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2,000 Years of Christ's Power #2
2,000 Years of Christ's Power, Part Two: The Middle Ages
British scholar of Edinburgh N.R. Needham has done a superb job, in his 4-book series (3 released so far) of giving his readers what we might call the "big picture" of Church History. Without lingering long at any time period, he succeeds in explaining the major characters, issues, and events that shaped the history of the Christian church -- in enough detail to leave his readers with a good idea of how it all fits together on a time-line and to arouse a taste for further study in specifics!
Volume 1 covered the period of the Church Fathers.
This - Volume 2- covers the Middle Ages (including the foundation and early character of Islam).
Volume 3 will cover the Reformation period, and an upcoming 4th volume will cover the Post-reformation up to our Modern age.
Needham correctly believes that Christians today can learn and profit from the lessons of the past: the battles that have already been fought, the issues that have already been debated, the leaders who have come before us, etc. And he is able to present all this information in a manner that leaves Christians excited about the great work Christ has done through His church, from the first century through to our own day.
Volume 1 covered the period of the Church Fathers.
This - Volume 2- covers the Middle Ages (including the foundation and early character of Islam).
Volume 3 will cover the Reformation period, and an upcoming 4th volume will cover the Post-reformation up to our Modern age.
Needham correctly believes that Christians today can learn and profit from the lessons of the past: the battles that have already been fought, the issues that have already been debated, the leaders who have come before us, etc. And he is able to present all this information in a manner that leaves Christians excited about the great work Christ has done through His church, from the first century through to our own day.
456 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
98 people are currently reading
641 people want to read
About the author
Nick R. Needham
14 books66 followersDr. Nick Needham is senior minister of Inverness Reformed Baptist Church and tutor in church history at Highland Theological College in Dingwall, Scotland.
Dr. Needham is a Londoner by birth and upbringing. He studied theology at New College, Edinburgh University, where he specialized in Church History. He also taught a course at New College on the life and works of the Swiss Reformer Ulrich Zwingli, at the same time completing his PhD thesis on the nineteenth-century Scottish theologian Thomas Erskine of Linlathen. He then taught Systematic Theology at the Scottish Baptist College in Glasgow for several years before spending a semester at the Samuel Bill Theological College, where he taught Church History. After a period as assistant pastor in a church in north London, he moved to the Highland Theological College, Dingwall, where he teaches Church History.
Dr. Needham is a Londoner by birth and upbringing. He studied theology at New College, Edinburgh University, where he specialized in Church History. He also taught a course at New College on the life and works of the Swiss Reformer Ulrich Zwingli, at the same time completing his PhD thesis on the nineteenth-century Scottish theologian Thomas Erskine of Linlathen. He then taught Systematic Theology at the Scottish Baptist College in Glasgow for several years before spending a semester at the Samuel Bill Theological College, where he taught Church History. After a period as assistant pastor in a church in north London, he moved to the Highland Theological College, Dingwall, where he teaches Church History.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
July 9, 2023
4.8 Stars
Nick Needham's "2,000 Years of Christ's Power, Part Two" is the second volume in a five-volume series on church history. Following his phenomenal first volume on the early church Needham this second volume covers the 6th century to the 15th century. This era is known as the Middle Ages, but also more commonly as the Dark Ages. But Needham dispels the myth of a "dark" age by showing the spiritual vitality and Biblical faithfulness of the Medieval Church.
The strength of these volumes, as I experienced in the first, is their conciseness and clarity. Needham is able to communicate a lot in a few short chapters helping us to understand the main issues of the Middle Ages and the most important people. As well I loved that Needham delved into Eastern Orthodoxy and showed many of the protest/reforming movements (i.e. Waldensians, Lollards, Hussites) in the West that were vibrantly active before the Reformation. It's such a glorious reminder of the faithfulness of the church throughout the ages and that God was still working in history even during the Middle Ages.
Needham's series are glorious, great and extremely accessible. I believe every Christian should read through these series on church history to gain a greatly grasp on what God's historic work and cure ourselves of chronological snobbery.
Nick Needham's "2,000 Years of Christ's Power, Part Two" is the second volume in a five-volume series on church history. Following his phenomenal first volume on the early church Needham this second volume covers the 6th century to the 15th century. This era is known as the Middle Ages, but also more commonly as the Dark Ages. But Needham dispels the myth of a "dark" age by showing the spiritual vitality and Biblical faithfulness of the Medieval Church.
The strength of these volumes, as I experienced in the first, is their conciseness and clarity. Needham is able to communicate a lot in a few short chapters helping us to understand the main issues of the Middle Ages and the most important people. As well I loved that Needham delved into Eastern Orthodoxy and showed many of the protest/reforming movements (i.e. Waldensians, Lollards, Hussites) in the West that were vibrantly active before the Reformation. It's such a glorious reminder of the faithfulness of the church throughout the ages and that God was still working in history even during the Middle Ages.
Needham's series are glorious, great and extremely accessible. I believe every Christian should read through these series on church history to gain a greatly grasp on what God's historic work and cure ourselves of chronological snobbery.
August 9, 2020
I love Needham's approach to church history: he is incredibly thorough and yet always engaging and easy to read. To my surprise my favorite chapter was on Russian Orthodoxy, something I knew little about but thoroughly enjoyed learning about. I have now read the first two volumes in this series and have already started the third. Highly recommended.
June 4, 2025
Great book! I learned tons that I did not know, had curiosities provoked that were unprovoked before, and grew much more sympathetic to the church at large.
Read
July 13, 2025So good
Read
August 4, 2011About 90% of this book was very well done. He follows his standard format in the series: exposition of a certain time period followed by 8 pages of sources from the middle ages. Needham's writing is warmly evangelical (though not without fault, as I will show later) and he tries as hard as possible to be sympathetic to a period that on first glance is not conducive to his own British evangelicalism:
The Highlights:
He gives an interesting overview of Charlemagne, covering the essential details from which much of medieval theology will spring. The potraits he paints of the heroes of this age are very life-like.
The section on Byzatine theology was quite good. The two sections on Holy Russia and Holy Serbia were superb. The sermon by St Cyril of Turov at the end of the chapter is among the best sermons ever preached ("The Glory of Easter").
A fault with the book:
Needham has this annoying habit of seeing in the arch-heretics seeds of "the doctrines and preaching of grace." Can't we just call them heretics and be done with it? Libertines and those who reject the Church are not definitionally Protestants. This kind of historiography makes us look silly and gives Catholics legitimate ammo to shoot us with.
Other than that, a pretty good book.
The Highlights:
He gives an interesting overview of Charlemagne, covering the essential details from which much of medieval theology will spring. The potraits he paints of the heroes of this age are very life-like.
The section on Byzatine theology was quite good. The two sections on Holy Russia and Holy Serbia were superb. The sermon by St Cyril of Turov at the end of the chapter is among the best sermons ever preached ("The Glory of Easter").
A fault with the book:
Needham has this annoying habit of seeing in the arch-heretics seeds of "the doctrines and preaching of grace." Can't we just call them heretics and be done with it? Libertines and those who reject the Church are not definitionally Protestants. This kind of historiography makes us look silly and gives Catholics legitimate ammo to shoot us with.
Other than that, a pretty good book.
May 2, 2020
I must admit that my least favorite era in history to study is the Middle Ages. I have had even less desire to study medieval theology. However, Needham brings this era of history to life in his second volume. I honestly walked away with a better understanding of the events that led up to the Protestant Reformation. Needham also takes time in this work to highlight the rise of Islam. Unlike many church history books he also spends time discussing the Eastern Orthodox Church, which I knew little about and was pleased to learn more about. Needham’s scholarship is evident throughout the book, but one thing that I love about this series is the primary sources that he lays out in full at the end of each chapter.
April 22, 2025
Tons to learn in the Dark Ages of church history. I went back and forth between discouraged at the corruption in this time frame to encouraged by the persistent preservation of God’s church. History of crusades and the East/West schism were great to learn about with more detail than I previously knew. As always, quotations from original sources at the end of every chapter is what makes this series superb.
November 30, 2022
Very informative, I learned much about the Eastern Orthodox church that I didn't know about.
July 3, 2025
I’m really enjoying this series. Needham continues to show that he is a master at being detailed and basic at the same time. Highly recommended.
October 21, 2013
Best church history I've read. Not too long, not too short. Narrative is engaging and informative. Tracks not only movements but theological controversies/development as well. Each chapter is concluded with excerpts from the writings of that day, some of which are wonderful.
Historical understanding gives perspective to one's own day, practice, and belief. It also grants humility.
Historical understanding gives perspective to one's own day, practice, and belief. It also grants humility.
October 12, 2024
So helpful. This is the section of church history I knew the least about and Needham gave me some bearings. Once again, so clear and accessible.
On to the next one!
On to the next one!
December 13, 2024
Take the time to read the primary sources at the end of each chapter - I learn the most there. It’s an excellent feature of this series.
May 13, 2024
Rich. This book is just packed to the rim with useful information that is both inspiring and heart-rending. Starting with the crusades, then the vikings, church corruption, and the beginnings toward the reformation. Highly recommend if you're looking for information in the medieval time period. Nick doesn't skimp out on information no matter how much it hurts. This is a really good resource.
There it is and there you have it.
There it is and there you have it.
November 19, 2021
2000 Years of Christ's Power (Vol. 2) by Nick Needham
Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote -
This is a hard book for me to evaluate. It has a lot of virtues, but in a very subtle way it communicates an unfortunate undercurrent of anti-Catholicism, despite, I believe, making a heroic effort to avoid that vice. This assessment is not surprising. The book is written from an unapologetically Evangelical perspective and I am a Catholic with a deep interest in history.
The book is part of a longer series that surveys Christian history from the beginning to the present day. This book offers a broad survey of history beginning with the eruption of Islam into Christian lands outside of Europe to pre-Protestant anti-Catholic religious movements. This survey is broad and informative. It often takes a deep dive into particular subjects. The language of the book is extremely accessible and the subjects are invariably interesting. A very nice feature of this book is that at the end of each section, the author, Nick Needham, provides textual excerpts from some of the sources he's mentioned.
Much of this is very good. I particularly liked the section on St. Gregory Palamas and the dispute over Hesychasm. As an introduction to a very difficult and arcane topic, it was first-rate and well worth the price of the book. Likewise, the section on Scholasticism laid down the basic teachings of the centuries-long line of Schoolmen in a brief and intelligible way.
Although the recounting of this history takes a long and longed for step away from anti-Catholic tropes, it still manages to slip a few of the traditional tropes into the mix. For example, the presentation of the Crusades is premised on Catholic aggression against peaceful Muslims. The myth of peaceful Muslim Spain is promoted:
"The most tolerant and fruitful Christian-Muslim relationships were those of Muslim Spain (or the “emirate of Cordova”, as it was called in the Islamic Empire).
Needham, Nick. 2,000 Years of Christ's Power Vol. 2: The Middle Ages (p. 29). Christian Focus Publications. Kindle Edition.
Given the fact that Christianity was virtually exterminated in Muslim Spain, it's not clear how tolerant these relationships were. A recommendation here is to read "The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise by Dario Fernandez- Morera to become acquainted with the dark side of this history.
Likewise, the Muslim conquest is explained by the nobility of its soldiers:
"Arabia. Within a hundred years, they had created a huge Islamic Empire, stretching from India to Spain. The world had rarely known armies like this before: brave, tough, completely sober (Islam did not allow Muslims to drink alcohol), and burning with a zeal for their faith which made them unafraid of death.
Needham, Nick. 2,000 Years of Christ's Power Vol. 2: The Middle Ages (p. 20). Christian Focus Publications. Kindle Edition.
In none of this is the real desire for loot and wealth acknowledged. Arab warriors had a long tradition of raiding and much of the Muslim conquest was prefigured by years of raiding which destabilized the target prior to conquest.
The way this trope works is that Evangelicals tend to conflate peacefulness with being Christian and start tut-tutting about those war-like Catholics betraying Christian principles by being so beastly and war-like against noble and peaceful Muslims. What this trope leaves out is the fact that the Muslims were occupying lands that had been Christian for centuries and were gradually exterminating Christian populations through continuous pressure such as heavier taxes and social discrimination which could be alleviated through conversion. This pressure was periodically punctuated with bouts of violent persecutions, resulting in genocides.
This book doesn't mention the damage done to Christian Europe by the constant raiding which took millions of Christians as slaves and resulted in Muslim attacks on Rome itself. If Christianity had not learned to fight back, then Christian populations in Europe could easily have gone the same way as Christian populations in the Byzantine Empire. Since this book is about 2,000 years of Christ's power, some due interest in the legitimacy of Christian resistance, and the backstory that justified that resistance, ought to have been presented.
Another trope involves the Inquisition. The author writes:
"It developed into the most feared organisation of the later Middle Ages. Once the inquisition had accused a person of heresy, it was almost impossible for him to prove his innocence.
Needham, Nick. 2,000 Years of Christ's Power Vol. 2: The Middle Ages (p. 319). Christian Focus Publications. Kindle Edition.
This is pure nonsense, according to modern scholars. In the Great Inquisition in Languedoc following the Albigensian Crusade, 5,500 men and women were questioned by the Inquisition. Out of this number, according to "The Corruption of Angels: The Great Inquisition of 1245-1246 by Mark Gregory Pegg:
"In the two hundred and seven known sentences that the two friar-inquisitors pronounced in a series of general sermons given, largely at Saint-Sernin, between Sunday, 18 March, and Sunday, 22 July 1246, only twenty-three did not involve having to wear yellow crosses. Instead, these twenty-one men and two women who had “shamefully offended God and the Church” were all punished with perpetual incarceration in a “decent and humane prison."
If you read other books on the cases that appeared before other Inquisitions, you learn that the Inquisition took due process very seriously and often released the accused where there was a lack of evidence. (See Kagan, Richard L.; Dyer, Abigail (2011-07-21). Inquisitorial Inquiries.) The Inquisition had a light footprint when it came to convictions.
To his credit, the author doesn't spend a lot of time on the Inquisition, but there are few references to it that are fresh meat for anti-Catholics.
Finally, a really unfortunate slip of anti-Catholicism occurs when the author writes:
"The more fervent worshippers of Mary declared that in heaven Bernard bore a blemish on his glorified breast to atone for what he had said against the Virgin.
Needham, Nick. 2,000 Years of Christ's Power Vol. 2: The Middle Ages (pp. 201-202). Christian Focus Publications. Kindle Edition.
I really believe this is an unfortunate error on the author's part. The sense I get from the generally irenic tone of this book is that the author wouldn't intentionally intend to slander Catholics with the "Catholics worship Mary" lie, but, unfortunately, this sentence sets back a desirable ecumenism.
To his credit, the author encourages his readers to take an interest in medieval history, even the Catholic parts because, according to the author, the Reformers were born in the heart of the Catholic Church. He observes:
"As an heir of the Reformation and a Church historian, I often find myself telling people that the great spiritual and theological movement set rolling by Luther and Zwingli was in fact the best elements of Western medieval Christianity trying to correct the worst elements.
Needham, Nick. 2,000 Years of Christ's Power Vol. 2: The Middle Ages (p. 9). Christian Focus Publications. Kindle Edition.
In volume 1, the author explains his model of Christian history whereby Christian history can be thought of as a growing person: Birth>Child>Teenager>Adult, with the Middle Ages being the child and the Reformation being the teenager.
So, fine, we have explicitly stated something that many Protestants probably think. I know that I had a law partner tell me one evening his sincere belief that Catholicism was "transitional paganism." I personally don't think this is a helpful or truthful way to model history.
So, I probably can't recommend this book to people who don't already know enough history to read it in an informed and critical way. On the other hand, I may refer to it as a quick source of names and dates. The textual excerpts are excellent and can be a useful springboard for further reading.
Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote -
This is a hard book for me to evaluate. It has a lot of virtues, but in a very subtle way it communicates an unfortunate undercurrent of anti-Catholicism, despite, I believe, making a heroic effort to avoid that vice. This assessment is not surprising. The book is written from an unapologetically Evangelical perspective and I am a Catholic with a deep interest in history.
The book is part of a longer series that surveys Christian history from the beginning to the present day. This book offers a broad survey of history beginning with the eruption of Islam into Christian lands outside of Europe to pre-Protestant anti-Catholic religious movements. This survey is broad and informative. It often takes a deep dive into particular subjects. The language of the book is extremely accessible and the subjects are invariably interesting. A very nice feature of this book is that at the end of each section, the author, Nick Needham, provides textual excerpts from some of the sources he's mentioned.
Much of this is very good. I particularly liked the section on St. Gregory Palamas and the dispute over Hesychasm. As an introduction to a very difficult and arcane topic, it was first-rate and well worth the price of the book. Likewise, the section on Scholasticism laid down the basic teachings of the centuries-long line of Schoolmen in a brief and intelligible way.
Although the recounting of this history takes a long and longed for step away from anti-Catholic tropes, it still manages to slip a few of the traditional tropes into the mix. For example, the presentation of the Crusades is premised on Catholic aggression against peaceful Muslims. The myth of peaceful Muslim Spain is promoted:
"The most tolerant and fruitful Christian-Muslim relationships were those of Muslim Spain (or the “emirate of Cordova”, as it was called in the Islamic Empire).
Needham, Nick. 2,000 Years of Christ's Power Vol. 2: The Middle Ages (p. 29). Christian Focus Publications. Kindle Edition.
Given the fact that Christianity was virtually exterminated in Muslim Spain, it's not clear how tolerant these relationships were. A recommendation here is to read "The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise by Dario Fernandez- Morera to become acquainted with the dark side of this history.
Likewise, the Muslim conquest is explained by the nobility of its soldiers:
"Arabia. Within a hundred years, they had created a huge Islamic Empire, stretching from India to Spain. The world had rarely known armies like this before: brave, tough, completely sober (Islam did not allow Muslims to drink alcohol), and burning with a zeal for their faith which made them unafraid of death.
Needham, Nick. 2,000 Years of Christ's Power Vol. 2: The Middle Ages (p. 20). Christian Focus Publications. Kindle Edition.
In none of this is the real desire for loot and wealth acknowledged. Arab warriors had a long tradition of raiding and much of the Muslim conquest was prefigured by years of raiding which destabilized the target prior to conquest.
The way this trope works is that Evangelicals tend to conflate peacefulness with being Christian and start tut-tutting about those war-like Catholics betraying Christian principles by being so beastly and war-like against noble and peaceful Muslims. What this trope leaves out is the fact that the Muslims were occupying lands that had been Christian for centuries and were gradually exterminating Christian populations through continuous pressure such as heavier taxes and social discrimination which could be alleviated through conversion. This pressure was periodically punctuated with bouts of violent persecutions, resulting in genocides.
This book doesn't mention the damage done to Christian Europe by the constant raiding which took millions of Christians as slaves and resulted in Muslim attacks on Rome itself. If Christianity had not learned to fight back, then Christian populations in Europe could easily have gone the same way as Christian populations in the Byzantine Empire. Since this book is about 2,000 years of Christ's power, some due interest in the legitimacy of Christian resistance, and the backstory that justified that resistance, ought to have been presented.
Another trope involves the Inquisition. The author writes:
"It developed into the most feared organisation of the later Middle Ages. Once the inquisition had accused a person of heresy, it was almost impossible for him to prove his innocence.
Needham, Nick. 2,000 Years of Christ's Power Vol. 2: The Middle Ages (p. 319). Christian Focus Publications. Kindle Edition.
This is pure nonsense, according to modern scholars. In the Great Inquisition in Languedoc following the Albigensian Crusade, 5,500 men and women were questioned by the Inquisition. Out of this number, according to "The Corruption of Angels: The Great Inquisition of 1245-1246 by Mark Gregory Pegg:
"In the two hundred and seven known sentences that the two friar-inquisitors pronounced in a series of general sermons given, largely at Saint-Sernin, between Sunday, 18 March, and Sunday, 22 July 1246, only twenty-three did not involve having to wear yellow crosses. Instead, these twenty-one men and two women who had “shamefully offended God and the Church” were all punished with perpetual incarceration in a “decent and humane prison."
If you read other books on the cases that appeared before other Inquisitions, you learn that the Inquisition took due process very seriously and often released the accused where there was a lack of evidence. (See Kagan, Richard L.; Dyer, Abigail (2011-07-21). Inquisitorial Inquiries.) The Inquisition had a light footprint when it came to convictions.
To his credit, the author doesn't spend a lot of time on the Inquisition, but there are few references to it that are fresh meat for anti-Catholics.
Finally, a really unfortunate slip of anti-Catholicism occurs when the author writes:
"The more fervent worshippers of Mary declared that in heaven Bernard bore a blemish on his glorified breast to atone for what he had said against the Virgin.
Needham, Nick. 2,000 Years of Christ's Power Vol. 2: The Middle Ages (pp. 201-202). Christian Focus Publications. Kindle Edition.
I really believe this is an unfortunate error on the author's part. The sense I get from the generally irenic tone of this book is that the author wouldn't intentionally intend to slander Catholics with the "Catholics worship Mary" lie, but, unfortunately, this sentence sets back a desirable ecumenism.
To his credit, the author encourages his readers to take an interest in medieval history, even the Catholic parts because, according to the author, the Reformers were born in the heart of the Catholic Church. He observes:
"As an heir of the Reformation and a Church historian, I often find myself telling people that the great spiritual and theological movement set rolling by Luther and Zwingli was in fact the best elements of Western medieval Christianity trying to correct the worst elements.
Needham, Nick. 2,000 Years of Christ's Power Vol. 2: The Middle Ages (p. 9). Christian Focus Publications. Kindle Edition.
In volume 1, the author explains his model of Christian history whereby Christian history can be thought of as a growing person: Birth>Child>Teenager>Adult, with the Middle Ages being the child and the Reformation being the teenager.
So, fine, we have explicitly stated something that many Protestants probably think. I know that I had a law partner tell me one evening his sincere belief that Catholicism was "transitional paganism." I personally don't think this is a helpful or truthful way to model history.
So, I probably can't recommend this book to people who don't already know enough history to read it in an informed and critical way. On the other hand, I may refer to it as a quick source of names and dates. The textual excerpts are excellent and can be a useful springboard for further reading.
July 21, 2018
I gave this five stars because most people think of Church History books as boring. I've read many of them, and next to "The Story of Christianity" by Justo Gonzalez and "The Apostolic Fathers," there's nothing better. What I love about this series is that Needham includes sections of writings from the actual people featured in the chapters, probably 10 pages worth. So all those people you've heard of but never read, you get samples of their writings - and just enough to keep you engaged. And he does a great job selecting passages that give you a flavor for the writers overall message and style. And they appear at the end of the chapter, so they don't interrupt the flow of his narrative.
This particular volume is great because he shows how incredibly influential the Middle Ages, often thought of as the "Dark Ages," were. He shows how the interplay between Muslim and Christian thought shaped the world we live in today. He highlights many influential thinkers and they way they set the stage for the explosion of the reformation under Luther. It's an excellent read - highly recommend.
This particular volume is great because he shows how incredibly influential the Middle Ages, often thought of as the "Dark Ages," were. He shows how the interplay between Muslim and Christian thought shaped the world we live in today. He highlights many influential thinkers and they way they set the stage for the explosion of the reformation under Luther. It's an excellent read - highly recommend.
December 21, 2016
I am so happy Christian Focus has been able to republish these and make them more available- though I am grateful for Grace Publications for originally publishing these.
This is a terrific series, and Needham does an excellent job wading through history while not reading like a typical textbook. I recommend these books for any Christian wanting to learn Church history- they will take you deeper than a standalone volume would be able to provide, and also will not put you to sleep. :)
This is a terrific series, and Needham does an excellent job wading through history while not reading like a typical textbook. I recommend these books for any Christian wanting to learn Church history- they will take you deeper than a standalone volume would be able to provide, and also will not put you to sleep. :)
February 21, 2024
Middle ages, vol 2
Paired rlly nicely w the current Kings Hall series on the Middle Ages, starting w “Yarmuk: The Most Pivotal Battle in Western History,” “King Alfred”
Needham clearly lays out the middle ages in a helpful & foundational timeframe for the church. I love how little i hear the term “dark ages” in reformed circles, because, as Needham writes, the Church was still bring sanctified and had a remnant. Spiritual authority was used to satisfy power-hungry, political, and diabolical men— but there were still faithful & yet misled believers partaking in wars. I loved reading the wife of a christian crusader’s excerpt.
7 th century - the threats from and enmity with Islam began
Prayers to Mary, the seven sacraments, and many Roman catholic views started now.
Lots of small groups arose against idols, praying to saints, and infant baptism. Quiet, though, and we know little about them, becausebthe State Church would kill them.
Sooo many pre-reformation protestants who were killed by the roman Catholic leaders. The Roman Catholic church was confused, even having with numbers “sole” popes at the same time. The Eastern church survived without a dictator. Wycliff and Huss were two of MANY who died believing the Bible has sole authority and the Roman Catholic popes were antichrists.
Abelards sexual immorality. HIS journal entry…..
Soo intriguing how the human heart and the battles in the Church are nothing new.
Copied and pasted….
While Huss languished in prison, his disciples in Prague started giving the wine as well as the bread to the laity in holy communion: an act of open defiance of Catholic practice (Huss was in full agreement with what his followers did).
Finally, in June 1415, the Church authorities brought the sick Bohemian reformer before the Council, which refused to allow him to defend himself, bullied him mercilessly for three days in an attempt to force him to renounce his "heresies", and finally condemned him and deposed him from the priesthood.
In a humiliating ceremony, six bishops stripped off Huss's priestly vestments, put on his head a cap covered in pictures of red demons, and solemnly committed Hus's soul to the devil. "And I said Huss,'
I" said Huss, "commit myself to my most gracious Lord Jesus?
The Council then handed Huss over to Emperor Sigismund, the man who had promised him safe-conduct; Sigismund's soldiers burnt Huss at the stake on July 6th 1415. Huss died with serene courage, refusing a last minute offer of pardon if he would abandon his beliefs: "I shall die with joy today in the faith of the Gospel which I have preached."
Huss's martyrdom created an uproar in Bohemia.
Paired rlly nicely w the current Kings Hall series on the Middle Ages, starting w “Yarmuk: The Most Pivotal Battle in Western History,” “King Alfred”
Needham clearly lays out the middle ages in a helpful & foundational timeframe for the church. I love how little i hear the term “dark ages” in reformed circles, because, as Needham writes, the Church was still bring sanctified and had a remnant. Spiritual authority was used to satisfy power-hungry, political, and diabolical men— but there were still faithful & yet misled believers partaking in wars. I loved reading the wife of a christian crusader’s excerpt.
7 th century - the threats from and enmity with Islam began
Prayers to Mary, the seven sacraments, and many Roman catholic views started now.
Lots of small groups arose against idols, praying to saints, and infant baptism. Quiet, though, and we know little about them, becausebthe State Church would kill them.
Sooo many pre-reformation protestants who were killed by the roman Catholic leaders. The Roman Catholic church was confused, even having with numbers “sole” popes at the same time. The Eastern church survived without a dictator. Wycliff and Huss were two of MANY who died believing the Bible has sole authority and the Roman Catholic popes were antichrists.
Abelards sexual immorality. HIS journal entry…..
Soo intriguing how the human heart and the battles in the Church are nothing new.
Copied and pasted….
While Huss languished in prison, his disciples in Prague started giving the wine as well as the bread to the laity in holy communion: an act of open defiance of Catholic practice (Huss was in full agreement with what his followers did).
Finally, in June 1415, the Church authorities brought the sick Bohemian reformer before the Council, which refused to allow him to defend himself, bullied him mercilessly for three days in an attempt to force him to renounce his "heresies", and finally condemned him and deposed him from the priesthood.
In a humiliating ceremony, six bishops stripped off Huss's priestly vestments, put on his head a cap covered in pictures of red demons, and solemnly committed Hus's soul to the devil. "And I said Huss,'
I" said Huss, "commit myself to my most gracious Lord Jesus?
The Council then handed Huss over to Emperor Sigismund, the man who had promised him safe-conduct; Sigismund's soldiers burnt Huss at the stake on July 6th 1415. Huss died with serene courage, refusing a last minute offer of pardon if he would abandon his beliefs: "I shall die with joy today in the faith of the Gospel which I have preached."
Huss's martyrdom created an uproar in Bohemia.
February 24, 2024
While the Middle Ages are commonly known as the dark ages for theology, Needham does a superb job of tracing the light of orthodoxy present in the faithful men and women of this period. A guiding premise for his overview is that the Holy Spirit has always been at work in the church in every age. For this reason, his history reflects a refreshing and biblical ecumenicalism shared by men like Schaff, Cunningham, and Spurgeon.
October 19, 2019
As good as the first one, bringing out the debates of the mediaeval church and it's gradual corruption until the eve of Reform.
January 4, 2021
I really enjoyed this series. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a great overview of church history
February 13, 2025
Helpful.
Read
July 1, 2024Highly recommend! a time in church history I knew little about. It is well researched and written. Some parts are really interesting, and others are hard to get through but worth it!
November 1, 2024
Really enjoyed it, a good amount on Eastern Orthodoxy. As usual the primary sources were phenomenal
July 14, 2017
Many years ago, before the earth's crust hardened, I worked at our local university, being a ground's keeper and helping with the Married Student Housing facilities. The summer job had me mowing grass, weed eating, fixing sprinklers, and cleaning apartments after families moved out. Most of the job was actually pretty enjoyable. But there was one deplorable aspect to the job, an aspect that has left an indelible mark in my mind. This part of the job involved cleaning apartments that were left in totally repugnant condition. Case in point involved one apartment where the previous dwellers decided that rather than use a toilet to do what people use toilets for, they had decided that a corner in the living room was the place to leave their human waste. Yeah, you read that correctly. Cleaning this apartment was a mind-boggling experience. It was an abhorrent job. I remember having to wear a mask over my mouth and nose as we removed every piece of furniture to take to the landfill. In fact, because of the staggering stench in the apartment, our boss literally took a five gallon bucket of water mixed with bottles of ammonia and poured the bucket clear across the kitchen and dining room floor, doing so several times. He had us leave because of the power of the ammonia. We let it sit for quite some time, giving time for the apartment to air out, before using mops to clean it up. The carpet was torn out as well. It was an amazing experience, never to be forgotten. I remember well thinking repeatedly, "I have to step out for fresh air."
Now, you might be wondering what this has to do with a book review so here goes: Reading Volume 2 (part 2) of 2000 Years of Christ's Power, my mind took me back to the repugnant days of cleaning that apartment, for in this volume the author lays out for the reader, an understanding of the corruption, the debauchery (not in vivid detail), and the heretical elements of the "church" throughout the Middle Ages. There were times, as I read, that I literally could almost not stomach what I read about what the Roman Catholic church did, all in the name of Christ. It has been said that absolute power corrupts absolutely and that is really what seems to describe the Roman Catholic church over the hundreds of years written about within this book. Yet, besides the explanation of the power grabbing that went on century after century, there were elements of the book that are very helpful for the reader. For example, the author gives some time and attention to explaining the Crusades and why they took place. The author also shows the various councils and how key doctrines were hammered out on the anvil of time as church leaders and political figures wrestled with key doctrinal issues. If the reader wonders where the Eastern Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, and Greek Orthodox churches come from, this volume gives explanation to the political and religious landscape and how these religious sects arrived on the scene. Reading this volume was helpful in many respects but reading about the corruption of the Roman Catholic church was like the repugnant work of cleaning that apartment. I had to get some fresh air and that happened when I opened to the last chapter.
In the last chapter, a smile broke out on my face when I saw one word: "Wyclif". I am eternally grateful for John Wyclif and if you know the story of Wyclif, you too are most likely grateful. Needham, the author wrote about Wyclif, "He published a book called "The Truth of Holy Scripture," in which he argued that the Bible was the only source of Christian doctrine, by which believers must test all the teachings of the Church, including the early Church fathers, the papacy and ecumenical Councils. All Christians should read the Bible, so it must be translated from the Latin of the Vulgate into the native languages of the various nations." This was a revolutionary thought Wyclif held. Get the Bible into the hands of all Christians, a Bible in the native languages? Yes, indeed. Obviously this was a threat to the power of the papacy and the Catholic church but Wyclif stood his ground.
If you want to understand the Middle Ages and get a glimpse of church history through that time period, this volume can be very helpful for you. But grab a face mask and get ready to read of the corruption of religion as it became intertwined with the world system. As for me, I'm moving on to volume 3 and the awesome era known as the Reformation.
Now, you might be wondering what this has to do with a book review so here goes: Reading Volume 2 (part 2) of 2000 Years of Christ's Power, my mind took me back to the repugnant days of cleaning that apartment, for in this volume the author lays out for the reader, an understanding of the corruption, the debauchery (not in vivid detail), and the heretical elements of the "church" throughout the Middle Ages. There were times, as I read, that I literally could almost not stomach what I read about what the Roman Catholic church did, all in the name of Christ. It has been said that absolute power corrupts absolutely and that is really what seems to describe the Roman Catholic church over the hundreds of years written about within this book. Yet, besides the explanation of the power grabbing that went on century after century, there were elements of the book that are very helpful for the reader. For example, the author gives some time and attention to explaining the Crusades and why they took place. The author also shows the various councils and how key doctrines were hammered out on the anvil of time as church leaders and political figures wrestled with key doctrinal issues. If the reader wonders where the Eastern Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, and Greek Orthodox churches come from, this volume gives explanation to the political and religious landscape and how these religious sects arrived on the scene. Reading this volume was helpful in many respects but reading about the corruption of the Roman Catholic church was like the repugnant work of cleaning that apartment. I had to get some fresh air and that happened when I opened to the last chapter.
In the last chapter, a smile broke out on my face when I saw one word: "Wyclif". I am eternally grateful for John Wyclif and if you know the story of Wyclif, you too are most likely grateful. Needham, the author wrote about Wyclif, "He published a book called "The Truth of Holy Scripture," in which he argued that the Bible was the only source of Christian doctrine, by which believers must test all the teachings of the Church, including the early Church fathers, the papacy and ecumenical Councils. All Christians should read the Bible, so it must be translated from the Latin of the Vulgate into the native languages of the various nations." This was a revolutionary thought Wyclif held. Get the Bible into the hands of all Christians, a Bible in the native languages? Yes, indeed. Obviously this was a threat to the power of the papacy and the Catholic church but Wyclif stood his ground.
If you want to understand the Middle Ages and get a glimpse of church history through that time period, this volume can be very helpful for you. But grab a face mask and get ready to read of the corruption of religion as it became intertwined with the world system. As for me, I'm moving on to volume 3 and the awesome era known as the Reformation.
September 8, 2024
I admit that I have only read volume 2 in this series, though I hope to pick up the others as time allows. Might seems strange to start with volume 2 and not 1, but hey, you go with the copies you get!
Needham presents a history of the Church from a Reformed Baptist perspective, but his Scottish background removes him somewhat from the typical American Evangelical opinion. Right off the bat, he aims for a more historically appreciative approach. He avoids the obvious by stating his priors in the introduction. He's a Reformed Protestant. There will be things, especially in a medieval history volume, that his readers won't like. Some readers won't like that he doesn't dismiss each event in Church history with Reformed denunciations and proof texts. Catholic and Orthodox readers won't like that his treatments are sometimes critical as relates to biblical truth. Secular readers won't like that he takes faith seriously and is not interested in laborious take-downs of power structures and systemic inequality. Needham does what I think the best historians do; he tells a compelling story. He biases that story toward appreciation and understanding of the past as a foreign country (so to speak). He looks for what is sincerely Christian and of encouragement to modern readers without masking the unpleasant. In sum, the story is one of how Christ's Bride has continued to endure, triumph, evangelize, build culture, and disciple unto and devote herself to Jesus.
And given its massive scope, it's surprising how readable the book is! Very accessible.
Volume 2 traces the history of the Church from ~AD 600 to 1500. In doing so, readers see the development of the orthodox catholic Church into Orthodox and Catholic churches. The first chapter deals with the rise of Islam and the expansion of Muslim armies throughout Rome's eastern and north African territories. The story continues through the evangelization of Germanic Arians, the Carolingian Renaissance, the evangelization of the Slavs and Russians, the development and strengthening of the papacy, and the increasing fractures between East and West. Soon after come the Crusades, the rise of medieval scholasticism, the collapse of the Byzantine Empire, and the consiliar movement, and the rise of gnostic and proto-Protestant groups.
There are three areas where I think Needham truly excels. The first is by noting the development of Roman Catholic doctrine and practice over time. Often popular conceptions of church history view the medieval Church as a monolithic edifice. In other words, sometime after the early Church period (maybe between Constantine and Augustine, maybe after), the Church transformed overnight into the boogeyman of Luther's polemics. This is far from true, as Needham demonstrates. Doctrines like the Immaculate Conception, predestination, transubstantiation, and even clerical celibacy were not at all resolved in 800 or even 1200. It is rather, as Needham points out in the introduction, that the Reformers had a point when they claimed that they were pitting the best of the medieval tradition (Thomas a Kempis, Ratranmus, Anselm, Bernard of Clairveaux) against what they deemed to be the worst. Not without cause did Alister McGrath claim that the Reformation is an argument inside Augustine's head broken out in the real world; Augustine on grace (the Protestants) vs. Augustine on the Church (the Roman Catholics).
Second, Needham tells the Orthodox story alongside the Roman Catholic one. Many volumes will split East and West at some point and treat them separately. This makes it hard for the reader to see how the two drifted apart simultaneously. It tempts readers to conclude that the Western church (Catholic/Protestant) continued on one track while the Eastern church went off to do its own thing. This is not so. Needham shows how the existence of "the Other" continued to affect each wing of the Church. Efforts at reconciliation continued well after the Great Schism of 1054. There would have been no Carolingian Renaissance nor any Holy Roman Empire without the Iconoclastic Controversy. The strengthening papacy always had to keep in mind the objections of the Orthodox patriarchs in Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria (and later Kiev/Moscow and Bulgaria). Though Needham is not the first to note this, he made clear again and again that the distinction between Latin and Greek actually affected the theological concerns of East and West. The Latin Church became more concerned with legal definitions of how justification, faith, and grace worked whereas the Greek Church became more concerned with ontology/being (who God is).
Third, and of most value to local churches and Sunday school teachers, Needham provides lots of primary sources at the end of each chapter. The goal of these excerpts is to demonstrate the themes of the chapter and, more often, to provide a sampling of what modern Christian readers might find spiritually beneficial even today. Peruse some selections of St. Sava of Serbia, St. Anselm, Julian of Norwich, John of Damascus, or Bernard of Clairveaux. See how relevant and helpful their writing remains for Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant readers even today! Especially as a Reformed Baptist myself, I'm eager to point folks to the reality that the "Third Testament" doesn't just belong to other traditions. Church history is our shared heritage, and anything that has been written that accords with Scripture is beneficial and good. Don't re-invent the wheel every generation! These readings provide a great sampling to be a springboard for further study.
One critique I have of Needham concerns his treatment of the Inquisition. I think that, for all the work Needham does to explain why the Crusades were compelling to Christians at the time (without necessarily justifying them), he skirts the Inquisition. This time in Church history (not to be confused with the later Spanish Inquisition) is often misunderstood. It was not nearly as fearsome or unjust as has been portrayed these days. For example, confessing any potential or known heresy to an inquisitor would absolve the accused. Naming a person who might have a grudge against you would result in the inquisitor dropping the investigation entirely. I don't say these things because I am defending the Inquisition; in fact, much Anglo-American common law exists because of contemporary objections to the Inquisition in England. Rather, I dislike boogeymen. It's bad history. A thing can be not as bad as it has been made to be without being good. Needham ignores this in this instance. However, the fatal flaw of any history survey is that no one historian can be an expert on everything. It's a small blemish, especially given how much attention Needham gives to the Serbian, Bulgarian, and Russian Orthodox saints and churches... something I've never seen from a Protestant author. I actually learned a lot about those faithful men and women!
Overall, I would recommend this book to any Christian pastor, ministry leader, and laymen and/or laywomen who are looking for a neatly-organized, spiritually-astute, and objective-aspirant history of the Church. If the other volumes are anywhere near this strong, they would form a VERY strong basis for Sunday School courses. Worth it!
Needham presents a history of the Church from a Reformed Baptist perspective, but his Scottish background removes him somewhat from the typical American Evangelical opinion. Right off the bat, he aims for a more historically appreciative approach. He avoids the obvious by stating his priors in the introduction. He's a Reformed Protestant. There will be things, especially in a medieval history volume, that his readers won't like. Some readers won't like that he doesn't dismiss each event in Church history with Reformed denunciations and proof texts. Catholic and Orthodox readers won't like that his treatments are sometimes critical as relates to biblical truth. Secular readers won't like that he takes faith seriously and is not interested in laborious take-downs of power structures and systemic inequality. Needham does what I think the best historians do; he tells a compelling story. He biases that story toward appreciation and understanding of the past as a foreign country (so to speak). He looks for what is sincerely Christian and of encouragement to modern readers without masking the unpleasant. In sum, the story is one of how Christ's Bride has continued to endure, triumph, evangelize, build culture, and disciple unto and devote herself to Jesus.
And given its massive scope, it's surprising how readable the book is! Very accessible.
Volume 2 traces the history of the Church from ~AD 600 to 1500. In doing so, readers see the development of the orthodox catholic Church into Orthodox and Catholic churches. The first chapter deals with the rise of Islam and the expansion of Muslim armies throughout Rome's eastern and north African territories. The story continues through the evangelization of Germanic Arians, the Carolingian Renaissance, the evangelization of the Slavs and Russians, the development and strengthening of the papacy, and the increasing fractures between East and West. Soon after come the Crusades, the rise of medieval scholasticism, the collapse of the Byzantine Empire, and the consiliar movement, and the rise of gnostic and proto-Protestant groups.
There are three areas where I think Needham truly excels. The first is by noting the development of Roman Catholic doctrine and practice over time. Often popular conceptions of church history view the medieval Church as a monolithic edifice. In other words, sometime after the early Church period (maybe between Constantine and Augustine, maybe after), the Church transformed overnight into the boogeyman of Luther's polemics. This is far from true, as Needham demonstrates. Doctrines like the Immaculate Conception, predestination, transubstantiation, and even clerical celibacy were not at all resolved in 800 or even 1200. It is rather, as Needham points out in the introduction, that the Reformers had a point when they claimed that they were pitting the best of the medieval tradition (Thomas a Kempis, Ratranmus, Anselm, Bernard of Clairveaux) against what they deemed to be the worst. Not without cause did Alister McGrath claim that the Reformation is an argument inside Augustine's head broken out in the real world; Augustine on grace (the Protestants) vs. Augustine on the Church (the Roman Catholics).
Second, Needham tells the Orthodox story alongside the Roman Catholic one. Many volumes will split East and West at some point and treat them separately. This makes it hard for the reader to see how the two drifted apart simultaneously. It tempts readers to conclude that the Western church (Catholic/Protestant) continued on one track while the Eastern church went off to do its own thing. This is not so. Needham shows how the existence of "the Other" continued to affect each wing of the Church. Efforts at reconciliation continued well after the Great Schism of 1054. There would have been no Carolingian Renaissance nor any Holy Roman Empire without the Iconoclastic Controversy. The strengthening papacy always had to keep in mind the objections of the Orthodox patriarchs in Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria (and later Kiev/Moscow and Bulgaria). Though Needham is not the first to note this, he made clear again and again that the distinction between Latin and Greek actually affected the theological concerns of East and West. The Latin Church became more concerned with legal definitions of how justification, faith, and grace worked whereas the Greek Church became more concerned with ontology/being (who God is).
Third, and of most value to local churches and Sunday school teachers, Needham provides lots of primary sources at the end of each chapter. The goal of these excerpts is to demonstrate the themes of the chapter and, more often, to provide a sampling of what modern Christian readers might find spiritually beneficial even today. Peruse some selections of St. Sava of Serbia, St. Anselm, Julian of Norwich, John of Damascus, or Bernard of Clairveaux. See how relevant and helpful their writing remains for Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant readers even today! Especially as a Reformed Baptist myself, I'm eager to point folks to the reality that the "Third Testament" doesn't just belong to other traditions. Church history is our shared heritage, and anything that has been written that accords with Scripture is beneficial and good. Don't re-invent the wheel every generation! These readings provide a great sampling to be a springboard for further study.
One critique I have of Needham concerns his treatment of the Inquisition. I think that, for all the work Needham does to explain why the Crusades were compelling to Christians at the time (without necessarily justifying them), he skirts the Inquisition. This time in Church history (not to be confused with the later Spanish Inquisition) is often misunderstood. It was not nearly as fearsome or unjust as has been portrayed these days. For example, confessing any potential or known heresy to an inquisitor would absolve the accused. Naming a person who might have a grudge against you would result in the inquisitor dropping the investigation entirely. I don't say these things because I am defending the Inquisition; in fact, much Anglo-American common law exists because of contemporary objections to the Inquisition in England. Rather, I dislike boogeymen. It's bad history. A thing can be not as bad as it has been made to be without being good. Needham ignores this in this instance. However, the fatal flaw of any history survey is that no one historian can be an expert on everything. It's a small blemish, especially given how much attention Needham gives to the Serbian, Bulgarian, and Russian Orthodox saints and churches... something I've never seen from a Protestant author. I actually learned a lot about those faithful men and women!
Overall, I would recommend this book to any Christian pastor, ministry leader, and laymen and/or laywomen who are looking for a neatly-organized, spiritually-astute, and objective-aspirant history of the Church. If the other volumes are anywhere near this strong, they would form a VERY strong basis for Sunday School courses. Worth it!
July 29, 2015
I am loving this guy Needham.
One of the best things about Needham's book is that it makes you realize how hsitorical all the controversies were and how difficult it was to disentangle them until more people hammered away at it (hint: that's supposed to encourage you).
There's horrible stuff, but I already read Susan Wise Bauer's dank History of the Medieval World. She focuses almost exclusively on politics and when you realize how many people got killed in history you get kinda depressed (we really are on the edge of a golden tea cup). Reading Needham, history is restored as the complicated, but infinitely interesting and even hopeful history of the church. Yes there is corruption and horrible slaughters, but you feel the Church is always doing something and, for all their warts, good is being done.
One of the most interesting for me was the controversy of Barlaam and Gregory of Palamas. In terms of the personal relationship controversy, I am attracted to both. Barlaam points out that the weird body postures of praying mystically (with the head praying as it faced the heart until the prayer was internalized) was quite ridiculous and that God could only be accessed through mediation of created things in this like (think Leithart). So personal relationship: a decisive no. Palamas responded by pointing out that the position of the body matters (Yay! anti-gnosticism) and a careful distinction between being joined to God's essence and to his energies (with the former violating the creator-creature distinction and the latter not, but being the origin of deification). There's a part of me that really hates mystics, but I do confess loving Dante and Augustine and all the times C.S. Lewis goes mystic so there must be something to it.
Treatments of Charlemagne, the scholastics, and the Crusaders are charitable, but not rosy-tinted. Eastern Orthodoxy gets good playing time, which I loved since I knew nothing about it. I want a copy so that when I study Abelard or Aquinas I can know where they fit in the big picture. I can't wait until the series is done and I can buy a boxed set! If you don't have time for Philip Schaff, but want something less broad than Bruce Shelley, Needham is your man.
One of the best things about Needham's book is that it makes you realize how hsitorical all the controversies were and how difficult it was to disentangle them until more people hammered away at it (hint: that's supposed to encourage you).
There's horrible stuff, but I already read Susan Wise Bauer's dank History of the Medieval World. She focuses almost exclusively on politics and when you realize how many people got killed in history you get kinda depressed (we really are on the edge of a golden tea cup). Reading Needham, history is restored as the complicated, but infinitely interesting and even hopeful history of the church. Yes there is corruption and horrible slaughters, but you feel the Church is always doing something and, for all their warts, good is being done.
One of the most interesting for me was the controversy of Barlaam and Gregory of Palamas. In terms of the personal relationship controversy, I am attracted to both. Barlaam points out that the weird body postures of praying mystically (with the head praying as it faced the heart until the prayer was internalized) was quite ridiculous and that God could only be accessed through mediation of created things in this like (think Leithart). So personal relationship: a decisive no. Palamas responded by pointing out that the position of the body matters (Yay! anti-gnosticism) and a careful distinction between being joined to God's essence and to his energies (with the former violating the creator-creature distinction and the latter not, but being the origin of deification). There's a part of me that really hates mystics, but I do confess loving Dante and Augustine and all the times C.S. Lewis goes mystic so there must be something to it.
Treatments of Charlemagne, the scholastics, and the Crusaders are charitable, but not rosy-tinted. Eastern Orthodoxy gets good playing time, which I loved since I knew nothing about it. I want a copy so that when I study Abelard or Aquinas I can know where they fit in the big picture. I can't wait until the series is done and I can buy a boxed set! If you don't have time for Philip Schaff, but want something less broad than Bruce Shelley, Needham is your man.
February 23, 2018
Another excellent volume read. Gets a little deeper in the second half of the book so you need to concentrate all the more. But overall an excellent overview of the Middle Ages - more or less the times leading up to the Reformation.
Each of the volumes has a comprehensive 'Further Reading' list, which if followed would take you years to complete but the more important books are highlighted.
So onwards to Volume 3 with anticipation!
Each of the volumes has a comprehensive 'Further Reading' list, which if followed would take you years to complete but the more important books are highlighted.
So onwards to Volume 3 with anticipation!
October 20, 2017
It is very enjoyable reading church history, especially with this form of presentation and simple but helpful of the material. The middle ages were an interesting time for the Church.
December 4, 2020
It had some wonderful moment, but I found it not quite as gripping as the first volume.
June 5, 2025
As a 21st-century reformed, evangelical Protestant, the Middle Ages are a strange and foreign country. Perhaps no era in church history seems more remote from my experience of Christianity in belief and practice, and this only serves to enhance Nick Needham’s achievement in making the events of those centuries not only interesting but compellingly and beautifully relevant. A few milestones were particularly striking:
The establishment of the Papal States in 756: With Rome under siege by the Lombards, the Pope appealed to the Frankish King, Pepin, for help. Having crushed the Lombards, he gave all the Lombard cities he had captured to Pope Stephen. “This action, known as "the donation of Pepin", created an H-shaped set of papal territories across western-central and north-eastern Italy…Pepin's action bore three enduring fruits:
(i) It finally snapped the links between the papacy and the Byzantine Empire. The Eastern and Western branches of the Church had already been drifting apart; that drift now became more like a speeding torrent. The "one holy Catholic and apostolic Church" was beginning to break up into two Churches: the Greek-speaking Eastern Church, centred on Constantinople, and the Latin-speaking Western Church, centred on Rome and the papacy. However, East and West were still in theory united as one Church, and it was not until 1054 that they officially separated
(ii) It sealed the military, political, and religious bond between the Franks and the papacy. The Frankish monarchy replaced the Byzantine Empire as the centre of Rome's diplomatic and spiritual world.
(iii) It gave the papacy a huge independent state in central and northern Italy. The popes from now on would be secular rulers as much as spiritual leaders. In fact, they often became so absorbed in their secular business that they lost all interest in theology and pastoral work.”
The Drifting Apart of East and West: “The Eastern and Western wings of the one universal Church had been drifting apart ever since the fall of the Roman Empire in the West in 410. East and West spoke different languages (Greek the East, Latin in the West - someone once made the witty comment that "East and West did not understand each other, because they did not understand each other"). They lived in different cultural and political worlds (East - the ancient Christian Byzantine Empire; West - the new Germanic and Norse kingdoms, comparatively uncivilised, and only just converted from Arianism and Paganism). Over the centuries, a great many differences, disagreements and misunderstandings had grown up between East and West, including:
(i) The rivalry between Rome and Constantinople…claiming absolute authority over the entire Church.
(ii) Differences in religious practice. These varied in their seriousness. The West did not allow priests to marry; the East allowed them to marry before ordination…The West used unleavened bread in communion; the East used leavened bread. In baptism, the East continued the early Church practice of immersing people three times in the name of the Trinity; the West had come to tolerate a variety of practices - threefold immersion, single immersion, and affusion, although affusion increasingly became the Western norm.
(iii) Theological differences. These were increasingly serious. The East, for example, did not teach the Western doctrine of purgatory, which was becoming ever more central in Western spirituality. The West held that some aspects of sin's penalty could be removed on earth by penance or by an indulgence. If a believer died without paying all the punishment he owed, he had to pay off his outstanding debt by suffering in the fire of purgatory.”
The Great East-West Schism: “The most crucial doctrinal difference between East and West was over the doctrine of the Trinity and the filioque clause in the Nicene Creed. As we have seen, the East held that in the inner life of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone, whereas the West maintained that the Spirit proceeds from Father and Son as a single source. The East also objected profoundly to the way that the West had inserted the filioque clause into the Nicene Creed, thus altering the first and greatest of the Church's ecumenical Creeds.” This came to a head in 1054 with the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople each excommunicating the other: “It took some time for the consequences of 1054 to become clear in the practical relations between all Easterners and Westerners at the local level. It was the Crusades, and the outrages committed by the Western Crusaders against Eastern Christians, which made the great schism into a burning grass-roots reality.”
The Growth of the Universities from the 12th Century: This “produced a theological revolution in Western Christendom. Previously, the great monasteries had been the centres of learning; the leading theologians had been monks who studied theology within the setting of monastic life and worship. The universities challenged this. Theology now became an intellectual subject in its own right, and people studied it in the academic context of university life, outside the constraints of monastic discipline. The great theologians were now university professors who earned their living by teaching doctrine. In one way, this had a liberating effect on Western theology, releasing torrents of intellectual energy, debate, and writing, in the stimulating atmosphere of free academic discourse. In another way, though, it introduced a certain element of division between spiritual life on the one hand, and intellectual and theological pursuits on the other. Many have judged this division to be a deeply harmful feature of Western Christianity since the 1100s.”
The Avignonese Captivity of the Papacy (1309-77): “The papacy had reached the height of its political power in Western Europe under Innocent III. His death in 1216 was followed by a period of eclipse and finally disaster. The popes continued to struggle against the Holy Roman Emperors; their conflict with Frederick II (1210-50), whom Innocent III himself had settled on the German throne, was especially bitter. However, the long warfare between papacy and Empire had permanently weakened the power of the German monarchy, by undermining Germany's national unity. Real power lay in the hands of the local German princes, not the Emperor. The threat to the independence of the papacy no longer came from Germany, but from France. In contrast to the situation in Germany, the French monarchy was growing in strength.” The new political reality in Germany, with a relatively weak monarchy and decentralised power, was the seedbed in which the Reformation could grow (similar to the situation in Switzerland) - but that is a story for Volume 3.
Other events, such as the growth of Islam, the Crusades, and the Gregorian / Hildebrandine reform movement (which gave birth to the papacy as the Protestant Reformers knew it, and as we know it today) are handled with a deftness, balance and nuance that one would not necessarily expect from a conservative Protestant author. Dr Needham has produced a first-rate piece of historical writing, and a resource that is of great service to Protestant Christians in particular in understanding our past. If you are looking for an engagingly written and accessible introduction to church history, then I don’t think you can do better than this wonderful series of books.
The establishment of the Papal States in 756: With Rome under siege by the Lombards, the Pope appealed to the Frankish King, Pepin, for help. Having crushed the Lombards, he gave all the Lombard cities he had captured to Pope Stephen. “This action, known as "the donation of Pepin", created an H-shaped set of papal territories across western-central and north-eastern Italy…Pepin's action bore three enduring fruits:
(i) It finally snapped the links between the papacy and the Byzantine Empire. The Eastern and Western branches of the Church had already been drifting apart; that drift now became more like a speeding torrent. The "one holy Catholic and apostolic Church" was beginning to break up into two Churches: the Greek-speaking Eastern Church, centred on Constantinople, and the Latin-speaking Western Church, centred on Rome and the papacy. However, East and West were still in theory united as one Church, and it was not until 1054 that they officially separated
(ii) It sealed the military, political, and religious bond between the Franks and the papacy. The Frankish monarchy replaced the Byzantine Empire as the centre of Rome's diplomatic and spiritual world.
(iii) It gave the papacy a huge independent state in central and northern Italy. The popes from now on would be secular rulers as much as spiritual leaders. In fact, they often became so absorbed in their secular business that they lost all interest in theology and pastoral work.”
The Drifting Apart of East and West: “The Eastern and Western wings of the one universal Church had been drifting apart ever since the fall of the Roman Empire in the West in 410. East and West spoke different languages (Greek the East, Latin in the West - someone once made the witty comment that "East and West did not understand each other, because they did not understand each other"). They lived in different cultural and political worlds (East - the ancient Christian Byzantine Empire; West - the new Germanic and Norse kingdoms, comparatively uncivilised, and only just converted from Arianism and Paganism). Over the centuries, a great many differences, disagreements and misunderstandings had grown up between East and West, including:
(i) The rivalry between Rome and Constantinople…claiming absolute authority over the entire Church.
(ii) Differences in religious practice. These varied in their seriousness. The West did not allow priests to marry; the East allowed them to marry before ordination…The West used unleavened bread in communion; the East used leavened bread. In baptism, the East continued the early Church practice of immersing people three times in the name of the Trinity; the West had come to tolerate a variety of practices - threefold immersion, single immersion, and affusion, although affusion increasingly became the Western norm.
(iii) Theological differences. These were increasingly serious. The East, for example, did not teach the Western doctrine of purgatory, which was becoming ever more central in Western spirituality. The West held that some aspects of sin's penalty could be removed on earth by penance or by an indulgence. If a believer died without paying all the punishment he owed, he had to pay off his outstanding debt by suffering in the fire of purgatory.”
The Great East-West Schism: “The most crucial doctrinal difference between East and West was over the doctrine of the Trinity and the filioque clause in the Nicene Creed. As we have seen, the East held that in the inner life of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone, whereas the West maintained that the Spirit proceeds from Father and Son as a single source. The East also objected profoundly to the way that the West had inserted the filioque clause into the Nicene Creed, thus altering the first and greatest of the Church's ecumenical Creeds.” This came to a head in 1054 with the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople each excommunicating the other: “It took some time for the consequences of 1054 to become clear in the practical relations between all Easterners and Westerners at the local level. It was the Crusades, and the outrages committed by the Western Crusaders against Eastern Christians, which made the great schism into a burning grass-roots reality.”
The Growth of the Universities from the 12th Century: This “produced a theological revolution in Western Christendom. Previously, the great monasteries had been the centres of learning; the leading theologians had been monks who studied theology within the setting of monastic life and worship. The universities challenged this. Theology now became an intellectual subject in its own right, and people studied it in the academic context of university life, outside the constraints of monastic discipline. The great theologians were now university professors who earned their living by teaching doctrine. In one way, this had a liberating effect on Western theology, releasing torrents of intellectual energy, debate, and writing, in the stimulating atmosphere of free academic discourse. In another way, though, it introduced a certain element of division between spiritual life on the one hand, and intellectual and theological pursuits on the other. Many have judged this division to be a deeply harmful feature of Western Christianity since the 1100s.”
The Avignonese Captivity of the Papacy (1309-77): “The papacy had reached the height of its political power in Western Europe under Innocent III. His death in 1216 was followed by a period of eclipse and finally disaster. The popes continued to struggle against the Holy Roman Emperors; their conflict with Frederick II (1210-50), whom Innocent III himself had settled on the German throne, was especially bitter. However, the long warfare between papacy and Empire had permanently weakened the power of the German monarchy, by undermining Germany's national unity. Real power lay in the hands of the local German princes, not the Emperor. The threat to the independence of the papacy no longer came from Germany, but from France. In contrast to the situation in Germany, the French monarchy was growing in strength.” The new political reality in Germany, with a relatively weak monarchy and decentralised power, was the seedbed in which the Reformation could grow (similar to the situation in Switzerland) - but that is a story for Volume 3.
Other events, such as the growth of Islam, the Crusades, and the Gregorian / Hildebrandine reform movement (which gave birth to the papacy as the Protestant Reformers knew it, and as we know it today) are handled with a deftness, balance and nuance that one would not necessarily expect from a conservative Protestant author. Dr Needham has produced a first-rate piece of historical writing, and a resource that is of great service to Protestant Christians in particular in understanding our past. If you are looking for an engagingly written and accessible introduction to church history, then I don’t think you can do better than this wonderful series of books.
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