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The Eternal Kingdom: A History of the Church of Christ
A brief history of how the church began, how Roman Catholicism perverted the majority of the churches with false doctrines, how brave people throughout the centuries stayed true to God, how some reformers attempted to correct some Catholic errors, and finally how several brave souls rejected Catholicism and her off-shoots to restore biblical Christianity by only following what the Bible says.
395 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 8, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 25, 2024
History is always best understood as how we, in the present, make sense of what we know and how we frame the past. Writing about history demands a lot of decisions; those decisions say nothing about events, people, and places of the past, and everything about ourselves.
And how Christians in churches of Christ should understand the history of Christianity has always been fraught with contention and disputation: are we Christians only, or the only Christians?
The Eternal Kingdom: A History of the Church of Christ by F.W. Mattox and John McRay is a great example of this kind of difficulty and tension.
In truth, this book is designed to be a historical primer for members of churches of Christ, probably in the late 19th through 20th centuries, to understand the history of Christianity in the West from its origins until the end of the 18th century in a way which would make the work of restoration done in the early 19th century seem inevitable. Put another way, the authors go through the story of apostolic Christianity, its development into Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the various protest movements in western Christianity against Roman Catholicism, the Reformation, and the early denominational period from 1600-1800, intentionally highlighting anything and everything which might look like a precursor to the Restoration Movement.
As an overview of the history of Christianity in the West, it’s not bad. It oversimplifies to the point of caricature at times, but such is to be expected in a broad and introductory work such as this.
But some of the sympathies and antipathies of the authors are interesting. The authors really want to find praiseworthy elements in the Albigensian/Cathar movement of the 13th century, even though by all evidence it was predominantly inspired by the Bogomils and the long history of Gnostic dualist heresy in the east. They really want to paint Martin Luther as a Restorationist before the Restoration Movement, even though the historical Luther would have recoiled at the idea; at the same time, the proto-Restorationists if there ever were proto-Restorationists, the Anabaptists, get comparatively shorter shrift and a more icy reception.
The authors are convinced there were always Christians seeking to uphold the teachings of the New Testament throughout the ages, although they do not attempt to reach Traces of the Kingdom levels of desperation in making their argument and case.
The ultimately baffling part of the book is how so much of it is a genuine attempt at understanding the history of Christianity in the West…until about 1800. And after that it is only about the development of the Stone-Campbell / Restoration Movement. The final chapters read like a standard account of the work of reformation/restoration in what was at the time the western frontier of the United States. Nothing is said about developments and adaptations of denominations or other groups.
Thus, in the end, the book proves particularly sectarian in consideration and approach; it seems like the goal is for members of churches of Christ to see what happened in Western Christendom before 1800, and then how the Stone-Campbell Movement got going.
If that’s the kind of thing you’re looking for, here’s your book. I still find the approach rather strange. I can understand a book which attempts to understand the history of the Restoration Movement on its own terms and to look back to see possible antecedents: but why would that include the whole swath of Western Christendom? I can understand a book which attempts to cover the whole swath of Western Christendom with a view of reaching the Restoration Movement, but that would also seem to be benefited by looking across as well. It’s not as if doctrinal and sectarian developments in Western Christendom, particularly in American Christianity, have not affected or influenced those of us who assemble in churches of Christ; if anything, they prove even more salient than some of the medieval and early modern developments.
So are we Christians only or the only Christians? It’s a question with which we need to grapple, and to better reconceptualize Christian history in the process.
And how Christians in churches of Christ should understand the history of Christianity has always been fraught with contention and disputation: are we Christians only, or the only Christians?
The Eternal Kingdom: A History of the Church of Christ by F.W. Mattox and John McRay is a great example of this kind of difficulty and tension.
In truth, this book is designed to be a historical primer for members of churches of Christ, probably in the late 19th through 20th centuries, to understand the history of Christianity in the West from its origins until the end of the 18th century in a way which would make the work of restoration done in the early 19th century seem inevitable. Put another way, the authors go through the story of apostolic Christianity, its development into Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the various protest movements in western Christianity against Roman Catholicism, the Reformation, and the early denominational period from 1600-1800, intentionally highlighting anything and everything which might look like a precursor to the Restoration Movement.
As an overview of the history of Christianity in the West, it’s not bad. It oversimplifies to the point of caricature at times, but such is to be expected in a broad and introductory work such as this.
But some of the sympathies and antipathies of the authors are interesting. The authors really want to find praiseworthy elements in the Albigensian/Cathar movement of the 13th century, even though by all evidence it was predominantly inspired by the Bogomils and the long history of Gnostic dualist heresy in the east. They really want to paint Martin Luther as a Restorationist before the Restoration Movement, even though the historical Luther would have recoiled at the idea; at the same time, the proto-Restorationists if there ever were proto-Restorationists, the Anabaptists, get comparatively shorter shrift and a more icy reception.
The authors are convinced there were always Christians seeking to uphold the teachings of the New Testament throughout the ages, although they do not attempt to reach Traces of the Kingdom levels of desperation in making their argument and case.
The ultimately baffling part of the book is how so much of it is a genuine attempt at understanding the history of Christianity in the West…until about 1800. And after that it is only about the development of the Stone-Campbell / Restoration Movement. The final chapters read like a standard account of the work of reformation/restoration in what was at the time the western frontier of the United States. Nothing is said about developments and adaptations of denominations or other groups.
Thus, in the end, the book proves particularly sectarian in consideration and approach; it seems like the goal is for members of churches of Christ to see what happened in Western Christendom before 1800, and then how the Stone-Campbell Movement got going.
If that’s the kind of thing you’re looking for, here’s your book. I still find the approach rather strange. I can understand a book which attempts to understand the history of the Restoration Movement on its own terms and to look back to see possible antecedents: but why would that include the whole swath of Western Christendom? I can understand a book which attempts to cover the whole swath of Western Christendom with a view of reaching the Restoration Movement, but that would also seem to be benefited by looking across as well. It’s not as if doctrinal and sectarian developments in Western Christendom, particularly in American Christianity, have not affected or influenced those of us who assemble in churches of Christ; if anything, they prove even more salient than some of the medieval and early modern developments.
So are we Christians only or the only Christians? It’s a question with which we need to grapple, and to better reconceptualize Christian history in the process.
February 27, 2021
A thorough summary of Christianity beginning at 33AD
It’s essentially a textbook that summarizes the challenges of the church through the ages. It distinctly holds to the view that the church as established by the apostles is the only acceptable form of church governance while acknowledging the work of all individuals who have affected the distribution of the Good News throughout the ages.
It’s essentially a textbook that summarizes the challenges of the church through the ages. It distinctly holds to the view that the church as established by the apostles is the only acceptable form of church governance while acknowledging the work of all individuals who have affected the distribution of the Good News throughout the ages.
January 24, 2021
Good Overview
This book is well written and very engaging, which cannot be said about many other church history books. It does have definite bias towards a specific group, and doesn’t present the opposing views in the times in question.
This book is well written and very engaging, which cannot be said about many other church history books. It does have definite bias towards a specific group, and doesn’t present the opposing views in the times in question.
October 13, 2020
Wonderful Book
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews