Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual side of the history of civilized people ever since our Master's coming".[1] A. M. Renwick, however, defines it as an account of the Church's success and failure in carrying out Christ's Great Commission.[2] Renwick suggests a fourfold division of church history into missionary activity, church organization, doctrine and "the effect on human life".
Church history is often, but not always, studied from a Christian perspective. Writers from different Christian traditions will often highlight people and events particularly relevant to their own denominational history. Catholic and Orthodox writers often highlight the achievements of the ecumenical councils, while evangelical historians may focus on the Protestant Reformation and the Great Awakenings.
church, history, this, article, about, academic, discipline, overview, history, christian, religion, history, christianity, other, uses, church, history, disambiguation, ecclesiastical, history, disambiguation, church, historian, redirects, here, official, chu. This article is about the academic discipline For an overview of the history of the Christian religion see History of Christianity For other uses see Church History disambiguation and Ecclesiastical History disambiguation Church historian redirects here For the official of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints see Church Historian and Recorder Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as the spiritual side of the history of civilized people ever since our Master s coming 1 A M Renwick however defines it as an account of the Church s success and failure in carrying out Christ s Great Commission 2 Renwick suggests a fourfold division of church history into missionary activity church organization doctrine and the effect on human life Church history is often but not always studied from a Christian perspective Writers from different Christian traditions will often highlight people and events particularly relevant to their own denominational history Catholic and Orthodox writers often highlight the achievements of the ecumenical councils while evangelical historians may focus on the Protestant Reformation and the Great Awakenings Notable church historians EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed April 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Hegesippus Eusebius Daniela Muller Leonard J Arrington Hans Werner Debrunner Henry Melvill Gwatkin Diarmaid MacCulloch George Marsden Martin E Marty Mark Noll Jaroslav Pelikan Catherine Pepinster Philip Schaff Carl Trueman Paul Woolley David BradingSee also EditEcclesiastical history of the Catholic Church Bede s Ecclesiastical History of the English People Historical theologyReferences Edit Henry Melvill Gwatkin Early Church History to A D 313 p 4 A M Renwick and A M Harman The Story of the Church 3rd ed p 8 Further reading EditReinhold Zippelius Staat und Kirche Eine Geschichte von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart 2nd ed Mohr Siebeck Tubingen 2009 ISBN 978 3 16 150016 9 Church History and Religious Culture journal http www brill com chrch permanent dead link This history article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Church history amp oldid 1137036639, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
