Shelley notes
that ‘surely one of the most remarkable aspects of Christianity today is how
few of these professed believers have ever seriously studied the history of
their religion.’ I definitely belong to this category, and I certainly regret not
studying the history of Christianity earlier.
What Shelley
sets out to do in this book is to chart the development of Christianity from Jesus
till the modern age (my edition is published in 2008, so up to that point). He
attempts to do so by telling stories of people rather than merely stating cold
hard facts. This writing style makes this crash course in Christian history very
readable and accessible. Furthermore, there is no cost to the level of research
and scholarship. Admittedly, he cannot explore people and incidents in great
depth, but he is clear that his purpose is to do a general survey of the
history of Christianity – a sort of appetiser to get us excited about learning more.
Another feature
of the book worth mentioning is the way he structures the chapters. He suggests
large epochs:
1)
The Age of Jesus and the Apostles (6 BC – AD 70)
2)
The Age of Catholic Christianity (70 – 312)
3)
The Age of the Christian Roman Empire (312 – 590)
4)
The Christian Middle Ages (590 – 1517)
5)
The Age of the Reformation (1517 – 1648)
6)
The Age of Reason and Revival (1648 – 1789)
7)
The Age of Ideologies (1914 - )
Under each age,
he talks about significant people, movements and events that have shaped
Christianity during those eras. Chapter lengths are manageable and quite neatly
divided, so top points for organisation!
Perhaps the only
negative thing I have to say about the work is that there is certainly more
focus on Western Christianity. We do not hear much about the Orthodox Church;
neither do we read much about Christianity in Southeast Asia and Australia. But
these complaints could be just me being greedy.
I’ve definitely
learned a few lessons and have been confronted with some questions. Through reading
the book, I’ve become more aware of the Christian tradition that I now find
myself in. By better understanding its roots, I’ve come to realise that this
position – Reformed Evangelical Anglicanism - is quite a minority one. And it
is humbling and somewhat scary; humbling in that I need to learn to be more tolerant
and appreciative of the diversity of Christian traditions, and asserting I am
right (even if I am right) in the hopes of convincing everyone else is already
a failed historical experiment. So I definitely hope to be quicker to listen when
someone speaks about Christianity differently, and try to understand the backgrounds
and presuppositions that have shaped his doctrines and practices.
And it is scary
because for me this raises the question of truth: either some Christians are
wrong, or nobody is right. The latter cannot be true, so it has to be the
former. But what would that look like? Who determines who’s wrong and right? Protestantism
would say take Scripture as the highest authority, but so many denominations
claim to do so, yet interpret and apply things so differently. In other words, is
there a single way to be Christian, or to do Christian ministry? These are, for
me, nagging unanswered questions.
However, Shelley
argues that one thing unites all Christians – the Person Jesus Christ – and I wouldn’t
dare disagree. Perhaps methodology may differ, perhaps there is a ‘better’ way of
doing things. But what’s likely more important is that people are turning to
Christ in repentance and faith and seeking to live under his lordship until he
returns, all to God’s glory. I can see a picture of that in the international community
here at Christchurch Durham. There’s a Brethren and some Methodists (this is,
unfortunately not too diverse a group, but I think it illustrates my point),
and though I disagree with many things they believe in, I am unashamed to call
them brothers and sisters in Christ and to be ministers of the gospel together.
Maybe, just maybe. (Also, I’ll try to ‘convert’ them in the process, haha! XD)
I remember an
illustration our student pastor uses to talk about Christian unity. He talks
about planting the gospel flag in the ground, and all who run to it – those are
who we will be united with. Sounds pretty similar to what Jesus says in Matthew
12:49 ‘And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my
mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my
brother and sister and mother.”’
The full title
of this book is The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ.
And the subtitle is important to understand Ray’s point. He wants to show how gospel
doctrine creates a gospel culture – and all that is to display Christ’s beauty. 
