General works
Information on aspects of Christianity treated in this article is available in David B. Barrett, George T. Kurian, and Todd M. Johnson (eds.), World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Study of Churches and Religions in the Modern World, 2nd ed., 2 vol. (2001); F.L. Cross and Elizabeth A. Livingstone (eds.), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd ed. (1997); J.D. Douglas (ed.), The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church, 2nd ed. (1978, reissued 1988); and New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., 15 vol. (2003), especially useful for study of the Roman Catholic Church.
History of the Christian church
Broad overviews are found in Owen Chadwick, The Pelican History of the Church, 6 vol. (1960–70, reprinted 1985–86); Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity, rev. ed., 2 vol. (1975); and John McManners (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity (1990, reissued 2001).
Guides to the first centuries include W.H.C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity (1984); Robert M. Grant, Augustus to Constantine: The Thrust of the Christian Movement into the Roman World (1970, reissued 2004); and Adolf Harnack, The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, trans. from the German and ed. by James Moffat, 2 vol. (1904, reprinted 1998; also published as The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, 1908, reissued 1972). Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History (1996), provides a sociological perspective on Christianity’s emergence.
Discussions of special topics are presented in Henry Chadwick, Early Christian Thought and the Classical Tradition: Studies in Justin, Clement, and Origen (1966, reprinted 1984); Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians (1986, reprinted 1995); Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul, 2nd ed. (2003); and J.M. Hussey, The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire (1986, reissued 1990).
In addition to the relevant volumes of the histories cited above, the church in the Middle Ages and the Reformation is treated in Peter R.L. Brown, The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, ad 200–1000, 2nd ed. (2003); John Bossy, Christianity in the West, 1400–1700 (1985); Joseph H. Lynch, The Medieval Church: A Brief History (1995); Diarmaid MacCullough, The Reformation: A History (2004); Steven Ozment, The Age of Reform (1250–1550): An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe (1980); and J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Frankish Church (1983).
Modern church history is covered in the general histories cited above; in the works cited in the sections below on Christian missions and ecumenism; and in Kenneth Scott Latourette, Christianity in a Revolutionary Age: A History of Christianity in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, 5 vol. (1958–62, reissued 1973); and Glen T. Miller, The Modern Church: From the Dawn of the Reformation to the Eve of the Third Millennium (1997).
Christian doctrine
On the New Testament period, C.H. Dodd, The Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments (1936, reprinted 1980), retains its value; H.E.W. Turner, The Pattern of Christian Truth (1954, reissued 2004), investigates orthodoxy and heresy in the early church; and John Behr, The Way to Nicea (2001), and The Nicene Faith (2004), discuss the development of Trinitarian doctrine in particular. Important issues in medieval Christianity are treated in Jeffrey Burton Russell, Dissent and Order in the Middle Ages (1992); and Per Erik Persson, Sacra Doctrina: Reason and Revelation in Aquinas (1970; originally published in Swedish, 1957). Jaroslav Pelikan and Valerie Hotchkiss (eds.), Creeds & Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition, 4 vol. (2003), provides the official documents from the patristic, medieval, Reformation, and modern periods; while Jaroslav Pelikan, Credo (2003), is Pelikan’s “historical and theological guide” and companion volume to these creeds. Yves-M.-J. Congar, Tradition and Traditions (1966, reissued 1998; originally published in French, 2 vol., 1960–63), investigates the recurrent question of the relationship between scripture and tradition. Berard L. Marthaler, The Catechism Yesterday and Today (1995), traces “the evolution of a genre.” Lamin Sanneh, Translating the Message, 2nd ed. (2009), discusses issues of inculturation in West Africa. Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI), Principles of Catholic Theology (1987; originally published in German, 1982), lays “building stones” for the discipline. Avery Dulles, Magisterium (2007), discusses the office of “teacher and guardian of the faith” in the Catholic tradition. Communal exercises in theology are discussed from various perspectives in Patrick Henry (ed.), Schools of Thought in the Christian Tradition (1984); and William A. Christian, Sr., Doctrines of Religious Communities: A Philosophical Study (1987). An individual example of systematic theology with an ecumenical orientation and in a liturgical perspective is Geoffrey Wainwright, Doxology: The Praise of God in Worship, Doctrine, and Life (1980); a more informal systematics with reflections on theological method is Rowan Williams, On Christian Theology (2000).
Christian doctrine
The meaning of dogma
Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, trans. by G.W. Bromiley, 5 vol. (1961, reissued 2004; originally published in German, 4 vol. in 12, 1932–59); Yves-M.-J. Congar, A History of Theology, trans. from French by Hunter Guthrie (1968); Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, 6 vol. (2002); and Wolfhart Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, 3 vol. (1991–98), are important introductions to the history of doctrine and major doctrinal issues by prominent Protestant and Roman Catholic historians and theologians.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Different scholarly perspectives on Jesus Christ as the second person of the Trinity are Walter Kasper, The God of Jesus Christ, trans. by Matthew J. O’Connell (1984; originally published in German, 1982); Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus: A Critical Study of Its Progress from Reimarus to Wrede, trans. by W. Montgomery et al., 3rd ed. (1954, reissued 2001; originally published in German, 1906); and Edward Schillebeeckx, Christ, the Sacrament of the Encounter with God, trans. by Paul Barrett (1963, reprinted 1977; originally published in Dutch, 1960). Yves-M.-J. Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit, trans. by David Smith, 3 vol. (1983, reissued 1997; originally published in French, 1979–80); Karl Rahner, The Trinity, trans. by Joseph Donceel (1970, reissued 1997; originally published in German); and Michael O’Carroll, Trinitas: A Theological Encyclopedia of the Holy Trinity (1987), are useful introductions to the contemporary understanding of the persons of the Trinity.
Anthropology
Excellent studies of Christian views on human nature are Reinhold Niebuhr, The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation, 2 vol. (1941–43, reissued 1996); and Wolfhart Pannenberg, What Is Man?: Contemporary Anthropology in Theological Perspective (1970, reissued 1975; originally published in German, 1962).
The church
Works on various aspects of church doctrine include, on the church, Hans Küng, The Church (1967, reissued 1976; originally published in German, 1967); on the formation of the biblical canon, Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance (1987, reissued 1997); on Christian creeds and confessions, Philip Schaff, Biblioteca Symbolica Ecclesiae Universalis: The Creeds of Christendom, 6th ed., 3 vol. (1919, reissued 1977); and Jaroslav Pelikan and Valerie R. Hotchkiss, Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition, 4 vol. (2003); on the liturgy, Frank C. Senn, Christian Liturgy: Catholic and Evangelical (1997); and James F. White, Introduction to Christian Worship, 3rd ed. rev. and expanded (2000); on monasticism, David Knowles, Christian Monasticism (1969, reissued 1977); and Jean Leclercq, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture, trans. by Catharine Misrahi, 3rd ed. (1982, reissued 2000; originally published in French 1957); and, on Christian art and iconography, Emile Mâle, Religious Art from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century (1949, reissued 1982; originally published in French, 1945); Leonid Ouspensky and Vladimir Lossky, The Meaning of Icons, trans. by G.E.H. Palmer, 2nd ed. (1982; originally published in German, 1952); and Robert Milburn, Early Christian Art and Architecture (1988).
Eschatology
The history and nature of Christian eschatology are examined in Rudolf Bultmann, History and Eschatology (1957; also published as The Presence of Eternity: History and Eschatology, 1975); Jürgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope: On the Ground and the Implications of a Christian Eschatology (1967, reissued 1993; originally published in German, 1964); and Frederic J. Baumgartener, Longing for the End: A History of Millennialism in Western Civilization (1999; reissued 2001). Influential works from the perspective of process theology are Catherine Keller, The Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming (2003); and Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, The End of Evil: Process Eschatology in Historical Context (1988).
Christian philosophy
Introductions to the early period include Christopher Stead, Philosophy in Christian Antiquity (1994); and Robert Louis Wilken, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought (2003). The classic works on the medieval period are Étienne Gilson, Reason and Revelation in the Middle Ages (1938, reprinted 1966), and History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages (1955, reissued 1980). Modern developments are treated in James C. Livingston, Modern Christian Thought, 2 vol., 2nd ed. (1997–2000). Christian existentialism is addressed in George Pattison, Anxious Angels: A Retrospective View of Religious Existentialism (1999). Also useful is Hans Küng, Does God Exist?: An Answer for Today, trans. by Edward Quinn (1980, reprinted 1991; originally published in German, 1978).
Mysticism
Many of the texts of the great Christian mystics have been published in new translations in The Classics of Western Spirituality series (1978– ). Bernard McGinn, Presence of God: A History of Western Mysticism, 2 vol. (1991–95), is a good introduction. Helpful for the serious student are the classic works of William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (1902, reissued 1977); and Rudolf Otto, Mysticism East and West: A Comparative Analysis of the Nature of Mysticism, trans. by Bertha L. Bracey and Richenda C. Payne (1960, reissued 1987; originally published in German, 1926). Karl Rahner, The Practice of Faith: A Handbook of Contemporary Spirituality, ed. by Karl Lehmann and Albert Raffelt (1983; originally published in German, 1982), is one of the more important theological contributions of the late 20th century.
Myth and legend
The nature of myth is examined in Mircea Eliade, Myth and Reality, trans. by Willard R. Trask (1963, reprinted 1998; originally published in French, 1963); and Robert A. Segal, Myth: A Very Short Introduction (2004). Resistance to myth and legend in early Christianity is described in Walter Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity, ed. by Robert A. Kraft and Gerhard Krodel (1971, reissued 1996; originally published in German, 1934).
The Apocryphal gospels are covered in Morton Smith, The Secret Gospel: The Discovery and Interpretation of the Secret Gospel According to Mark (1973, reissued 1985); James M. Robinson (ed.), The Nag Hammadi Library in English, 4th rev. ed. (1996); and Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (1979, reissued 1989). Also of interest is Charles W. Hedrick and Robert Hodgson, Jr. (eds.), Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism, and Early Christianity (1982).
Devotion to the saints is discussed in H. Delehaye, The Legends of the Saints: An Introduction to Hagiography, trans. by Donald Attwater (1907, reissued 1998; originally published in French, 1905); Lawrence S. Cunningham, The Meaning of Saints (1980); Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity (1981); and Donald Weinstein and Rudolph M. Bell, Saints & Society: The Two Worlds of Western Christendom, 1000–1700 (1982, reprinted 1986). The Arthurian cycles are treated in P.B. Grout et al. (eds.), The Legend of Arthur in the Middle Ages (1983).
Christian alchemy is described in C.G. Jung, Psychology and Alchemy, trans. by R.F.C. Hull, 2nd ed. rev. (1968, reprinted 1980; originally published in German, 2nd rev. ed., 1952). Alchemical researches of Enlightenment scientists, especially physicists and chemists, are examined in Frances A. Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (1972, reissued 2002); and Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs, The Foundations of Newton’s Alchemy; or, “The Hunting of the Greene Lyon” (1975, reprinted 1983).
Two examples of non-Western materials are Roger Bastide, The African Religions of Brazil: Toward a Sociology of the Interpenetration of Civilizations, trans. by Helen Sebba (1978; originally published in French, 1960), especially pp. 260–284 on Afro-Brazilian Christianity; and Marc de Civrieux, Watunna: An Orinoco Creation Cycle, trans. and ed. by David M. Guss (1980; originally published in Spanish, 1970).
The relationships of Christianity
Ernst Troeltsch, The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches, trans. by Olive Wyon, 2 vol. (1931, reissued 1992; originally published in German, 1912), is dated in specifics but is still one of the most comprehensive and influential studies of this topic. Another important general work is Paul Tillich, Theology of Culture, ed. by Robert C. Kimball (1959, reissued 1978), essays on philosophy, art, literature, and science. Studies of various aspects of Christianity’s intersection with the world include, on pastoral care, Ronald L. Numbers and Darrel W. Amundsen (eds.), Caring and Curing: Health and Medicine in the Western Religious Traditions (1986), a unique and comprehensive presentation by scholars of various faith traditions, with bibliographies; on birth control, John T. Noonan, Jr., Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists, enlarged ed. (1986); on black theology, James H. Cone, For My People: Black Theology and the Black Church (1984); on liberation theology, Deane William Ferm, Third World Liberation Theologies: An Introductory Survey (1986); and Leonardo Boff and Clodovis Boff, Introducing Liberation Theology (1987; originally published in Portuguese, 1986); and, on feminist theology, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology (1983, reissued 2002).
Christian missions
Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity, 7 vol. (1937–45, reissued 1971), is a pioneering classic. Stephen Neill, A History of Christian Missions, 2nd ed. rev. by Owen Chadwick (1986), is a lively, engaging work. Pope Paul VI, On Evangelization in the Modern World (1975), addresses post-Vatican II debates. Andrew Walls, The Missionary Movement in Christian History (1996), is another useful study.
Ecumenism
Introductions to the topic are provided by Thomas Fitzgerald, The Ecumenical Movement: An Introductory History (2004); Jeffrey Gros, Eamon McManus, and Ann Riggs, Introduction to Ecumenism (1998); Constantin G. Patelos (ed.), The Orthodox Church in the Ecumenical Movement: Documents and Statements, 1902–1975 (1978); and Hans-Ruedi Weber, Asia and the Ecumenical Movement, 1895–1961 (1966).
Christianity and world religions
The most comprehensive surveys of Christian attitudes toward the world religions are Paul F. Knitter, No Other Name? (1985), and Introducing Theologies of Religions (2002). A wide range of views are represented in John Hick and Brian Hebblethwaite (eds.), Christianity and Other Religions: Selected Readings, rev. ed. (2001); and Gerald H. Anderson and Thomas F. Stransky (eds.), Christ’s Lordship and Religious Pluralism (1981). The classic modern statement of a conservative position is that of Hendrick Kraemer, The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World, 3rd ed. (1956, reissued 1969). Hans Küng et al., Christianity and the World Religions: Paths of Dialogue with Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, trans. by Peter Heinegg (1986; originally published in German, 1984), represents a contemporary Roman Catholic standpoint. The pluralistic option is expressed in, for example, John Hick, A Christian Theology of Religions: The Rainbow of Faiths (1995). Amos Yong, Beyond the Impasse: Toward a Pneumatological Theology of Religions (2003), provides an influential Pentecostal approach to religious diversity. S. Mark Heim, Salvations: Truth and Difference in Religion (1995), provides an influential liberal Christian inclusivist position.