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"History as Apology"
Phillip Schaff's monumental eight-volume work, "A History of the Christian Church," is well written and skillfully researched.In this first volume, which covers Christianity during the Apostolic Age (AD 1-100), Schaff provides some excellent background information upon the Judeo-Pagan world that Christ was born into.Then Schaff attempts to reconstruct the life of Christ, while he refutes the many theories posed by the skeptics of his time. He then moves on to the missionary work of the Apostles and provides a detailed sketch of each of their personalities; and he also summarizes the basic tenets of their writings and teachings.Early Church doctrine, practice, and morality are other points that Schaff briefly overviews.At last, the author analyzes the four Gospels, the Acts, the epistles, and the Apocalypse, and surfaces the literary content of the works along with the life and personality of the individuals who wrote them.This is a great history, although some points of it are outdated.Also, it must be related that Phillip Schaff saw the history of Christianity as a process of revelation which reached its goal during the reformation.So he does have an agenda.He holds a particular contempt for Catholicism; terms like "Romanist," and "papist" are often used in a derogatory, vehement tone.However, he is not altogether harsh towards Catholic Christianity.Schaff's apparently espoused several views, favorable to Roman Catholicism, which caused him to be cited for heresy at the Church of Mercersburg in Pennsylvania. However, Schaff was eventually exonerated.Overall, the contents of this work will be fulfilling and any library would be missing out not to have this collection of writings on its shelf. ... Read more