Review: Denis R. Janz’s A People’s History of Christianity, One Volume Student Edition

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I’m not typically drawn to introductory church history books. There are some fine classic surveys (e.g. Shelley’s Church History in Plain Language, Gonzales’s The Story of Christianity, etc.), and often new texts don’t offer much new information or perspective. But Denis Janz’s A People’s History of Christianity series is a unique addition to the field that needs to be engaged in some way by all those with an interest in the history of Christianity.

And Fortress Press has made it easy to interact with this distinctive treatment of church history, whether one is a rabid bookworm undaunted (and even delighted) by the prospect of reading thousands of pages or just wants a 300-page introduction. Originally a seven volume series, the content was distilled into a two-volume student edition [editor’s note: see our review of the Student Edition volume one and two] as well as a one-volume student edition, the latter of which is the subject of this review.

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Review: Eric D. Barreto’s Reading Theologically

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Reading Theologically is compact and robust, examining what reading theologically means for seminarians—although the serious self-taught Bible student could find help here too.

Barreto sets the expectations, “Reading theologically is thus not primarily about mechanics . . . . [T]his book will invite you to be a perpetual pupil, a student always unsatisfied with easy answers for difficult questions or simple caricatures of those with whom you disagree . . . . [T]he gospel of Jesus Christ demands a radical posture of grace towards ideas and people alike” (11). On the following page, he also talks about how regularly reading theologically will not only “confirm our deepest hopes” but also “disturb you, shake you to your core, lead you to question and doubt much of what you have held dear.”

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Review: Denis Janz’s A People’s History of Christianity, Vol. 2

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A People’s History of Christianity is one of the newest academic series from Fortress Press. It has been condensed from its multi-volume format to produce two Student Editions for academic use. This review will cover Volume Two of the two-volume edition that covers materials from the Reformation to modern day.

The work of twelve authors, A People’s History of Christianity, Volume 2 (henceforth A People’s History) provides a new look at the people and social issues that have developed in the age of the Reformation and enlightenment. The result is an impactful history of modern relevance and challenging portrayals of church people.

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Review: Denis Janz’s A People’s History of Christianity

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“In this sense, people’s history is slanted, biased, disrespectful—even subversive perhaps” (8).

A People’s History of Christianity is one of the newest academic series from Fortress Press. It has been condensed from its multi-volume format to produce two Student Editions for academic use. This review will cover Volume One of the two-volume edition which covers materials from the early church to the Reformation.

Through the work of fourteen authors, A People’s History of Christianity, Volume 1 (henceforth A People’s History) seeks to present a new look at the development of the church focusing on the people who make up the church. The result is a history of the real lives of ordinary church people.

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Review: W. Travis McMaken’s The Sign of the Gospel

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The Sign of the Gospel: Toward an Evangelical Doctrine of Infant Baptism after Karl Barth is a revised version of the doctoral thesis of W. Travis McMaken. A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, he is now an Assistant Professor of Religion at Lindenwood University. In this book, McMaken address one of the most controversial elements of Karl Barth’s “Reformed” theology: his denial of infant baptism. In The Sign of the Gospel, McMaken explicates Barth’s devastating criticism against historical arguments for infant baptism and concludes by offering a post-Barthian view for the future practice of paedobaptism.

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Review: Clifford J. Green and Michael P. DeJonge’s The Bonhoeffer Reader

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer was on my short list of “to read” for 2014. So I gladly agreed to take a look at The Bonhoeffer Reader when the opportunity presented itself. This book is over 800 pages of Bonhoeffer goodness; while not exhaustive, it will be comprehensive for Bonhoeffer’s average reader. It includes the works you would expect and want from a Bonhoeffer reader-- Discipleship and Life Together, for example--and some of his more robust works like the Lectures on Christology and Ethics. I decided to read Life Together and Lectures on Christology. 

First a few comments on the volume as a whole. It’s a nicely bound and handsome book. Even with 800 pages, it’s not too heavy you can’t hold it and read comfortably. It’s not so tightly bound as to make reading the inner margins difficult. It also represents the first selection of Bonhoeffer taken from the translation of his official complete works.

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