About the Book This is a classical survey on the growth of the Christian Church and propagation of Christianity in Asia, Africa, Europe, Americas & Australasia; from A.D. 1 to A.D. 1878. encapsulated in 4 volumes Although the survey is comparatively brief vis-à-vis the existing Manuals on the subject, yet it provides the unique and in-depth exhibition of the basic foundation of ecclesiastical studies This all-time classic is a product of Author's broad & impartial investigation, extensive learning, immense & painstaking research, so as to dig out reliable information to cover catch and every aspect of History of this genre. This exceptionally crafted work incorporates Religious Movements, Sects, Theological Science, Spiritual Life & Propagation, Beliefs, Charitable Societies; Political, Civilization, Social & Cultural Events; Poetry. Scriptures, Art & Archaeology; Regional Studies; Biographies of Remarkable Men, etc., to provide a better view of this intriguing and panoramic History of the Church. The Author provides a handy tool for readers' better understanding by giving quotations, references. footnotes, chronological tables, ecclesiastic- geographical maps, and comprehensive list of the sources of information.
As a translation of the original German work, the translators have taken special care to remove any ambiguity by frequently departing from the exact terminology of the original language and giving importance to Author's ideas and intentions. While doing the same no passages of the original have been either altered or omitted, rather with additions, corrections, and amplifications the translators have put in every effort to make it an easy-to-read guide with intellectual substance.
This companion to the Church History exhibits Scientific & Historical Introductions to Christianity, explores influence of the Catholic and Protestant Missions that were carried out in various parts of the world aimed to convert the inhabitants to Christianity, and civilizing them. It also spells out the relationship between Catholics and Protestants. Lastly, it briefly gives an account of the events occurring from the Peace of Westphalia down to the then Modern Times.
About the Author Rev. John Alzog, D. D. (1808-1878) was a German Theologian and Catholic Church Historian. He was ordained a priest at Cologne in 1834. He was on the chairs of Exegesis and Church History at the Seminary of Posen in 1835. He became Vicar- Capitular, Professor and Regens at Hildesheim in 1845, and in 1853 was appointed to the chair of Church History in the University of Freiburg (Breisgau); at the same time was appointed as an Ecclesiastical Councillor. Dr. Alzog was instrumental in convoking the famous Munich assembly of Catholic scholars in 1863. He was also called to Rome in 1869 to take part in the preparatory work of the First Vatican Council. He spent thirty years of his life in gaining experience as a Professor of Church History in various Universities which certifies the correctness and soundness of his studies in respective forte.
Preface Ir gives the translators great pleasure to be able to place within reach of the English-speaking community, and the student of theology, the classical text-book of Church History of the Rev. John Alzog, D.D., Professor of Theology at the University of Freiburg. The teant of such a book has been long felt and much deplored by scholars gene- rally, and by educators in particular. These acknowledge that Church History is, for the theologian, not simply a very valuable aid, but rather an independent science, and the foundation of his other ecclesiastical studies; and that even the profane historian, the jurist, the statesman, the man of letters, the artist, the philosopher, cannot, for evident reasons, dispense with it.
Many institutions of learning, appreciating the correctness of this view, have made Church History a branch of general education. A good text-book is the first condition and essential requisite to any sort of success in a movement of this kind, and particularly in countries where professors have, as a rule, very much work to do, and therefore not the time to write out their own lectures.
There is, indeed, quite a number of monographs in English, treating of ecclesiastical subjects; and in French there are those great and immortal works of the golden age of Louis XIV., but these are not text-books. The utter inadequacy of all the existing Manuals of Church History, in English, is too notorious to require further mention here; and the Revue Catholique, of Louvain (1872, p. 610), ingenuously con- fesses the inferiority of all those in use in France and Belgium.
They are declared to be wholly inefficient, either to prepare the student for serious studies, or to create and foster a taste for the higher branches of learning.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
