the proGnosis

I have a confession. Are you sitting comfortably? Will you judge me?

Ok… I’ll tell you… I love church history. Sorry, I know, terrible! It’s true, it was my favorite part of my degree, my favorite part of working with Kevin Adams (who would talk church history ALL the time), and it’s my second biggest section of my library (after…? I’ll let you guess).

Why do I love church history?

1. It is interesting and fun to learn about

2. I can learn from the past

3. What happened in history matters

In light of this I was very excited to get my copy of a book on the Reformation by Michael Reeves (RTSF/UCCF) called ‘the unquenchable flame’. Mind you, I never expected what I got in that book.

Let me explain.

This book is a real page turner,  fast paced, funny, interesting, informing, insightful, easy to understand yet deep in historical and theological insights and opinions, and it has pictures (albeit boring pictures… oh, and a rather rubbish cover…sorry!).

It is not what you expect from a book on the Reformation (apart from a boring cover…sorry once again)!

There is a lot of rubbish circulating about the Reformation, what Calvin stood for, what the Puritans were like, and what significance the Reformation has for today. Reeves attempts, and achieves, a reply to all of this. He is not scared to speak the truth (for example, that the English reformation was more of a political move than spiritual at first), and he is not scared to defend people who have been unhelpfully depicted (like Calvin and his fascinating Geneva).

Reeves is able to do this because he seems to have a historical and theological brain the size of a small planet. Indeed, concepts and arguments that took weeks to learn in college are summed up in paragraphs (like, when and what were the Puritans), and boring, seemingly irrelevant facts (like the wives of King Henry) are given life and meaning.

Now, I don’t want to get ‘geek’ excited about this. But this book is simply brilliant. I love the way he uses good academic, historical research, yet keeps a Christian perspective. What I mean is that very often Christian church historians can wear rose tinted glasses and quite frankly, ignore reality. Whilst on the other hand, secular historians can look back and ignore the spiritual/ miraculous aspect and so reduce events to mere political and coincidental happenings. Reeves is unique in being both historically accurate and honest, yet God centered and honoring.

I wish he’d  been my church history lecturer.

So, if you’ve never read a good church history book – read this one! You’ll learn about:

-The need for the Reformation

-Martin Luther, drinking beer and shouting at the devil

-John Calvin, Geneva and killing people

-The British (but not Welsh) Reformation and killing people

-The Puritans and banning Christmas

-What the relevance of all this is today

-Where Hocus Pocus came from, and other odd facts

-And much, much, much more!!!!!

Go on, get into church history, join the geek club…. learn to read a church history book and laugh at the same time… it is a lovely experience!