Creed, Confession, and Cooperation
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 67, No. 2 - Spring 2025
Editor: Malcolm B. Yarnell III
Church History is an important field of study for anyone dedicated to gospel ministry. Every generation of Christians can (and ought to) learn from those Christians who have gone before. Yet, grasping even a summary knowledge of two millennia can be daunting. Many church historians have attempted single-volume, double-volume, and multi-volume summaries of Christian history. Each project reflects the doctrinal or methodological context of its author. Some histories privilege historical theology. Some focus on institutional development. Many English-language texts neglect Eastern Christianity after the Great Schism and Roman Catholicism after the Council of Trent. Publishing constraints and human finitude leave the historian with difficult decisions about which people, events, developments, and regions to include.
Nick Needham, lecturer of Church History at Highland Theological College, makes a grand effort to write a comprehensive and accessible account of Christian history in these five volumes. There is much to commend this new work in Church History. Though readers might balk at a nearly 3,000-page set, Needham has provided a great blessing to anyone interested in learning about the history and development of the Christian faith. Needham’s chapters are divided into concise, cogent subsections of a few pages that make it an ideal option for those who wish to read more history but cannot dedicate hours at a time to uninterrupted reading. Needham is a master of taking complex events or ideas and distilling them into 3–5 pages of analysis. One would be blessed reading through these books for 10–15 minutes per day.
All approaches to church history reflect the context and priorities of their authors. Nick Needham is an English Reformed Baptist, and this informs his study. American readers with a general familiarity of church history will discover many new people and events from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales in the later volumes. While his doctrinal perspective is evident in his text, he treats different perspectives with understanding and respect. This approach is especially evident in his analysis of the Evangelical Revival in England and Wales.
Thus far, Needham has written five volumes covering Christian history through the 18th century. His first volume, The Age of the Early Church Fathers, is especially commendable for its accessible descriptions of the early heretical challenges to Christianity in the first four centuries. Volume II, The Middle Ages, covers the seventh to the 15th centuries. In this volume he includes chapters on Byzantine Christianity and the rise of Slavic Orthodoxy, which are often overlooked in other works. Volume III, Renaissance and Reformation, includes extensive examination of the various Reformations as well as the Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation and Orthodox developments. Volume IV, The Age of Religious Conflict, is an ambitious volume covering the era of religious wars. The most recent volume, The Age of Enlightenment and Awakening, provides a compelling examination of the 18th century. It dives deeply into the history of English speaking evangelical revivals, the Pietist and Moravian movements in Europe, and Roman Catholicism in the Enlightenment, and concludes with a chapter on Eastern Orthodoxy.
This set of books on the history of Christianity is an excellent introductory resource. It would serve any minister well. For those that are far-removed from their seminary Church History courses, these books will serve as a helpful refresher and easy-to-access reference. For those who have never had the pleasure of studying Church History, these books will serve as a great introduction to the Lord’s providential faithfulness over the years.
