Internet Theology Resources:
Church History and Historical Theology
- Peter Abelard (1079-1142), Abaelardi ad amicum suum
consolatoria epistola, also known as Historia
- L.M. Berkowitz, Jewish-American History on the
Web. [13K text, 58K graphics]. A collection of 19th-century documents,
especially strong on the U.S. Civil War. Also links to many Jewish historical
- A Brief
History of Scriptoria and the Evolution of the Book (1996).
- Joseph Brusher, Popes Through the Ages.
In chronological order. Brief summaries of the pontificates of every pope from
St. Peter to John Paul II.
- Horace Bushnell, Christian
Nurture (1876). [92K text, 5K graphics]. Very influential. Criticizes
revivalism's emphasis on dramatic emotional conversions, suggests that children
raised in a Christian atmosphere may grow in genuine Christian faith without the
need for such a crisis.
- Stephen Colwell, New
Themes for the Protestant Clergy. 2nd ed., revised, 1853. [92K text, 5K
graphics]. A landmark of the Social Gospel movement.
- The Complete List of
Popes. Links to biographies from the 1913 Catholic
Encyclopedia for popes through Pius X. Biographical profiles for later
popes are taken from Joseph Brusher's "Popes Through the Ages."
- Gerald Darring, Theology Library: Church History. [42K
text, 44K graphics]. Directory of Internet resources. Darring is a high school
- A Dictionary of
Christian Biography and Literature. Edited by Henry Wace and William C.
Piercy. From the Apostolic Fathers through the end of the 6th century.
Originally published in 1911. Table of contents unfortunately requires
para el estudio de la historia de la Iglesia. Primary and secondary texts
for the study of medieval Church history and the history of the Church in Latin
America. In Spanish.
- Dorothy Day Library on
the Web. An online archive of Dorothy Day's writings. Browse or search.
This site also offers biographical information on Day, a photo gallery, and a
small list of links to other sites related to Day and/or to the Catholic Worker
- Ecclesiastical History List
(ECCHST-L). Home page for this Internet mailing list. Links to online
resources for church history, seldom updated.
[8K text, 96K graphics]. Searchable bibliography of recent essays, conference
papers, and book reviews relating to women, sexuality, and gender in the period
from 450 to 1500.
of Nyssa Homepage.
to Early Church Documents
- Paul Halsall, Internet Medieval Sourcebook: Saints' Lives. [42K text,
20K graphics]. New Testament era through the Middle Ages, with helpful links
- For History of Christian Spirituality, please see also the Spirituality page.
- Alan Humm, Testimonium
Flavianum (1996). Discussion of probable tampering with the only direct
mention of Jesus in the works of Josephus (c. 37-c. 97).
Humm is a graduate student in Religious Studies at the University of
- Joseph Edmund Hutton, A History
of the Moravian Church, 2nd. ed. (1909). From John Hus to about 1857.
Written on the popular level. Plain text at Project Gutenberg.
- George P. Landow, Roman Catholicism in
Nineteenth-Century Great Britain. Landow is a professor of English and Art
History at Brown University, and a leading exponent of hypertext theory.
- Thomas L. Long, Julian of Norwich's "Christ
as Mother" and Medieval Constructions of Gender (1995). Long is an
associate professor of English at Thomas Nelson Community College.
- Robert Longman
- James MacCaffrey, History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance
to the French Revolution (1914). Panoramic two-volume work. Available
online in plain text, or for download as zip files.
- Gary Macy, A Guide to
Thirteenth Century Theologians. Dominican, Franciscan, and secular masters
at Paris and Oxford. Gives dates, list of extant works, and bibliographies of
recent secondary literature. Macy is a professor of Religious Studies at the
University of San Diego.
- Material History of American
Orders. Part of ORB. Includes
primary sources, original essays, and links.
- For monastic history, please see also the Monastic Studies page.
- Maria Monk (d. 1850), Awful Disclosures of Maria
Monk (1835). The most infamous anti-Catholic text of the nineteenth
century. Searchable page images.
- John Courtney Murray (d. 1967), Religious
Liberty: Catholic Struggles with Pluralism. Originally published by
Westminster/John Knox Press (1993), a collection of four essays. Does the
American experience of freedom of religion have anything to offer the universal
Church? Silenced in the 1950s, Murray influenced Dignitatis
Humanae Personae, in which Vatican II endorsed religious liberty.
- Nazianzos. In French and
English. Web site of the Centre d'Études sur
Grégoire de Nazianze, which coordinates the publication of a
critical edition of the works of Gregory of Nazianzus. None of his works are
here. The site is notable chiefly for its multilingual bibliographies.
- John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
- Project Canterbury.
[10K text, 95K graphic]. Archive of online Anglo-Catholic texts. Already has
about half of The Christian Year and most of Tracts for the
Times, as well as other historical texts related to the Oxford
- William Roper (1496-1578), The Life of Sir
Thomas More. [117K]. Roper was More's son-in-law.
- For saints' lives, please see the Liturgical Studies section on
- Philip Schaff, America:
A Sketch of the Political, Social, and Religious Character of the United States
of America, in Two Lectures (1855). [70K text, 5K graphics]. Asserts that
Americans are a religious people; highlights Puritan influence.
- S.S. Schmucker, The
Church of the Redeemer, as Developed within the General Synod of the Lutheran
Church in America. 2nd ed., 1868. [68K text, 5K graphics]. The
controversial Schmucker simultaneously defends the Scriptural basis of his brand
of Lutheranism and urges union between Protestant churches.
Junípero Serra (1713-1784)
- Sulpitius Severus (c. 363-420), Vita beati
Martini. Along with St. Athanasius' Life of Antony, one of
the most popular and influential early accounts of a saint's life.
- David Swing, Francis Lanfrey Patton, and Charles L. Thompson, The
World's Edition of the Great Presbyterian Conflict. Patton charged Swing
with heresy. He was acquitted. This book includes the sermons on which
Patton's accusations were based, along with trial records. The official edited
version of The Trial
of the Rev. David Swing, published by the Presbytery of Chicago [68K text,
5K graphics] is also available on the Net. Both were published in 1874.
- The Akathist Hymn to the Blessed
- The Didache (late 1st C.)
Fathers of the Church. The Apostolic Fathers, in Lightfoot's translation.
[53K text, 55K graphics].
- Pliny the Younger, Epistulae 10.96-97. (111-113).
Earliest reference to Christians from a Roman perspective.
and the Christians. Latin text of Pliny's letter to Trajan and the
emperor's response, followed by William Harris's English translation. Harris is
a professor emeritus of Middlebury College, with a background in Classics.
and Trajan on the Christians. English only. Translator not named.
Correspondence. Latin based on Selatie Edgar Stout's edition of Pliny's
Epistulae, and K.C. Hanson's intentionally jarring
English translation, in facing columns. Hanson has a Ph.D. in Religion.
- Tertullian, On
Baptism (c. 200). [63K text, 1K graphics].
of York (c. 732-804). A brief biography.
- Bibliography on Women
in Byzantium. Updated annually. Edited by Alice-Mary Talbot. [57K text,
- Boethius (early 6th C.), The
Consolation of Philosophy. Latin and English available.
- Boniface VIII
Laicos (1296). "Antiquity teaches us that laymen are in a high degree
hostile to the clergy." Excommunicates laity who tax clergy or who obtain
- Unam Sanctam (1302). It would be hard to outdo
this statement of papal authority.
- The Charta Caritatis (1119)
- Constantine, Edict of
- The Donation of Constantine (c. 750-800)
- Einhard, Vita Karoli Magni. Life of Charlemagne, by
an admiring contemporary.
- Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260-340), The
Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine. With quite a lengthy prolegomena
by Ernest Cushing Richardson. Both from A Select Library of Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, 2nd series, vol. 1. If you
wish, you may skip the background material and go directly to the text of
Eusebius's Life of Constantine [91K].
- Galerius, Edict of
- Gregory the Great (540?-604)
- De vita et miraculis venerabilis Benedicti. Book
II of the Dialogues (593-594).
- Moralia in Iob,
Books I-V. English translation.
- James J. O'Donnell, Augustine's
Confessions: Paper Guide. Tips for reading the Confessions,
and approaches to choosing a topic for a paper. This method is applicable to
other texts as well. O'Donnell is provost at Georgetown University.
- Pliny the Younger, Epistulae 10.96-97. (111-113).
- The Amish
Homepage. Links for serious researchers, mixed with a large dollop of
humor, from a bunch of students at Oklahoma Christian University.
- The Amish & the Plain
People. Aimed at tourists. Outsider describes the life of the Old Order
Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. With photos. [29K text, 143K
- Boniface VIII
- The Book of
Concord (1580). Includes the Augsburg Confession, Martin Luther's
Small Catechism and Large Catechism, and the Smalcald
- John Calvin, Institutes of the
Christian Religion (1536-1559). Table of contents unfortunately requires
- John Calvin and Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto, A
Reformation Debate (1539). Sadoleto's "Letter of Concern" and
Camino de Santiago. [4K text, 59K graphics]. Go on a virtual pilgrimage!
The Way of St. James, once it crosses over into Spain. This site was created by
and for undergraduate students in a Spanish course at UCLA. Part English, part
Spanish. Clickable map does not always work.
- Council of Constance
(1417). Calls for a church council every ten years.
- Haec Sancta (1415)
Sancta, Spanish translation. Full text, with a brief
(1415). English translation by J.H. Robinson. Appears to be an excerpt from
the beginning of Haec Sancta. Conciliarism. A general
council has more authority than the pope.
- Council of Trent, Decree on Justification. Sixth Session, 13
- Decree on
Justification. English translation. With anathemas, and the Decree on
Reform issued at the same session. [53K].
- Decreto sobre la
justificación. Spanish translation. With the Canons on justification,
and the Decree on Reform issued at the same session. [55K text, 21K
- Tal Howard, Charisma and
History: The Case of Münster, Westphalia, 1534-1535. Originally
published in Essays in History, vol. 35 (1993).
- The Hutterian Brethren. [8K text,
122K graphics]. The Decker Colony high school class in Manitoba created this
site introducing Hutterian history, doctrine, ecclesiastical structure, and way
- Ignatius of Loyola
- Imitatio Christi, attributed to Thomas à Kempis
(1380-1471). Immensely popular book is an exemplar of the devotio
- Margery Kempe
- The King's
Bible (1569-1573). Also known as the Polyglot. Description and photo of
this monument of humanist scholarship and the printer's art. [5K text, 56K
- Leo X, Exsurge Domine
(1520). English translation of excerpts. Condemns Luther as a "wild
- Martin Luther
Books, and Maps: The Printing Press and a Changing World
- The Origin of the
- Pius II, Execrabilis
(1459). Condemned anyone who called for a church council.
- Abby Stoner, Sisters Between: Gender
and the Medieval Beguines (1993). [57K].
- Teresa of Avila, Autobiography (1564-1565). E.
Allison Peers translation. With translator's introduction and notes. Also
concordances and word frequency lists. Each chapter in its own file.
Tyndale's New Testament (1526). History and photo of rare book in
the collection of the British Library. [31K text, 88K graphics].
Internet Theology Resources,
by School of Theology Major Areas
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Internet Theology Resources. Church History and Historical Theology. /
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