Readings in the History of Christian Theology, Volume 2: From the Reformation to the Present

by William C. Placher

In this second volume of "Readings in the History of Christian Theology," William C. Placher begins with a decisive transition, the Reformation of the sixteenth century, and opens with an excerpt from Martin Luther's "The Freedom of a Christian." From the sixteenth century into the twentieth, he presents significant selections from works of the principal Protestant and Catholic thinkers, including present-day writers such as Gustavo Gutierrez and Rosemary Radford Ruether.

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

213 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1988

Reviews

[Tristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful book to see how theological traditions developed, and responded, as the culture/society shifted.

[David English · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beginning Readings were interesting. The latter readings, particularly chapter 8, were unbearable.

[Ian Woodall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan of snippets of primary sources.

[JT Goodart · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a lot of great resources and excerpts in this book that were very insightful and helped give a more well-rounded understanding of the history of the Christian faith. However, some of the texts were hindered by too little context given to them. Also, as the texts got more modern, some of the author’s theological biases became a bit more evident as seen by what they choose to include or not include. But overall, this is a good foundational resource for church history.

[Kelsey Grissom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great collection of short excerpts from major theologians. It’s accessible (with heavy guidance) to serious undergraduate students. Some of the excerpts are an odd choice…they’re just too short to give a meaningful picture of any of the theology they’re supposed to provide a glimpse of…but on the whole this is a great resource. Just definitely read each chapter before you assign excerpts 😉

[Eric Vogel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a starting place with encountering many Christian theologians and philosophers throughout the years since the reformation. For most, it is only a portion of the work, so you will have to find the source on your own if you want the entire piece. May help you encounter a writer or thought you have not heard about, but not enough to truly understand a person or position.

[Joshua Pearsall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always love reading these types of books, just a collection of writings across various spectrum of thoughts. It's a great way to survey information very quickly, and find places you want to look into more. Just know that is what you are getting! You are getting pieces of larger works, to see the full picture you will have to dig a bit deeper.

[Eli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, insightful selections.

[Bobby Locklear · Rating 5 out of 5]

The readings are shorter perhaps, but an excellent introduction to a variety of authors.

[Maeve Hart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Particularly enjoyed and appreciated Witte and Koyzis’ essays. But, I always value the words of Skillen and Chaplin.

[Haley Schlatter]

Not a front to back type of beat but helpful reference when studying specific people or phases

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

“If we do not examine and learn from the past we have learned nothing.” This is the line of thinking that we as a people must have when it comes to history, be it ecclesiastical, national, familial, or cultural. History is important and when we look at why our forefathers wrote, experiences and rebelled against, we see why out world looks like it does today. When one studies ecclesiastical history this is even more true.
In Westminster John Knox Press’s new book Readings in the History of Christian Theology (Vol. 2) Revised Edition edited by William C. Placher and Derek R. Nelson the history of the Church is examined though the lense of the written works of prominent scholars and thinkers from the reformation to the present.
This one volume examines just shy of 100 important theological works from scholars, pastors and teachers from a plethora of theological traditions, including both liberal and conservative orthodox and radical, catholic and protestant. When all of these collected works are examined as a unit they represent a time capsule of the past 500 years. When examined as individual works these documents represent a particular branch of Christianity in it’s proper cultural context.
Unfortunately due to the massive size of many of these works, for spatial concerns, each work is edited and much of the discourses are gone. This is a premise problem with the book. An short volume of original sources must be long if it contains all of the work. While the editors did a commendable job at editing the sources, I would caution those who might think that a work contained in this volume is the full text rather and a highly abridged version, abet done with impeccable precision and intent.

This book was provided to me free of charge from Westminster John Knox Publishing in exchange for an unbiased, honest review.
Readings in the History of Christian Theology (Vol. 2) Revised Edition
© 2017
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Publishing
Page Count: 224 Pages
ISBN: 978-0664239343

Publishers Website: http://wjkbooks.com

[Dartist · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of highlights from important theological writings from Martin Luther to the late 20th Century. I had this and Placher's first volume as some of my texts for seminary Church history classes. Placher acted as editor, selecting choice nuggets of essential writings with nice, concise essays describing their context and importance. Understand what this book is: an introduction, a survey if you will, of writings every Christian should be familiar with, if they want to grasp the essentials of the development of doctrine and important Christian thinkers and movements. This is not a book to use for a research paper of any length, bec. it only includes highlights (it comes in at just over 200 pages long), but it may help a beginning researcher to know where to begin their search on a particular period or person.

I think this book is best for the armchair historian or theologian, who wants to read an accessible and helpful survey of Christian thought. Placher's comments are insightful and gracious, and he includes a wide variety of traditions, albeit mostly Western ones, until the last section, which includes some African and Latin American voices. Other than its Eurocentrism, it is a great introductory text to Christian history and thought. It includes an appendix bibliography of other texts one may want to consult for further study on particular periods, though it is a bit dated, since this book was printed in 1988.

[Bledar · Rating 5 out of 5]

What does Christian Theology entail? An anthology like this helps you answer that. It helps you by giving you a different kind of synthesis, in which you are give the main aspects of major works by allowing you to read from them. For those interested for more, there is always the option of going directly to those materials.

[Jarrod Dillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome selections

I thought it was put together very well. It made me interested in reading more from these authors. This book is kind of like a menu from which you can pick what you would like to study further.

[Anni · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very philosophical if you like that kind of stuff. It's like reading Christian Shakespeare. Good luck.