of church history with a judicious selection of documents.

[Wyatt Houtz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource. Dominated by Anglican sources.

[Seth Channell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful collection of the documents of the Christian church. The last 100 pages not so enjoyable.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful as a first reference for important historical documents.