Internet Theology Resources:

Church History and Historical Theology

Contents

• Patristic Theology.
• Church History I (New Testament to 1200).
• Church History II (1200-1600).

• Peter Abelard (1079-1142), Abaelardi ad amicum suum consolatoria epistola, also known as Historia calamitatum
  • Abaelardi ad amicum suum consolatoria epistola, Latin. [84K].
  • Historia calamitatum, English. With a brief introduction. [116K].
• L.M. Berkowitz, Jewish-American History on the Web. [13K text, 58K graphics]. A collection of 19th-century documents, especially strong on the U.S. Civil War. Also links to many Jewish historical web sites.
• A Brief History of Scriptoria and the Evolution of the Book (1996).
• Joseph Brusher, Popes Through the Ages. In chronological order. Brief summaries of the pontificates of every pope from St. Peter to John Paul II.
• Horace Bushnell, Christian Nurture (1876). [92K text, 5K graphics]. Very influential. Criticizes revivalism's emphasis on dramatic emotional conversions, suggests that children raised in a Christian atmosphere may grow in genuine Christian faith without the need for such a crisis.
• Stephen Colwell, New Themes for the Protestant Clergy. 2nd ed., revised, 1853. [92K text, 5K graphics]. A landmark of the Social Gospel movement.
• The Complete List of Popes. Links to biographies from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia for popes through Pius X. Biographical profiles for later popes are taken from Joseph Brusher's "Popes Through the Ages."
• Gerald Darring, Theology Library: Church History. [42K text, 44K graphics]. Directory of Internet resources. Darring is a high school religion teacher.
• A Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature. Edited by Henry Wace and William C. Piercy. From the Apostolic Fathers through the end of the 6th century. Originally published in 1911. Table of contents unfortunately requires JavaScript; search not functioning.
• Documentos para el estudio de la historia de la Iglesia. Primary and secondary texts for the study of medieval Church history and the history of the Church in Latin America. In Spanish.
• Dorothy Day Library on the Web. An online archive of Dorothy Day's writings. Browse or search. This site also offers biographical information on Day, a photo gallery, and a small list of links to other sites related to Day and/or to the Catholic Worker movement.
• Ecclesiastical History List (ECCHST-L). Home page for this Internet mailing list. Links to online resources for church history, seldom updated.
• Feminae. [8K text, 96K graphics]. Searchable bibliography of recent essays, conference papers, and book reviews relating to women, sexuality, and gender in the period from 450 to 1500.
• Gregory of Nyssa Homepage.
• Guide to Early Church Documents
• Paul Halsall, Internet Medieval Sourcebook: Saints' Lives. [42K text, 20K graphics]. New Testament era through the Middle Ages, with helpful links for hagiography.
• For History of Christian Spirituality, please see also the Spirituality page.
• Alan Humm, Testimonium Flavianum (1996). Discussion of probable tampering with the only direct mention of Jesus in the works of Josephus (c. 37-c. 97). Humm is a graduate student in Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Joseph Edmund Hutton, A History of the Moravian Church, 2nd. ed. (1909). From John Hus to about 1857. Written on the popular level. Plain text at Project Gutenberg.
• George P. Landow, Roman Catholicism in Nineteenth-Century Great Britain. Landow is a professor of English and Art History at Brown University, and a leading exponent of hypertext theory.
• Thomas L. Long, Julian of Norwich's "Christ as Mother" and Medieval Constructions of Gender (1995). Long is an associate professor of English at Thomas Nelson Community College.
• Robert Longman
  • Movements and Schools of Thought in Pentecostalism (1996)
  • Pentecostalism After Asuza: Some Notes (1997). Picks up where Pentecostalist History leaves off, with brief histories of some Holiness and Pentecostal churches formed after the Asuza Street revival, including the Oneness ("Jesus Only") movement.
  • Pentecostalist History (1998). From 17th-century pre- or proto-Pentecostalism to 1908.
• James MacCaffrey, History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution (1914). Panoramic two-volume work. Available online in plain text, or for download as zip files.
  • History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution, Volume I. European continent. Covers the fifteenth century through the Jansenist controversy.
  • History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution, Volume II. British Isles. From the situation in England on the eve of the Reformation to the establishment of Charter Schools in Ireland.
• Gary Macy, A Guide to Thirteenth Century Theologians. Dominican, Franciscan, and secular masters at Paris and Oxford. Gives dates, list of extant works, and bibliographies of recent secondary literature. Macy is a professor of Religious Studies at the University of San Diego.
• Material History of American Religion Project
• Military Orders. Part of ORB. Includes primary sources, original essays, and links.
• For monastic history, please see also the Monastic Studies page.
• Maria Monk (d. 1850), Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk (1835). The most infamous anti-Catholic text of the nineteenth century. Searchable page images.
• John Courtney Murray (d. 1967), Religious Liberty: Catholic Struggles with Pluralism. Originally published by Westminster/John Knox Press (1993), a collection of four essays. Does the American experience of freedom of religion have anything to offer the universal Church? Silenced in the 1950s, Murray influenced Dignitatis Humanae Personae, in which Vatican II endorsed religious liberty.
• Nazianzos. In French and English. Web site of the Centre d'Études sur Grégoire de Nazianze, which coordinates the publication of a critical edition of the works of Gregory of Nazianzus. None of his works are here. The site is notable chiefly for its multilingual bibliographies.
• John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
  • Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864). [548K].
  • An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1878 ed.). Need I say more?
  • On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine (1859). Newman's thought was that the sensus fidelium can be a true barometer of orthodoxy. He points in particular to the Arian controversy, on which he was an expert. [112K].
• Project Canterbury. [10K text, 95K graphic]. Archive of online Anglo-Catholic texts. Already has about half of The Christian Year and most of Tracts for the Times, as well as other historical texts related to the Oxford Movement.
• William Roper (1496-1578), The Life of Sir Thomas More. [117K]. Roper was More's son-in-law.
• For saints' lives, please see the Liturgical Studies section on saints.
• Philip Schaff, America: A Sketch of the Political, Social, and Religious Character of the United States of America, in Two Lectures (1855). [70K text, 5K graphics]. Asserts that Americans are a religious people; highlights Puritan influence.
• S.S. Schmucker, The Church of the Redeemer, as Developed within the General Synod of the Lutheran Church in America. 2nd ed., 1868. [68K text, 5K graphics]. The controversial Schmucker simultaneously defends the Scriptural basis of his brand of Lutheranism and urges union between Protestant churches.
• Fray Junípero Serra (1713-1784)
• Sulpitius Severus (c. 363-420), Vita beati Martini. Along with St. Athanasius' Life of Antony, one of the most popular and influential early accounts of a saint's life.
  • Life of St. Martin. Local file.
  • Vie de saint Martin. [65K text, 26K graphic].
  • Vita Sancti Martini episcopi et confessoris. In Latin. Editor not named. With concordances and word frequency lists.
• David Swing, Francis Lanfrey Patton, and Charles L. Thompson, The World's Edition of the Great Presbyterian Conflict. Patton charged Swing with heresy. He was acquitted. This book includes the sermons on which Patton's accusations were based, along with trial records. The official edited version of The Trial of the Rev. David Swing, published by the Presbytery of Chicago [68K text, 5K graphics] is also available on the Net. Both were published in 1874.

Patristic Theology

• The Akathist Hymn to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
• The Didache (late 1st C.)
  • The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. English translation by Charles H. Hoole.
  • La Didaché, French translation.
• The Fathers of the Church. The Apostolic Fathers, in Lightfoot's translation. [53K text, 55K graphics].
• Pliny the Younger, Epistulae 10.96-97. (111-113). Earliest reference to Christians from a Roman perspective.
  • Pliny and the Christians. Latin text of Pliny's letter to Trajan and the emperor's response, followed by William Harris's English translation. Harris is a professor emeritus of Middlebury College, with a background in Classics.
  • Pliny and Trajan on the Christians. English only. Translator not named.
  • Pliny/Trajan Correspondence. Latin based on Selatie Edgar Stout's edition of Pliny's Epistulae, and K.C. Hanson's intentionally jarring English translation, in facing columns. Hanson has a Ph.D. in Religion.
• Tertullian, On Baptism (c. 200). [63K text, 1K graphics].

Church History I: New Testament to 1200

• Alcuin of York (c. 732-804). A brief biography.
• Augustine
  • De civitate Dei (413-426)
    • La cité de Dieu. [54K text, 131K graphics]. French translation by Saisset, edited by Raulx. Each book in its own file.
    • La Città di Dio. Italian translation, courtesy of Città Nuova Editrice. Uses frames.
    • City of God. Marcus Dods translation, from A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, first series, vol. 2. Each book in its own file.
    • De Civitate Dei contra Paganos libri viginti duo. In Latin. Migne PL 41. Uses frames.
  • De Gestis Pelagii (417). [175K text, 1K graphics].
  • Enchiridion (421-423).
  • On Baptism, Against the Donatists (400-401).
  • On Christian Doctrine (c. 395-426)
• Bibliography on Women in Byzantium. Updated annually. Edited by Alice-Mary Talbot. [57K text, 36K graphics].
• Boethius (early 6th C.), The Consolation of Philosophy. Latin and English available.
• Boniface VIII
  • Clericis Laicos (1296). "Antiquity teaches us that laymen are in a high degree hostile to the clergy." Excommunicates laity who tax clergy or who obtain church property.
  • Unam Sanctam (1302). It would be hard to outdo this statement of papal authority.
    • Unam Sanctam, English translation. With some background information.
    • Unam Sanctam, Spanish translation. With a brief introduction.
• The Charta Caritatis (1119)
  • Carta de Caridad, in Spanish.
  • Charta Caritatis, English translation. Local file.
• Constantine, Edict of Milan (313)
• The Donation of Constantine (c. 750-800)
  • La "Donatio Constantini," Spanish translation. With a brief introduction.
  • The Donation of Constantine. With brief introduction. Ernest F. Henderson translation.
• Einhard, Vita Karoli Magni. Life of Charlemagne, by an admiring contemporary.
  • The Life of Charlemagne. English translation. [66K].
  • Vita Karoli Magni. Latin. [56K].
• Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260-340), The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine. With quite a lengthy prolegomena by Ernest Cushing Richardson. Both from A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, 2nd series, vol. 1. If you wish, you may skip the background material and go directly to the text of Eusebius's Life of Constantine [91K].
• Galerius, Edict of Toleration (311)
• Gregory the Great (540?-604)
  • De vita et miraculis venerabilis Benedicti. Book II of the Dialogues (593-594).
    • The Second Book of the Dialogues, containing the Life and Miracles of St. Benedict of Nursia. Local file.
    • La vie de saint Benôit. French translation. [148K text, 145K graphics].
  • Moralia in Iob, Books I-V. English translation.
• James J. O'Donnell, Augustine's Confessions: Paper Guide. Tips for reading the Confessions, and approaches to choosing a topic for a paper. This method is applicable to other texts as well. O'Donnell is provost at Georgetown University.
• Pliny the Younger, Epistulae 10.96-97. (111-113).
  • Pliny and the Christians. Latin text of Pliny's letter to Trajan and the emperor's response, followed by William Harris's English translation.
  • Pliny and Trajan on the Christians. English only. Translator not named.
  • Pliny/Trajan Correspondence. Latin based on Selatie Edgar Stout's edition of Pliny's Epistulae, and K.C. Hanson's intentionally jarring English translation, in facing columns.

Church History II: 1200 to 1600

• The Amish Homepage. Links for serious researchers, mixed with a large dollop of humor, from a bunch of students at Oklahoma Christian University.
• The Amish & the Plain People. Aimed at tourists. Outsider describes the life of the Old Order Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. With photos. [29K text, 143K graphics].
• Boniface VIII
  • Clericis Laicos (1296)
  • Unam Sanctam (1302)
    • Unam Sanctam, English translation.
    • Unam Sanctam, Spanish translation.
• The Book of Concord (1580). Includes the Augsburg Confession, Martin Luther's Small Catechism and Large Catechism, and the Smalcald Articles.
• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536-1559). Table of contents unfortunately requires JavaScript.
• John Calvin and Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto, A Reformation Debate (1539). Sadoleto's "Letter of Concern" and Calvin's response.
• El Camino de Santiago. [4K text, 59K graphics]. Go on a virtual pilgrimage! The Way of St. James, once it crosses over into Spain. This site was created by and for undergraduate students in a Spanish course at UCLA. Part English, part Spanish. Clickable map does not always work.
• Council of Constance
  • Frequens (1417). Calls for a church council every ten years.
  • Haec Sancta (1415)
    • Haec Sancta, Spanish translation. Full text, with a brief introduction.
    • Sacrosancta (1415). English translation by J.H. Robinson. Appears to be an excerpt from the beginning of Haec Sancta. Conciliarism. A general council has more authority than the pope.
• Council of Trent, Decree on Justification. Sixth Session, 13 January, 1547.
  • Decree on Justification. English translation. With anathemas, and the Decree on Reform issued at the same session. [53K].
  • Decreto sobre la justificación. Spanish translation. With the Canons on justification, and the Decree on Reform issued at the same session. [55K text, 21K graphics].
• Tal Howard, Charisma and History: The Case of Münster, Westphalia, 1534-1535. Originally published in Essays in History, vol. 35 (1993).
• The Hutterian Brethren. [8K text, 122K graphics]. The Decker Colony high school class in Manitoba created this site introducing Hutterian history, doctrine, ecclesiastical structure, and way of life.
• Ignatius of Loyola
  • Autobiografía de San Ignacio de Loyola (1553-1555). "As told to" Luis Gonçalves da Camara. [134K].
  • Spiritual Exercises (1522-1548)
    • Ejercicios espirituales, texto autógrafo, Spanish. [185K].
    • Spiritual Exercises, English translation.
• Imitatio Christi, attributed to Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471). Immensely popular book is an exemplar of the devotio moderna.
  • L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ. 1824 French translation by Lamennais, with his reflections after each chapter.
  • The Imitation of Christ. English translation by Aloysius Croft and Harold Bolton.
• Margery Kempe
  • The Book of Margery Kempe. In Middle English. Edited by Lynn Staley. This edition originally published by TEAMS in 1996.
  • Treatise of Contemplation. This fragment of Margery Kempe's Book (c. 1430) was all that was known of her for over 400 years.
• The King's Bible (1569-1573). Also known as the Polyglot. Description and photo of this monument of humanist scholarship and the printer's art. [5K text, 56K graphics].
• Leo X, Exsurge Domine (1520). English translation of excerpts. Condemns Luther as a "wild boar."
• Martin Luther
  • 95 Theses (1517)
    • Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, more commonly known as The 95 Theses, English only, HTML.
    • 95 Theses, Latin only, HTML.
    • 95 Theses, Latin and English, plain text.
  • An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation (1520)
  • Tractatus de libertate Christiana (1520)
    • On the Freedom of a Christian.
    • Von der Freiheit eines Christenmenschen. In German.
• Manuscripts, Books, and Maps: The Printing Press and a Changing World
• The Origin of the Mennonite Church
• Pius II, Execrabilis (1459). Condemned anyone who called for a church council.
• Abby Stoner, Sisters Between: Gender and the Medieval Beguines (1993). [57K].
• Teresa of Avila, Autobiography (1564-1565). E. Allison Peers translation. With translator's introduction and notes. Also concordances and word frequency lists. Each chapter in its own file.
• William Tyndale's New Testament (1526). History and photo of rare book in the collection of the British Library. [31K text, 88K graphics].

Internet Theology Resources, by School of Theology Major Areas

Elizabeth T. Knuth's Home Page

Comments to: eknuth@unix.csbsju.edu

Internet Theology Resources. Church History and Historical Theology. / Revised 31 July 2005 / © Copyright 2005, Elizabeth T. Knuth / URL: http://www.users.csbsju.edu/~eknuth/itr/chht/index.html