By Alex Fogleman
December 15, 2022
Mark Noll, David Komline, and Han-luen Kantzer Komline, Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity, 4th ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2022).
The main job of the catechist, it might seem, is to teach the catechism. We need to know the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, perhaps something about the sacraments. But we should not forget that the catechist is also a historian. Often catechumens will ask: “Where does that come from?” “Why does the catechism say this?” “Why does our church teach this?” Almost always, the answer demands a good working knowledge of history.
Additionally, the catechist is a historian because catechesis itself involves grounding believers not only in Christian doctrine and morals but also in God’s ways of being in the world. In the Incarnation, God dwells in space and time—takes up a “local habitation and name” (to borrow a Shakespearean idiom). To inhabit Christian history is thus to be enfolded into the memory of Christ encountered through participation in the Church.
A historical framework for understanding biblical history was central to early Christian catechesis, as can be seen from Irenaeus’s Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, Cyprian’s Ad Quirinum, Egeria’s Journal, Hilary of Poitier’s On the Mysteries, or Apostolic Constitutions 7.39. But St. Augustine, in his On Catechizing the Uninstructed, insisted that catechesis include not only the history contained in the biblical records but also the history that includes “the present period of the church’s history.” The catechist need not, however, give an overly detailed narration. Rather, he should “give a general summary sketch of all the content in such a way that a certain number of quite remarkable events are selected, ones that our listeners find particularly appealing and that constitute the critical historical turning points” (3.5, emphasis added).
To my mind, there is no better book for this task than Mark Noll’s Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity. Originally published in 1997 (with 2nd and 3rd editions following in 2000 and 2012), it has just been re-published in a fourth edition, which now includes as co-authors two exceptionally gifted young scholars. David Komline studied American religious history under Noll’s direction at Notre Dame, while Han-luen Kantzer Komline wrote there on Augustine under Brian Daley; both now teach at Western Seminary in Michigan. (Full disclosure: they are both good friends of mine and asked Baker to send a free copy, to which I was more than happy to oblige.)
One challenge for catechists learning history is that unlike the canon of Scripture or the content of the catechism, there is a nearly limitless amount of material to cover. How does one not get lost in the weeds? Another challenge is how to teach history in a church setting in a way that is both edifying and yet not afraid to reckon with the sins of our forebears. How does one tell a faithful and faith-filled narrative that is neither merely academic nor hagiographical? (Not that there is not a place for either of those genres.)
Turning Points fills this gap wonderfully. Unlike many multi-volume works, such as those by Justo González or Jaroslav Pelikan, Noll’s is a one-volume, easy-to-read treatment. Yet unlike many other one-volume histories, it does does not sacrifice quality of content. While inevitably selective, it focuses on several major “moments” in the history of Christianity.
Six from the Patristic and Medieval eras:
The Fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD
The Council of Nicaea in 325, which debated Christ’s full divinity
The Council of Chalcedon in 451, which debated the relationship between Jesus’ divinity and humanity
The monastic movement and the Rule of St. Rule in the 6th century
The coronation of Charlemagne in the year 800 and the burgeoning of Christendom
The division between Eastern and Western Christianity in 1054
Three from the 16th-century Reformations:
The Beginnings of Protestantism with the Diet of Worms (1521)
The importance of the convergence of Church and State with the Act of Supremacy in England (1534)
The Roman Catholic reform and missionary movements with the Founding of the Jesuits (1540)
And four on Christianity since the 1700s:
The rise of Evangelicalism with the brothers Wesley (1738)
The French Revolution in 1789
The Edinburgh Missionary Conference (1910) and the rise of global mission
Two of the major conferences from the 20th century: The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization (1974)
In the Afterword, the authors discuss other key features of recent history: the rise of Pentecostalism, the role of Bible translations, and Christianity under Communism, and Christianity in China.
The authors recognize that there are many other “turning points” they could have included. Every historian has to exercise judgment as to what to include and what to leave out. All the more so for a one-volume introductory treatment. It’s easy to criticize and hard to select (as anyone who’s ever prepared a one-semester Church History course can attest). For something to put in the hands of a pastor or catechist, I’d rather err on the side of shorter and sweeter—a history that provides a memorable (and thus usable) narrative, which captures both the overall flow of history and the outstanding moments. This is pedagogically crucial, as Augustine realized: the human memory can only retain so much information, and it requires clarity and organization to do so. It doesn’t hurt if it’s “particularly appealing,” as well. Turning Points, again, hits just the right notes here. It tells you what you need to know without being cumbersome, pointing you to additional resources if you want more (updated bibliographies at the end of each chapter are spot on), all the while being a joy to read.
Of course, there’s always need to revise. As one of my favorite songs from this time of year puts it, “life without revision will silence our souls.” Two main revisions stand out in this fourth edition: First, it pays a lot more attention to the role of women throughout Christian history—beginning with the early Church and continuing to the present era. Second, there is more material that shows the greater geographical and cultural diversity of Christianity. Both of these revisions reflect broader trends in the study of Christian history. And yet they do so in ways that avoid politicizing or trivializing that history for scoring academic points. The book remains—in substance and style—a gift to Christian pastors, teachers, and lay persons who want to understand the Christian past better and in ways that can inspire thoughtful Christian living. Finally, the book has also received an updated typescript and formatting style.
When St. Augustine said that catechumens needed a grounding in the “turning points” of history—from creation to the present time of the church—he was dealing with a much shorter period of time than we are now. All the more reason, then, to have a clear yet scholarly guide for understanding the key moments in Christian history. Turning Points is an excellent resource for pastors and catechists to learn this history and to teach it to their churches.