AN OUTLINE OF CHRISTIANITY THE STORY OF IN FIVE VOLUMES VOLUME THREE THE RISE OF THE MODERN CHURCHES : NEW YORK BETHLEHEM PUBLISHERS, INC. DODD, MEAD, & COMPANY, Distributors A GENERAL PREFACE N OUTLINE OF CHRISTIANITY Y as presented in this first edition is the embodiment of an idea whose actual materialization has occupied three years. The need for the book is evident. Thousands of volumes have been published in the fields of Christian theology and ecclesiastical history; but no work has, while describing Christianity's total course of nearly twenty centuries, hitherto attempted to appraise the scope of its influence in shaping the civilization of the world. Study has been made, times without number, of the stewardship of Christianity as administered by the Church; endless treatises have been devoted to the variant opinions held by different types of religious bodies as to the proper function of that stewardship and the right method of its administration. Yet, until now, no effort has been made to focus the light of historical research and current scholarship on a plain record, for all who run to read, which should take the measure of the fruits of Christianity as manifest in the common round of human life, and which should announce the truth as to Christianity's share in the upbuilding of our civilization. It is with the purpose of filling this gap, particularly for the readers of the English-speaking world, that the Outline has been prepared. In the approach to this difficult and complex undertaking there were several basic essentials for success. To begin with, the propounder of the idea gathered about him a Board of Editorial Management. Practical publishing experience was an imperative qualification for this Board, under whose hand a well-balanced organization must be built up, assuring the production of a work of indubitable authority and scholarship. 1 Moreover, the book must make no sacrifice of exactness, while through its lucidity making vivid appeal to the average reader. Equally important was the duty of this Board to provide that so far as possible narrative continuity should obtain throughout the volumes, and that each an integral whole-they should be linked together in proper sequence, composing a complete and well-articulated entity. It appeared that these characteristics could most nearly be guaranteed through the appointment of a Directing Editor to take charge of each volume, who would superintend the detailed planning of it and give it the stamp of homogeneity. The necessity for separate Directing Editors was also indicated by a very far-reaching circumstance. During the last fifty years a flood of new light has been thrown upon the facts of Christianity's course, whereby the ebb and flow of its movement in the world has been traced by scholars in almost every line of research-in the sciences as much as in theology, in archaeology and in philology, in philosophy and psychology, in history, sociology, and political economy. In short, the necessity for over-sight by experienced Directing Editors, became apparent from the fact that the work would have to be written by many collaborators, all of them authorities in their own respective fields. An obvious corollary was that every writer must be selected for mastery of his subject, and without regard to the particular form of the Christian faith he might profess. These considerations at once determined for the undertaking the most liberal interdenominational basis, evidence of which can be seen in the tables of contents of the several volumes. Likewise was it essential to achieve in the five volumes of the Outline an effective harmony from the many minds that were to join in giving us this narrative of nearly two thousand years of Christian activity. The broadest Christian design for the book having been decided upon, by what means could be brought |