EBOOK
About
Does it matter how Christians in other times and places thought? If the Bible alone is God's revelation, why spend time studying church history? Aren't history and tradition more of a problem than a solution? For many Christians who believe the Bible is the ultimate authority for faith and life, questions about the role and value of the church's traditions can be difficult to tackle. But let's be honest: even those of us who admit that church history is important are often too intimidated or busy to delve into it deeply. And for students, it is sometimes difficult to see how church history matters in practical ways for future vocations inside and outside the contemporary church. In this wide-ranging book, veteran teacher Bob Rea tackles these barriers to understanding and embracing the significance of the faith and practice of our spiritual forefathers. In three parts he covers how Christians understand church tradition, why it is beneficial to broaden our horizons of community and how tradition helps us understand ministry. Rea not only skillfully explains why church history matters-he shows why it should matter to us.
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Reviews
"I agree wholeheartedly with Rea: we need church history, and we can use it while affirming our commitment to Scripture. . . . I welcome that call, and I echo many of his explanations for how church history helps and how neglect of it impoverishes our churches. This book is a useful starting point for the pastor and layperson who want to know and discuss why church history matters."
Matt Shrader, Baptist Bulletin, November/December 2015
"Robert Rea provides us with a passionate yet reasoned defense of church history in this thought-provoking study. Having been formed both intellectually and spiritually in a Protestant tradition that prioritized the Bible as the source of God's revelation to humankind, Rea discovered the wisdom of the church fathers and their successors in the course of his academic training. He presents in this book the fruit of years spent studying and teaching the ideas of Christian thinkers who flourishedin the centuries after Jesus Christ and his apostles, with close attention to their historical circumstances. This is essential reading for all who teach or study church history or historical theology-two fields which Rea would prefer not to separate-since it offers not only an overview of the methods and concerns of theologians in the past but also important insights into how their work is received by Christian commentators in the present day."
Mary Cunningham, lecturer in historicaltheology, University of Nottingham, England