THE CHURCH: A THEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL ACCOUNT PB

Renowned evangelical theologian Gerald Bray provides a clear and coherent account of the church in biblical, historical, and theological perspective. He tells the story of the church in its many manifestations through time, starting with its appearance in the New Testament, moving through centuries of persecution and triumph, and discussing how and why the ancient church broke up at the Reformation.

Along the way, Bray looks at the four classic marks of the church--its oneness, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity--and illustrates how each of these marks has been understood by different Christian traditions. The book concludes with a look at the ecumenical climate of today and suggests ways that the four characteristics of the church can and should be manifested in our present global context.

This accessible introduction to the church from an evangelical perspective explores ecclesiology through the lenses of church history and doctrine to reveal what it means for us today. Bray discusses the church as a living reality, offering practical ways churches and individuals can cooperate and live together.

From the Back Cover

'Solid, shrewd, and most thorough, this superlative survey of God's people on earth past and present will be a boon not only for seminarians but also for many more of us besides. It is a truly outstanding performance.'
--J. I. Packer, Regent College

'Here is a fresh overview of the church and its history, theology, and current challenges in today's world. Gerald Bray is an ordained evangelical Anglican, but he writes with such great sympathy and wisdom that this telling of the church's story will edify the Lord's people everywhere.'
--Timothy George, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University; general editor, Reformation Commentary on Scripture

'Weaving together the diverse manifestations of the Christian church over twenty centuries, this book is an ecumenical panorama of the church's interaction with high and low theology, renewal and intransigence, politics and secular culture. Bray proves to be not only irenic and charitable but also sober and sensible in his assessments. Anyone who wonders whether ecclesiology matters--or even where it came from, in all its present diversity--should read this book.'
--John L. Thompson, Fuller Theological Seminary

About the Author
Gerald Bray (DLitt, University of Paris-Sorbonne) is research professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama; distinguished professor of historical theology at Knox Theological Seminary; and director of research at Latimer Trust, Oak Hill College, London. A prolific author, he has written many books, including 'God Is Love,' 'God Has Spoken,' 'The Doctrine of God,' and 'Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present.' Bray is a minister in the Church of England and serves as editor of the Anglican journal 'Churchman.'

Book review by GLO General Director, Dr. Stephen McQuoid 11/09/2017
'The Church' by Gerald Bray is a book which could only have been written by someone of Bray’s experience and depth of knowledge. It is not a classic church history text book replete with a succession of people, dates and events (though there are still a lot of these). Instead what Bray does is to look back over 2000 years of church history and tell us the ‘big story’ of what he thinks was going on, both in terms of the growth of the church and its theological development. This means that while this is a ‘big picture’ book looking at the broad sweep of history, Bray also includes some interesting details and personal insights, some of which will challenge pre-conceived assumptions.

Bray is an evangelical with an ecumenical heart and this comes through in the book. He frequently laments the divisions in the worldwide Christian church and makes equally frequent remarks about what could bring or deny unity within the church. Throughout he explains the key points of the journey that the church has taken over the past 2000 years and demonstrates something of the great breadth of Christianity today. I feel slightly disappointment that Bray did not spend more time analysing the past 50 years of church history and surprised that he says virtually nothing of the staggering growth of Pentecostalism which is one of the truly significant movements in all of church history. I suspect this is because his personal experience of church lies mainly within reformed Anglicanism. However, it is a good book which makes for very useful background reading as well as having a warm, generous as well as realistic tone.

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Baker Academic (19 April 2016)