Welcome to Early Church History! As we go through the years I want you to focus on three things: People -Getting to know the people of history and what they stood for. Events -The significant events in church history that impelled the movement forward. Doctrines -Those that were deemed to be true, and those that were deemed to be false - and how they compare to modern Lutheranism.
You will be required to read all the books listed, complete occasional “homework” assignments, and participate in phone calls. Your primary homework assignment will be to create a spreadsheet that outlines the three topics above for the first 500 or so years of Church history.When you have completed that project, read all the books, and finished the online assessments, you will have completed the class.I hope your journey through early church history will equip you to be a knowledgeable pastor with a passion for the kingdom of God.
Blessings to you, Pastor Menter
Church History Syllabus and reading list.
Here are the books I would like you to access. Some of them are available online so that you will not need to purchase them…unless you want to. I will give you the ISBN codes and the stock numbers for Christian Book Distributors. They usually have the best prices. You can also order at Amazon.com and save shipping.
THE STORY OF CHRISTIANITY - JUSTO L. GONAZLEZ CBD stock number - WW855887 ISBN – 978-0-06-185588-7
THE EARLY CHURCH – HENRY CHADWICK CBD stock number – WW23199 ISBN – 0140231994 ISBN – 13 9780140231991
HERESIES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM - BEN QUASH AND MICHAEL WARD Baker Academic ISBN – 0-87123-300-2
UNDER THE INFLUENCE- HOW CHRISTIANITY TRANSFORMED CIVILIZATION– ALVIN SCHMIDT Zondervan Publishing ISBN - 978-0-8010-4749-7
WALL CHART OF WORLD HISTORY - EDWARD HULL ISBN-13: 978-0880292399, ISBN-10: 0880292393 Used copies are around $10
Online version - Only buy this set if you have extra money lying around:
THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH – PHILIP SCHAFF* CBD stock number – 3196X ISBN – 156531960 ISBN-13 9781565631960
*Available for free on www.ccel.org. Just search for the title. You can buy this set if you want or contact me and I will send you the reading material in a PDF to save you a little (or in this case, a lot) of money.