One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2012 is to gain a deeper appreciation of church history. Like many evangelicals, I’ve been remiss in learning about the heroes of the faith, especially those that came after the apostles and the early church fathers.
As an aid to my focus, I’ll be using The Fellowship of St. James’ superb ecumenical calendar of the Christian year, Anno Domini.
This unique ecumenical calendar is thus an inspiring expression and daily reminder of the communion of the saints to which we all belong. It includes prophets, apostles, martyrs, missionaries, monks, children, married and unmarried, peasants and kings, preachers, bishops, and pastors, all members of the mystical Body of Christ, that great cloud of witnesses. In this way we can remember the saints every day, and be encouraged by their witness to Christ, the Lord of all.
If you’re a Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, this would make a great Christmas gift for the evangelicals on your list who can’t tell St. Theresa from St. Botolph.
Speaking of gifts, I’ll be posting gift recommendations over the next few weeks, so if you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments.
December 14th, 2011 | 11:21 am
I think a lot of people would really like a book called “Ars Sacra” available at Amazon for around $125.00. A huge art book spanning the 2000 years of Christian art and architecture. The photographs and breadth of the art presented are outstanding, even though the text in the book, as mentioned in the Amazon reader comments, is pretty poor. Just ignore the text, as it is either boring or, when speaking of Christianity, kind of shallow and dumb.
Also, the 5 disk set of Fr. Robert Barron’s video production “Catholicism” series has been knocked down on Amazon to a more affordable $99 — I think it’s worth it. The 10 documentaries included on the disks are absolutely wonderful, and if you caught the few editions that were offered on PBS you will know what I mean. Covers history, art and theology of Catholicism from an “insider’s” perspective, meaning it presents what the Church actually teaches and does. I think non-Catholics might be interested in hearing how the Church explains itself to itself, and much in the series does encompass a lot that all Christians have in common, such as the Trinity, Jesus, prayer, Peter and Paul, and much more. Fr. Barron is excellent and combines deep knowledge and a very easy and approachable manner of speaking. Two thumbs up.
December 14th, 2011 | 11:27 am
Update — Just checked at Amazon, and the Ars Sacra book is now discounted to $113. This is an incredible bargain, and I cannot tell you how much I love this book’s photos. You will not regret buying it at this low price. It is a steal.
December 14th, 2011 | 2:04 pm
Great idea, but does anyone really use paper calendars anymore?
December 14th, 2011 | 3:23 pm
Joe: for church history, and possibly for gifts, I’d like to forward a recommendation I saw on Alan Jacobs’ website: “Christianity and Classical Culture, A Study of Thought and Action from Augustus to Augustine” by Charles Norris Cochrane. I’m currently about 4/5 of the way through. It’s not primarily a church history, but rather a history of ideas. One of the things I’m getting from it is how philosophy and theology affect politics. A stated goal of the author is to engage with philosophy and theology in a work of history, and undertake a true interdisciplinary study that bridges the gap between Classical Studies and Christian Studies, which were already sundered and siloed disciplines in the academia of his day. Not an easy or light read, but worth the effort. It sells for a surprisingly low price on Amazon; a good quality paper bound version published in 2003.
Another interesting thing is that you can say that the author is the “Chuck Norris” of Classical Studies.
December 14th, 2011 | 4:34 pm
Oh for Pete’s sake – are calendars a thing of the past now too? I like wall calendars with art and the saints of the day. Call me a fuddy-duddy, but I use one all the time.
December 14th, 2011 | 7:17 pm
“…does anyone really use paper calendars anymore?”
Does anyone not???
December 15th, 2011 | 1:06 am
I agree that the Catholicism dvd’s would be a wonderful gift. This series will knock your socks off, it is that good. I ordered the set of dvd’s after seeing one of the shows on PBS, about the nature of God: “That than which nothing greater can be thought.” In each episode you get a synthesis of a college level overview of some of the best of Catholic thought.
The production values are top notch, along the lines of the best documentaries you would see on PBS – visits to important and magnificent sights around the world, wonderful cinematography, even nice music.
Fr. Barron teaches theology at Mundelein Seminary and he runs a website that offers wonderful short videos with commentary on books, ideas, movies, prayer, saints, current events, just about everything – each about 5 to 8 minutes long. If you want to get a taste of his style, you can view dozens of these short videos on his web site “The Word on Fire.” He also posts audios of lectures and his weekly sermons.
Here is a link to a short video book review of Stephen Greenblatt’s book, Swerve:
http://www.wordonfire.org/WOF-TV/Commentaries-New/Fr-Barron-comments-on-Stephen-Greenblatt-s-The.aspx
Poke around and see all the things Fr. Barron covers. It’s remarkable.
December 15th, 2011 | 11:42 am
“I like wall calendars with art and the saints of the day. Call me a fuddy-duddy, but I use one all the time.”
Me too, me too!
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