2000 Years of Christ's Power - Volume 4: The Age of Religious Conflict [16th to 18th Century]

Volume 4 of the 2000 Years of Church History Series

The Renaissance and Reformation were exciting times of learning and discovery - they pushed the boundaries of accepted thought. The repercussions of this, however, were that they left in their wake a period of universal uncertainty. The centuries-old status quo had been turned on its head. Nothing was stable anymore. Conflict ensued.

The fourth volume of 2,000 Years of Christ's Power spans from the 16th to the 18th century. It presents a time from which English Protestantism, Scottish Presbyterianism, and French Catholicism, to name only a few, were birthed and refined. Perhaps few eras have had such a direct impact on the characteristics of our own period of history.

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2000 Years of Christ's Power is a series of volumes covering the history of the church, written by Nick Needham, who teaches Church History at the Highland Theological College. This series was born out of the author's deep conviction that today's Christians can benefit enormously from learning what God has done in the past. Academically reliable, but written with an easy, even humorous style which makes it accessible to anybody with an interest, this work falls into a category all of its own.

Contents:
Chapter 1: Germany and the Lutheran Faith.
   1. A house divided: the post-Luther controversies and the Formula of Concord
   2. Lutheran Orthodoxy
   3. The Thirty Years' War: the holy text of pike and gun
   4. Pietism: religion of the heart
   5. Dawn of the Protestant missionary movement
   Important people Primary
   source material
Chapter 2: The Reformed Faith
   Introduction
   1. Reformed Orthodoxy
   2. The Arminian controversy and the Synod of Dort
   3. Amyraldianism: the debate that never died Important people
   Primary source material
Chapter 3: England: The Puritan Era. Part One
   1. Puritanism: The problem of definition
   2. The origins of Puritanism and Separatism
   3. Struggles and schisms: the Elizabethan odyssey
   4. The Jacobean Church: of Bibles, Pilgrim Fathers, and High Churchmen
   5. Charles I and the English Civil War
   6. The English Revolution: the world turned upside down
   Important people
   Primary source material
Chapter 4: England: The Puritan Era. Part Two
   1. Charles II: the Restoration regime
   2. James II and the Glorious Revolution
   Important people
   Primary source material

Author:

Nick Needham is a Church History lecturer at Highland Theological College in Dingwall. Previous to this, he taught Systematic Theology at the Scottish Baptist College in Glasgow. From 2004 to 2021, he was the minister of Inverness Reformed Baptist church. He is author of the highly collectable 2,000 Years of Christ's Power series.

Endorsements:

For many years now I have said: if you want a thorough, learned but accessible and well-written history of the church, read Nick Needham's 2,000 Years of Christ's Power. Now, with the fourth volume finally available, Christians have an excellent resource for improving their knowledge of the history of their faith. Highly recommended.
--Carl R. Trueman, Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies, Grove City College, Pennsylvania

Nick Needham's volumes on church history explain everything that someone new to the subject might not understand. At the same time, they achieve a depth of detail to interest those who already know something of the subject. We use them as standard texts at LTS and look forward eagerly to forthcoming volumes.
--Robert Strivens, Pastor, Bradford-on-Avon Baptist Church, Wiltshire, UK & former Principal, London Seminary

What makes the books so useful is that in a non-technical (but not simplistic) way, they bring out the main story line of the history of the church through the centuries. But in addition, and most helpfully, each chapter concludes with a selection of writings (translated of course!) from people discussed in the chapter. This means that we are not only told what certain people believed, but we are able to read some of their actual writings -- and this is often extremely illuminating.
--Martin K. Bussey, Lecturer in theology, Africa International University, Kenya

It is a brave historian who tackles the extremely challenging task of writing the 2,000-year history of the Church. Well, Nick Needham has more than risen to the challenge. This eagerly-awaited fourth volume has been well worth the wait and, not to pressure our brother scholar, we now look forward to the concluding volume!
--Michael A. G. Haykin, Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky

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