Review of "Church History, Volume Two: From Pre-Reformation to the Present Day" (Woodbridge and James III)

The book's full title is Church History, Volume Two: From Pre-Reformation to the Present Day: The Rise and Growth of the Church in Its Cultural, Intellectual, and Political Context (Hardcover) by John D. Woodbridge, and Frank A. James III. Published by Zondervan, 2013.

My specialty in church history is the ancient and medieval period. This book covers the 14th-21st centuries, so it allows me to fill in the gaps concerning other periods. It's a somewhat advanced account of numerous events that occurred in the middle ages, the Renaissance period and during modernity. Some of the highlights include a section on the Great Schism, chapters on the Protestant Reformation, information about seventeenth-century Christianity, historical periods that challenged the church, and chapters explaining how the Enlightenment period affected professed followers of Christ.

This work contains a general bibliography, a general index, maps, charts, pictures and helpful chapter summaries. One additional feature of this book is its propensity to supply plenty of historical context for each narrative it relates. How did Deism affect the church? What about the Scientific Revolution? This study answers such questions since it discusses Sir Isaac Newton, the French Philosophes along with Copernicus and Johannes Kepler. I've found this book to be a good pedagogical resource. It's a keeper in my opinion.