Turning Points

The book is written in a Readers Digest condensed version style. The content is primarily editoralizing while skimming over the history. There are large jumps between turning points that lacks background going into the next turning point. Key turning points are missing, with other important turning points being glossed over, while less important turning points receive undue coverage. I had high expectations based on reviews only to be disappointed.

Christians believe that God is a God of history. Events, councils, decisions, all involving people, are part of God's continuing revelation through history. This book allows the reader to see Christianity's history since the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. with the pushing of the early church from its Jewish roots into the surrounding Roman world to events that are occurring around us today. Christians who do not know their Christian heritage since the New Testament times including the struggles and debates that bring us to where we are today should read this book. Included "turning points" in this book are as Luther and what we now call the Reformation. There are endless numbers of books with 300 to 600 pages available to read and learn about Luther and the Reformation. If, however, you want to learn of the Reformation and other chosen turning points with their beginnings, issues, and consequences in about 20 pages per topic, this is your book. Noll brings over 13 turning points in the history of Christianity to his book in 20 page segments. The turning points are placed in full context of surrounding, influencing forces such as government, wars, economics, languages, theology, church maturity, Christian zeal, personalities, etc. He closes with "turns" that are occurring today and what Christianity might look like in the future.

With this book, Mark Noll provides an introductory-level study of Christian history - NOT as a sweeping movement over thousands of years (which many larger, more ambitious works encompass), but as a series of turning points - events that changed the way Christianity perceived itself, and was perceived by the world. In this way, a student can gain a quick introduction to many of the issues that have faced Christianity throughout history without being overwhelmed by dates, names, doctrines, etc.Obviously, as with any "best of" listing, there are things I would have liked to have seen added. There is no mention of the Scopes trial, and Darwinism receives small mention. This trial, more than any other event, triggered the rise of fundamentalism, which has certainly had an impact on the way Christianity is perceived. The controversy over Darwinism still shapes Christian thought today -- as can be seen in Noll's The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind.Overall, an excellent resource, though I would encourage readers to invest in a more thorough treatment of Christian history in addition to this book.

Dr. Noll's reason for organizing church history around a series of "turning points" arose from his need to have a framework for teaching the history of Christianity to diverse groups. The author selects twelve defining moments in church history and uses them as entry points into the sweeping and potentially overwhelming events of the two-thousand-year history of the Christian Church. He hopes this method will bring order into a massively complicated subject, provide an opportunity to highlight moments that constitute the actual history of the church, and provide an opportunity to interpret why certain events may have marked an important fork in the road for the outworking of Christian history. Turning Points was written for lay people and introductory students rather than for scholars. The style of writing is interesting, easy to read, and to the point. As such, it makes a great book for his audience. Though Noll is a Protestant evangelical, he is careful to avoid bias as he attempts to present Christianity as a worldwide religion. The book is a survey of church history but the thesis revolves around the importance of twelve defining moments within the two-thousand-year span. His selection of "turning points" include the Fall of Jerusalem (70), the Council of Nicaea (325), Benedict's monasticism (530), the coronation of Charlemagne (800), the schism of East and West (1054), the Reformation (1521), the English Reformation (1534), the founding of the Jesuits (1540), the conversion of the Wesleys (1738), the French Revolution (1789) and the Edinburgh Missionary Conference (1910). The book is chronologically arranged around each of these events. Conspicuously and intentionally Noll leaves off major events of the twentieth century, to be evaluated for significance from the preferred perspective of future generations. The author believes that book will have been successful if it "inspires others to think about why the turning points found here are not as important as other possibilities." There are many other possibilities that come to mind but Noll's list of most significant turning points is hard to dispute. Each chapter begins with a hymn and ends with a prayer from the era being addressed. This add an interesting flavor that sets the tone for the history Noll unfolds and then leaves you with a glimpse into the spiritual life of a contemporary to the event being studied. There are obvious pros and cons to this style of writing history. When you are through reading "Turning Points" you feel like you've moved through the most significance events in the history of the church and some of the most momentous in human history. Such a whirlwind journey gives you a good feel for the chronology and sequence of each defining event. Because of Noll's ability to keep you moving along the plot line of the stories, the trip through history is an enjoyable journey. Along the way Noll shares interesting commentary from history itself. His historical

In my opinion, Mark Noll is the foremost (American) church historian of our generation. In a series of books, he has set forth biblically-grounded and scholarly rigorous treatment of a vast range of theological and historical issues. Almost single handedly he is has reversed the dearth of evangelical intellectualism.Turning Points is one of Noll's most accessible books. Not a dry scholarly treatise, but rather a lively and well-written overview of 12 critical events in the history of Christianity. Noll's idea is that focusing on specific episodes not only allows for a more detailed treatment of each than would be possible in a comprehensive text, but also permits "more opportunity interpretive reflection." I think he was exactly right--he can go into considerable depth on each event, explaining why it was so significant.Turning Points thus does not pretend to be a comprehensive narrative. For those looking for such a treatment, may I recommend Paul Johnson's "History of Christianity," which I regard as the finest one-volume comprehensive church history.Like any list-making project, one can quibble with Noll's choices. He leaves out some of my favorite episodes (which is not exactly the right phrase, but you get my point). Not included are such events as the three Great Awakenings; the installation of John Paul II; the crusades; and so on. At the same time, however, it is hard to quibble with Noll's choices. Events like Nicea, Worms, the French Revolution, and so on were all major "turning points" that deserved comprehensive treatment.As an adult convert to Catholicism from evangelicalism, I particularly appreciated Noll's objectivity and even-handedness. Without betraying his own evangelical tradition, Noll treats Catholicism eminently fairly.

I'm just finishing this book and found it to be a thought provoking approach to the subject. Noll takes an openly evangelical approach to things, yet is very fair to the Catholics and the Orthodox. In fact, the chapters on monks and on orthodoxy were quite good. The format is also appealing, with each chapter bookended with hymns and prayers from the period being covered. The bibliography after each chapter is also very useful.