By Josh Shaw
“Should” is perhaps a dangerous word, but I will risk it because I believe the knowledge of Christian history is not an optional “add-on” for the church. “From generation to generation” is a very significant refrain of the Psalms, the church’s original book of worship. God’s work didn’t end with the death of John the Apostle; His Spirit came to dwell and to lead and build up Christ’s Body on earth. This truth compels us to take God’s work in previous generations seriously, to take up praise for his work in and through them as a part of our worship. For this reason, Thomas Traherne (whose beautiful book is too long for this list), said that we must make God’s works in all ages as familiar to us as our walk and our table. But he says more than this:
Verily, if ever you would enjoy God, you must enjoy His goodness: All his goodness to all His hosts in Heaven and Earth… All the joys and all the treasures, all the counsels, and all the perfections, all the angels, and all the saints of God are with him [who delights in God]. All the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them are continually before Him. The councils and the fathers, the bishops and the doctors [theologians] minister unto him. All temples are open before him, the melody of all quires (=choirs) reviveth him, the learning of all universities doth employ him, the riches of all palaces delight him, the joys of Eden ravish him, the revelations of S. John transport him, the Creation and the Day of Judgement please him, the Hosannas of the Church Militant and the Hallelujahs of the Saints Triumphant fill him, the splendour of all coronations entertain him, the joys of heaven surround him, and our Saviour’s cross, like the Centre of Eternity, is in him; it taketh up his thoughts, and exerciseth all the powers of his soul, with wonder, admiration, joy and thanksgiving… O what glorious creatures should we be could we be present in spirit with all Eternity!
In contrast to the implicit model many of us are familiar with, by which Jesus Christ is the sole speck of light in a human history otherwise dark as pitch, for Traherne Jesus and his cross make the center of eternity, drawing all things in and fulfilling them by its exceeding glory and goodness, investing them with value, not rendering them worthless. Jesus came to fulfill, not destroy, his Father’s work in creation.
And so, when we read history and especially the history of the church we are not being “academics,” we are (or should be) worshipping; we are not studying the arcane or esoteric, but that which Jesus made bright by his life and death and resurrection; we are not in Man’s field, but God’s. The kingdom of heaven is like a great field, which field, Jesus told his disciples, is the world, and in it God fulfills his purposes but slowly. It is, moreover, visible only for those who have eyes to see the its value.
Below are 10 short human works which show God’s work – the promised work of the Spirit – in His church in “many times and in many fashions.” They are by no means exhaustive, nor necessarily representative of every period (the medieval period is – some may feel – poorly represented!). They are certainly not infallible.
The longest of these works is, depending on the edition, 70 or 80 pages, while some are 5-10. I hope they give you a glimpse of the Spirit’s manifold grace, working this way in this person or age, this way in that.
They are in chronological order. Rough estimates of page count are also given.
1. The Apostolic Fathers, Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, Didache, Papias, and The Epistle to Diognetus (50-60)
These works are (nearly) always presented together, providing us a precious glimpse into the earliest stage of the church’s growth. Named apostolic for their connection to (overlap with) the Apostles themselves, they show us what work God was doing in the beginning of the church as well as the struggle of those who followed the Apostles to follow their wisdom and moral sacrifice.
2. Justin Martyr, First Apology (40) or Tertullian, On Spectacles (20)
These two works (either or both might be taken), comprise insightful writings from the next generation or two of the church. They show the beginnings of what one might call a Christian philosophy (hinted at merely in the Epistle to Diognetus), namely, an extended reflection on the relationship of Christian belief to the rest of the world, both toward those without (Justin) and within (Tertullian).
3. Gregory the Wonderworker, A Speech of Thanks to Origin and Origen’s letter to Gregory (35)
This valuable, if less well written, piece of literature, gives us the first glance of the Christian school. Origen is one of the two greatest minds from the early church, and did much to advance Christian scholarship and piety in every direction, even if he also made obvious errors of judgement. His letter in reply to Gregory shows a piety rooted in deep reverence for God’s word.
4. Athanasius’s On the Incarnation (80)
This justly famous work distills the early church’s work in apologetics, putting together the results of work by Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Eusebius, among others. While less incisive, insightful, profound, or learned than these four, he is yet perhaps the most pleasant and accessible writer of them. (There is a version with a famous preface by CS Lewis).
5. Augustine’s Enchiridion or Faith, Hope, and Love (70)
Augustine wrote many classics, and in this long letter he distilled (upon request) his theology into a short compass. While in some ways perhaps imbalanced, it is yet the best introduction to and overview of the church’s single most important theologian. It can serve as a helpful access road to the Confessions, The City of God, On the Trinity or generally to medieval theology.
6. Hymns of Bernard of Clairvaux or the Strasburger Cathedral
For these you have only to look in the back of a standard hymnal to the “Authors” section and look up those attributed Bernard. Known for his mysticism and passionate love of Jesus (he wrote nearly a hundred homilies on the first couple of chapters of the Song of Solomon), his hymns like “Jesus the Very Thought of Thee” or “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” (though sometimes attributed to others), are indicative of the same fact.
The Cathedral at Strasbourg shows as similar sacrifice of the individual and the present’s pleasure to God’s infinite and eternal glory, teaching many lessons by its stark sides, robust buttresses, towering columns, and colossal vaulted ceilings. It took nearly 300 years to finish building. The cathedrals are in many ways the most import Christian testimonies of the Middle Ages, more so – some might say – than their sermons or works of literature.
7. The Preface to the Summa of Thomas of Aquinas
The Angelic Doctor did much to systematize the work of the church fathers and show us the intimate and important relations of faith to reason and philosophy to theology. This preface – as the whole – is a masterpiece of careful thought and will give a representative taste of all medieval theology, called “scholasticism”.
8. Martin Luther’s 95 Theses or, for a deeper dive, On the Bondage of the Will (4-5)
The “95 Theses” set the world on fire, though inadvertently at first. They show the results of a rare mind and a rarer heart, in some ways more reminiscent of the Apostle Paul than perhaps any other great figure in Christian history. Luther’s passion for truth should be more common, and we could as a society learn more from it.
9. Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins (50-60)
Though he would not appreciate being set beside Martin Luther (because he too loved truth and disagreed strongly with Dr. Luther!), his love of Christ and creation are as infectious as Luther’s love of truth. “God’s Grandeur”, “Pied Beauty”, “That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire”, “Nothing is so Beautiful as Spring,” “As Kingfishers Catch Fire,” illustrate this well, while others like “Patience”, “Peace”, or “Morning, Midday, and Evening Sacrifice” show his pious wisdom. “I wake and feel” and “Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself” are poems that show us a Christian soul in a deep struggle with our common sinfulness and suffering (as well as clinical depression).
10. Bonhoeffer’s Life Together (100)
This book belongs, in my opinion, to a short list of the best books of the 20th century; incisive, insightful, and incredibly practical, Bonhoeffer distills much of what is good of the German theological tradition from Luther up to his time. He helps us see with a clarity seldom found the difference between the fleshly and spiritual, the dreams of men the will of God, between happiness and holiness, between passion and love; in all, what human community could be, in and through Christ, and under his Word.
You can start at any age and with any author, for, as Thomas a Kempis said, “all things speak one thing, for all things are from one word.”