Church history or ecclesiastical history as an
academic discipline
An academic discipline or academic field is a subdivision of knowledge that is taught and researched at the college or university level. Disciplines are defined (in part) and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, a ...
studies the
history of Christianity
The history of Christianity began with the life of Jesus, an itinerant Jewish preacher and teacher, who was Crucifixion of Jesus, crucified in Jerusalem . His followers proclaimed that he was the Incarnation (Christianity), incarnation of Go ...
and the way the
Christian Church
In ecclesiology, the Christian Church is what different Christian denominations conceive of as being the true body of Christians or the original institution established by Jesus Christ. "Christian Church" has also been used in academia as a syn ...
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".
A. M. Renwick, however, defines it as an account of the Church's success and failure in carrying out Christ's
Great Commission
In Christianity, the Great Commission is the instruction of the Resurrection appearances of Jesus, resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciple (Christianity), disciples to spread the gospel to all the nations of the world. The Great Commission i ...
.
[ A. M. Renwick and A. M. Harman, ''The Story of the Church'' (3rd ed.), p. 8.] Renwick suggests a fourfold division of church history into
missionary activity,
church organization,
doctrine
Doctrine (from , meaning 'teaching, instruction') is a codification (law), codification of beliefs or a body of teacher, teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a ...
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
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
historians may focus on the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...
and the
Great Awakenings.
Notable church historians
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Hegesippus
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Eusebius
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Macarius Bulgakov
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Daniela Müller
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Leonard J. Arrington
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Hans Werner Debrunner
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Henry Melvill Gwatkin
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Owen Chadwick
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Henry Chadwick
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Diarmaid MacCulloch
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George Marsden
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Martin E. Marty
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Mark Noll
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Jaroslav Pelikan
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Catherine Pepinster
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Philip Schaff
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Carl Trueman
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Paul Woolley
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David Brading
See also
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Ecclesiastical history of the Catholic Church
* Bede's
Ecclesiastical History of the English People
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Historical theology
References
Further reading
Books
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Anthologies
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Journal articles
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History of Christianity
Christian theology
Fields of history
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