Book Review: Schaff's History of the Christian Church

Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church Vol. VI: The Middle Ages from Boniface VIII, 1294, to the Protestant Reformation, 1517. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1984 reprint. 813 pp. Six b/w illustrations.

Schaff’s History of the Christian Church is an older, standard church history in eight volumes copyrighted in 1910. It has remained in print ever since due to its reliability and thoroughness. My comments are derived from Vol. VI, which covers the late medieval period, though they could apply generally to any volume in the series. Schaff’s work is now in the public domain, which means a new generation can discover its value by downloading volumes to their ebook devices for free.

Philip Schaff (1819-93) was a Protestant historian from the Reformed tradition who wrote and edited for several significant reference works. Volumes of his church history are divided into sections that discuss key persons, events, councils, and movements as well as some cultural features. The arrangement is in a general chronological order. Each chapter begins with an extensive list of general and specialized resources from Protestant and Roman Catholic historians with whose work Schaff interacts, including frequent footnotes and occasional citations. The book is well outlined and includes a brief but useful index.

The history is presented in a straightforward, descriptive manner. Schaff at times provides specific argument for interpretations or applications of history about which he feels strongly but he does so in an irenic tone. As one would expect, he does not focus on the sociological interests and gender issues that have become common place in more recent histories. Schaff often interacts with Latin and German resources, with which he was comfortable and familiar in a way that fewer English language scholars are today. This makes his work of enduring value to historians, especially as balance against new theories and proposals. It also allows researchers to work backward through the accumulation of scholarly opinions that Schaff references in his history and his bibliographic resources. Even with this scholarly depth, his writing is simply pleasant to read. For all these reasons, Schaff’s church history remains a valuable reference work.

I have ordered a recent church history volume for the same historical period, Daniel Bornstein’s Medieval Christianity: A People’s History of Christianity (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007). I look forward to reading this newer volume with the intention of writing a comparative review.