Evangelicals and the Early Church

In this volume noted Evangelical historians and theologians examine the charge of the supposed "ahistorical nature of Evangelicalism" and provide a critical, historical examination of the relationship between the Protestant evangelical heritage and the early church. In doing so, the contributors show the long and deeply historical rootedness of the Protestant Reformation and its Evangelical descendants, as well as underscoring some inherent difficulties such as the Mercersburg and Oxford movements. In the second part of the volume, the discussion moves forward, as evangelicals rediscover the early church-its writings, liturgy, catechesis, and worship-following the "temporary amnesia" of the earlier part of the twentieth century. Most essays are accompanied by a substantial response prompting discussion or offering challenges and alternative readings of the issue at hand, thus allowing the reader to enter a conversation already in progress and engage the topic more fully. This bidirectional look-understanding the historical background on the one hand and looking forward to the future with concrete suggestions on the other-forms a more full-orbed argument for readers who want to understand the rich and deep relationship between Evangelicalism and the early church. "This unusually interesting volume combines bracing historical engagement with rare theological wisdom. Its chapters carefully explore why, how, under what conditions, and how much contemporary evangelicals should try to appropriate guidance from the first Christian centuries. A particularly helpful feature is the paired chapters that promote the best kind of respectful give and take on contested or difficult questions. The book is a gem of edifying insight." -Mark Noll Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History, University of Notre Dame "Here is a collection of essays that invites the reader to wrestle along with the authors over the query why evangelicals have not embraced more fully the early church as part of their theological and ecclesiastical legacy. It is certainly a question of importance. The appropriation of the early church by essentially free-church segments of contemporary Christianity remains at the experimental stage however much momentum it has gained over the last twenty years. Of varying degrees valuable insights are offered in this book with which pastoral and academic leadership needs to grapple for the future of evangelicalism." -D. H. Williams Professor of Patristics and Historical Theology, Baylor University George Kalantzis is Associate Professor of Theology at Wheaton College and the director of The Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies. He specializes in fourth- and fifth-century Antiochene theology and hermeneutics, and has written extensively on Theodore of Mopsuestia, Cyril, and the Nestorian controversy. His most recent books include Theodore of Mopsuestia: Commentary on John (2004), the co-edited The Sovereignty of God Debate (2009), Studies on Patristic Texts and Archaeology (2009), and Life in the Spirit: Spiritual Formation in Theological Perspective (2010). Andrew Tooley is the Project Director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College. He holds degrees from the University of Nebraska and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is currently completing a PhD in history from the University of Stirling, Scotland. His research focuses on the religious history of the United States and Great Britain in the nineteenth century.