Documents of the Christian Church

There are several ways that one may study history. Firstly, one may read secondary sources: books about a particular period or event. Secondly, one may buy volumes of primary sources, using copious amounts of time to painstakingly go through each volume. Thirdly, one may read a one-volume collection of texts that are considered to represent the major trends in the historical period they represent. This book falls into the third category.
Documents of the Christian Church is wonderfully organized: thematically by historical period. Hence, one reads the early Christian apologists of the 2nd century and then immediately after that one reads of the theologies of martyrdom; one reads of the disputes over the incarnation of Christ before one reads about debates over tansubstantiation; one reads Vatican II documents before one reads liberation theologies. The writings of saints and heretics, Doctors and others, popes, councils and relevant non-Christian writers all appear between the covers of this book.
Of course, it ought to be noted that the excerpts are sometimes tremendously short - only a few lines or so. However, each reference is cited so that the curious reader who wants to go and read volumes of primary texts can do so; for those less inclined to do so, this book is an excellent first-hand introduction to the development/s of Christian thought.
However, the documents are largely confined to the Western church. The documentary history of the Eastern churches is largely absent for almost 1000 years: between 1054 (the Great Schism between the Eastern and the Western church) and the beginning of the ecumenical movement in the 20th century. So, if the reader wants to learn about the Palamite controversy or the Hesychast revival or the monastic influence of the Russian Orthodox monks, one will have to look elsewhere (although, I confess, I do not know where).
Nonetheless, this is an excellent compilation. The reader will learn plenty about recent theological developments, including various perspectives on sexuality, sex and gender, social work, feminist theology and liberation theology. How many of these more recent theological movements and trends will prove to be of long-lasting import remains to be seen, but since they are relevant now, it is important for the reader to be somewhat familiar with them.
All things considered, this is a wonderful collection.

You'll be amazed at how much is provided in just over 450 pages. A vast amount of the essential writings of Western Christianity are collected here: early church fathers, heretics, synods, councils, popes, eucharistic treatises, various dogmas, monastic rites, scholasticism, reformers, etc. As I noted, this is largely focused on Western Christianity with little on Eastern Orthodoxy...which is good because if Eastern Orthodoxy were included, then much material would have to be sacrificed. Bettenson was the Bishop of London, which explains the great amount of Anglican writings included; however, Catholics and Protestants (mainly Lutherans, Calvinists, Baptists, and Methodists) are well covered. The 3rd edition includes contemporary issues such as ecumenism, feminist theology, liberation theology, and contraception. Even though feminist theology has become largely irrelevant and liberation theology has proven useless, they are still important to understand as products (relics?) of the 20th century, although feminist theology will surely become even more radicalized and continue in a cultish fashion among the academic "elite."

All in all, this is an essential reference book of primary sources for those studying the history of Christian doctrines. This, of course, should be supplemented with secondary sources such as Robert Louis Wilken (Roman Catholic), Jaroslav Pelikan (Greek Orthodox), and Henry Chadwick (Anglican)...the big three of early church studies.

This book is a valuable reference and resource for early documents of the Christian Church. It contains many, many things most have never even heard about, and gives a great historical perspective on the Church. The material is often difficult to find unless you know exactly what you are looking for.

Book so far is a wealth of historical documents adding to my knowledge about the early Christian Church. I am barely into the book as it supplements my Education for Ministry course; this third part of the course being one year in length.

Handy text for a survey of Early Christian Documents. To use this you need to have a knowledge of the period and document/author you are looking for. Helpful in addition to other Church History books, which provide some of the background to the letters.

This book arrived promptly and was in the condition described. The text was unblemished while the cover was slightly worn. The book serves my purposes and I'm quite pleased with it.

Just what I was looking for. It's a valuable resource.