‘History of the Christian Church’ is an eight volume account of Christian history which covers the history of Christianity from the time of the apostles to the Reformation period. The book deals with seven periods in the history of the church:
The First Period of Church History – Apostolic Christianity;
The Second Period of Church History – Ante-Nicene Christianity;
The Third Period of Church History – The Church in Union with the Roman Empire;
The Fourth Period of Church History – The Church among the Barbarians;
The Fifth Period of Church History – From Gregory VII to Boniface VIII A. D. 1049–1294;
The Sixth Period of Church History – From Boniface VIII to Martin Luther ;
The Seventh Period of Church History – The Reformation.
The Bible is a collection of sacred texts or scriptures that Jews and Christians consider to be a product of divine inspiration and a record of the relationship between God and humans. With estimated total sales of over 5 billion copies, it is widely considered to be the most influential and best-selling book of all time. This is the ‘American Standard Version’ (ASV) – a Bible translation into English that was completed in 1901, with the publication of the revision of the Old Testament; the revised New Testament had been released in 1900.
About the author
Philip Schaff (1819-1893) was a Swiss-born, German-educated Protestant theologian and ecclesiastical historian who spent most of his adult life living and teaching in the United States. Schaff’s broad views strongly influenced the German Reformed Church, through his teaching at Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, through his championship of English in German Reformed churches and schools in America, by his edition of the Heidelberg Catechism, and much more. His History of the Christian Church opened a new period in American study of ecclesiastical history.
