Decisive Moments In The History Of Christianity Summary

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Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity is an over-arching study of Christianity beginning with the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. It is organized around fourteen points considered by author Mark Noll to be the most critical to the formation of Christianity as we know it. This book serves those who are researching the topic in an academic manner or who wish to have a survey of Christian history in totality. This book is not for some who have a casual interest in the growth and change that the church has encountered, due to it is vast amount of material and somewhat confusing arrangement.
Dr. Mark Noll is a well-respected professor of religious history. He just began his tenure at Notre Dame in 2006, coming from Wheaton College in Illinois where he served for 27 years. His educational background includes a bachelor’s in English from Wheaton College, three Masters Degrees from University of Iowa in Comparative Literature, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Vanderbilt University, both in History of Christianity. Lastly, he received his Ph.D. in History of Christianity from Vanderbilt University in 1975. His honors include a national endowment for the humanities and election to the society of historians. He has authored or co-authored 27 books as of 2011. He attends church at South Ben Christian Reformed church, an Immanuel Presbyterian
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Noll throws in the curve ball that changed everything: the French Revolution. Religion was spreading but also fracturing in Europe and as stated above, this decentralization and the pull away from a national religion, left Christianity open to questioning. Intellectual elites, such as Sir Isaac Newton and Voltaire, set the stage for the weakening of Christianity whether in liberal, sectarian or traditionalist responses. The French Revolution spurred forth the tidal change of Christianity in Europe seen in ripple effects all the way into World War I

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