A New Book on Church History....

A penny if you can recall who said on the writing of many books there is no end.  If you cannot recall, save your pennies and use them to purchase a new book very worth the many pennies it takes.  From Ed Engelbrecht comes word that the presses have stopped and the book is done:

The Church from Age to Age: A History from Galilee to Global Christianity. You can see a sample of the book on our product page or its Amazon Kindle page. I invite you to compare the price for our book with other general church histories out there. For a comprehensive work (1,000+ pages deep) at $36.99, it has the sweetest price on the market.

I believe that as much as our good people may be short on doctrinal and Biblical knowledge and understanding, they also suffer from the very severe lack of any perspective on church history.  It is remarkable to me how ignorant we Lutherans are of our own history, how we look at the muddle of the Christian world today without any grasp of history that has led us to this moment, and how we march into the future making the same mistakes as those before us -- yet oblivious to the lessons which should have been already learned.  Many of our questions could well be answered by a good church history text.  Don't wait until you head to Seminary to read one and because most of you may not get there, CPH is to be commended for bringing out this one -- a thoroughly accessible and complete book on Church History.

Now some of you may think a thousand pages a bit much.  I suppose you could look at one of the shorter histories of the Christian Church.  Martin Marty has a brief one that has been well used.  So does Owen Chadwick.  That is all well and good, but a larger work is not without its own benefits.  For one, a bit more direct source material.  For another, a more in depth review of the events and their meaning.  For another, more footnotes and sources for additional study.

I know that CPH publishes a ton of material that is not really marketable -- that is they do not make CPH much or any money.  Let us turn that tide by addressing our lack with the fine resources that Concordia has brought to bear.  This is but one of the many fine works that they have brought out.  I know that they have to sell a lot of little widgets to cover the cost of endeavors like this but I wish they could count on us instead of the widgets to make a comprehensive work like this a marketing success.  See what you can do, eh?!