Sources

See the introductions of the Church histories of Schaff, Gieseler, Alzog, Moeller, Kurtz, Hase, Döllinger, and Hergenröther.

FOOTNOTES:

[1:1] Reprinted from The Methodist Review, Jan., 1905.

[1:2] Bib. Rep., vol. xxvi.

[2:1] Unit. Rev., vol. xix.

[4:1] Hatch, An Introductory Lecture on the Study of Ecclesiastical History, London, 1885. Comp. Gwatkin, The Meaning of Ecclesiastical History, Cambridge, 1891.

[5:1] Maitland, Canon Law in the Church of England, London, 1898, 100, 101.

[5:2] Lea, Studies in Church History, p. iii.

[5:3] Ibid.

[6:1] Gwatkin, The Meaning of Ecclesiastical History, 8.

[6:2] Alzog, Universal Church History, i., § 13.

[6:3] Stanley, Eastern Church, Introduction, 25.

[7:1] Alzog, i., 32.

[7:2] Gieseler, Ecclesiastical History, sec. 3 and 7.

[7:3] Examine recently published texts like Emerton, Mediæval Europe, Robinson, History of Western Europe, Munro, A History of the Middle Ages, etc.

[8:1] The Monumenta in Germany, the Rolls Series in England, etc.

[9:1] Schaff, Church History, preface.

[9:2] Mace, Method in History, 27-39.

[9:3] Freeman, Methods of Historical Study, Lond. and N. Y., 1886.

CHAPTER II
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY ON CHURCH HISTORY

Outline: I.—Primary materials. II.—Secondary materials. III.—Sketch of the writing of Church history. IV.—Most important collections of primary sources. V.—Most important general Church histories. VI.—Dictionaries and encyclopedias. VII.—Atlases and chronologies. VIII.—Text-books. IX.—Sources.

All our information about the origin, life, and growth of the Christian Church comes from the revelation of evidence which is termed sources. These sources are partly original, or primary, and partly secondary. For the student of history both kinds of sources have a definite character and value, and are, therefore, of peculiar interest. Some knowledge about the scope and nature of the sources is necessary for an intelligent view of any field of history. At the same time it is clear that any person presuming to pose as an authority on a given phase of history must not only be thoroughly acquainted with the varied contributions of all secondary works, but must also be a master of the character and worth of all first-hand materials.

The primary sources are simply the records and remains left by the people who lived at any given time. Such materials, it will be readily seen, give the nearest and truest account of the ideas, feelings, motives, and beliefs, as well as of the deeds and actions, of man. An original source is, therefore, merely a source back

of which one cannot go for historical information. It is apparent, consequently, that the primary sources are the more important because they are the very foundations of history. "No documents, no history," tersely declared Langlois. The primary sources put us in vital connection with the thoughts, doings, and institutions of past times. In them one sees reflected the spirit of the age. Every line, every word, is a revelation. The student is led to feel history, to actually know men and women of the past, and thus to comprehend our own civilisation in the earlier periods of its evolution. The primary sources cannot be accepted and assigned their true value, however, until their authenticity and genuineness are determined, and the element of personal equation is taken into account. Even then final judgment can never be absolute.

For the sake of giving a clear conception of the range of the primary sources the following classification may be of assistance:

The secondary sources are those that are compiled from a study of the original sources, or from other secondary works, or from both, as is more likely to be the case. This class of material is very abundant, and varies greatly in character and value because of the striking difference in authorship, style, and purpose. It is always necessary, therefore, carefully to discriminate the wheat from the chaff and to be able easily to recognise the "earmarks" of a reliable authority. Many of the works produced by modern scientific

scholarship are excellent in every respect, and, in many fields of historical study, absolutely indispensable. Secondary sources may be divided as follows:

The earliest account of the history of the Christian Church extant is the New Testament. The "Memoirs" of Hegesippus, a converted Jew of the second century, is the first known effort to record the growth of the Church, but all his books are lost.[15:1] Eusebius, the Greek bishop, called the "Father of Church history," wrote a comprehensive Ecclesiastical History to 324. Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, each after his own ideal, continued the narrative of Eusebius. Rufinus translated the work of Eusebius into Latin and continued it to 395, while Epiphanius translated Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret into Latin and brought the record to 518. Theodorus and Evagrius were also continuators of these early works.

Sulpicius Severus, a Gallic monk of noble birth, penned a fabulous chronicle of little worth.

The Middle Ages produced little of real value in the field of Church history. The chronicles represent the best output. A few scholars of the Eastern Church, the Byzantine historians, the annalists of the Latin Church, and several specialists like Gregory of Tours and the Venerable Bede, complete the list. The lives of saints, however, abound.

The fierce controversial spirit of the Reformation produced two monumental works. Matthias Flacius, aided by other Protestant scholars, in the Magdeburg Centuries, sought to reveal the whole disreputable career of the old Church. This keen voluminous work of the Reformers called forth from the learned Italian, Baronius, a powerful defence of the Roman Church in his Ecclesiastical Annals. Bossuet, a Frenchman, in his Discourse on Universal History, made a severe attack on Protestantism, while Tillemont, a Gallic nobleman of Jansenist faith, wrote critically and with more moderation. In Germany, Hottinger, Spanheim, and Arnold vindicated the Reformation. Following the earlier age of fierce theological controversy, Semler, Henke, Schmidt, Hume, and Gibbon wrote in a very rationalistic style and spirit.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, German scholars have led the world in their contributions to Church history. The great Mosheim made a pronounced improvement in the writing of Church history and introduced the modern scientific method. He was not alone the most learned theologian of his age in Germany, but was critical in the best sense, honest and impartial. His disciple, Schroeckh, wrote a work of forty-five volumes of considerable value.

Gieseler improved on Mosheim's method and wrote an ideal outline of Church history with full citations to all the known sources. Neander, "a giant in learning, and a saint in piety," gave the world an epoch-making General History of the Christian Religion and Church (1825-52). His writings and his ideals have influenced nearly every Church historian since his death, when it was said, "The last of the Church Fathers has gone." Among his immediate pupils are Hagenbach, Kurtz, Guericke, Niedner, and Semisch.

Baur founded the celebrated "Tübingen School" and did some excellent work in the Ante-Nicene period. Strauss, Zeller, Schenkel, Rothe, and Nippold are the most prominent among his followers.

The names of other German historians who have laboured in this domain of knowledge are so numerous that only a few of the most prominent will be mentioned. Chief among the Protestants are Hase, Gfroerer, Ebrard, Herzog, Moeller, Müller, Loofs, Hauck, and Harnack; among the Roman Catholic writers are Stolberg, Katerkamp, Döllinger, Alzog, Pastor, Hefele, Hergenröther and Janssen.

Although British scholarship has not devoted itself so zealously to the writing of Church history, yet some excellent contributions have been made by such men as Pusey, Keble, Newman, Waddington, Milman, Stanley, Stubbs, Robertson, Greenwood, Vaughan, Perry, Lingard, Creighton, Gwatkin, Tozer, Hatch, and Orr.

American interest in the field of Church history is largely the product of the last thirty years. Most conspicuous among the contributors are Smith, Lanson, Shedd, Schaff, Fisher, Sheldon, Dryer, Hurst, Newman, McGiffert, and Henry C. Lea.

At the present time in every Christian country a

corps of well-trained scholars are devoting their lives to nearly every phase of Church history, and the outlook is most gratifying.

The literature on Church history, taken as a whole, is perhaps more voluminous than that on any other phase of history. The use of the sources is, in consequence, at the very outset a problem of selection. It is apparent, therefore, that the following brief lists are not meant to be exhaustive. Only the most valuable collections of original documents, and also the most reliable books of a secondary character are included. Special care has been taken to mention all useful collections of sources in the English language. At the conclusion of each chapter will be found references to the sources on special topics.