SCM Core Text: Modern Church History

"Modern Church History" provides an introduction to global Christianity from 1700 to the mid 20th century. The book aims to help students understand the processes, movements and individuals who have contributed to making the contemporary Christian landscape the shape it is in the 21st century. Theologically it takes a wide and inclusive approach to provide a balanced survey of Christianity in all its forms - Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox. Geographically it focuses on the Christian church in the UK, continental Europe and North America, and examines in each location the social movements, campaigns and campaigners, scientific and political challenges that have shaped the Christian Church throughout the period. Beginning with the reaction to Lutherism, it charts the rise of Pietism in Europe throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the influence of John Wesley and the Methodists, in the UK and the 'Great Awakening' in North America. The early chapters summarize the developments within the Christian Church in the UK, with detailed coverage of the English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish situations, throughout the 19th Century. This is followed by a summary of the various schools of thought to have developed through the 20th C, including the church's reaction to the 2 world wars in Europe, fundamentalism in the USA. The book also provides specific coverage of the religious situation in North America throughout the modern period covering the development of separate black churches, the 'New Evangelicalism'. It is suitable for level two as well as introductory courses in modern church history or courses concerned with religion, culture and society in the 18th - 20th centuries

Tim Grass is a freelance writer and editor, and an Associate Tutor in Church History at Spurgeon's College.