CHURCH HISTORY. The history of the Christian religion and Church. or of the world under its relations to ecclesiastical organization. The earliest writers of Church history were. in general. mere annalists or chroniclers, following the order of the time: but the modern philo sophic treatment of history has led to the adop tion of less mechanical and arbitrary methods. With much diversity on minor points. there is a general agreement in dividing the history of the Church into three great periods: The first, from the birth of Christ to the time of Constantine: the second, from that epoch to the Reformation: and the third, front the Reformation to the pres ent day. The earliest facts of Church history are to be learned only from the New Testament and from the brief hints in the letters and other writings of the primitive fathers. lIegesilpns, a Jewish Christian of the latter half of the Second Century, put together some memorials of these early times; but his work has survived only in a few quotations. The real father of ecclesiasti cal history is Eusebins of Ctrs:tn.:1 (died c.3501. Ibis work was continued to the Fifth Century by three important histmians—Socrates, Sozonnen, and Theodoret. In the West attempts were made to translate. combine, and complete these Eastern histories by Rufinus, Sulpicius Severus. and Cassiodorus. In the Sixth Century Theo dorus Lector, Zacharias, and Evagrius were of some importance. But the stagnation which came over Eastern theology was felt in the historical department. and only one Greek author is worth naming throughout the whole of the Albldle Ages —Nicephorus Callistins, a priest of Constanti nople who wrote in the ea•lv Fourteenth Century. and who drew his material- from the library of the Church of Saint Sophia, of which lie had charge. in western Europe. on the other hand, the stirring religious life which found expression in so much development of doctrine and disci pline also led to the careful recording of impor tant events. The product of this literary activity falls into three main classes—histories of sepa rate peoples; attempts at universal histories; and the mass of annals, chronicles, and bibliog raphies. The most prominent names in the first class are: Isidore of Seville, for the Goths and Vandals; Gregory of Tours, for the Franks; Bede, for the Anglo-Saxons; and Paulus Diaco nus fur the Lombards. The earliest medieval at tempt at a general Church history was made by Ilaymo of Halberstadt (died 853) ; another fol lowed in S72, by Anastasins, the librarian of the Roman Church. Orderieus Vitalis produced a. notable work about 1412. But the greatest gen eral history written in the Middle Ages was that of the Dominican Antonini's. Archbishop of Flor ence from 1446-59. In places, especially in his account of the donation of Constantine, he shows an awakening of the critical spirit which was fostered by Laurent ins Valhi and Nicolas of Cusa. The third class is far too large to treat in detail. A catalogue raisonne of it may be found in Potthast, RiLl iW hem Historiir ..Eri (Berlin, 1862), or in Chevalier, LYpertoirc dcs sources histonques du moyen nye, Rio•bibli ogra ph le (Paris, 18.86.).
A new era began for ecclesiastical history about the end of the rift(•enth Century. The critical tendency aroused by the revival of let ters. the bringing to the West of early Creek texts, the rendering of sources accessible by the invention of printing, and the controversial spirit of the Reform ation. which forced both sides to attempt to justify their position by history—all these made great changes in the method. About the middle of the Sixteenth Century the Magde burg Centuriators (q.v.) undertook their great work with a view of proving the utter iniquity of all that had ever been done by the Papacy, which to them was Antichrist, and though they had unusual scholarship and knowledge of sources, their polemical bias detracted much from the value of their work. It called forth a
•ounter-blast from the Catholic side in the .1a mils of the Oratorian Ilaronins, who had aeeess to an immense number of valuable documents: while of course he was not a modern historian, yet he produced a work far in advance of any previous attempt, and accepted so generally that a century passed before any other work of the same scope was undertaken. The next impor tant work from the Boman Catholic standpoint came from France, as part of the general efflo rescence of the reign of Louis XII". The names of Godeau (died 16721, Maimbourg (died 16S6), Fleury (died 172.11, and still more Natalis Alexander (died 1721) and de Tillemont (died 169S), deserve to be remembered. Of modern french works—all these are Roman Catholic— the best are Rohrbaeher (died IS56), Darras, and ( filet t Se. Italy dOeS not supply many names of excellence in the general field; the most. not able are Orsi (died 17611, de Graveson (died 1733), and Berti (died 17661. The Italians distinguished themselves more in special studies, particularly Mansi, Muratori, de Rossi, Moroni, and Tirabos•hi. In Germany there has been since the Reformation a continuous tradition of apolo gists for that movement and its primiples. Spe cial histories of it were eomposed by Sleidan and Seekendorf. In the Seventeenth Century Calixtus distinguished himself in this depart ment, and, after him, Illig, Rechenberg, and Thomashis. In the general field, still from the Lutheran side. there are the mystic Arnold (died 1714), Mosheim (died 1755), and his pupil, (died 1808) : Semler 1799), who led the way to a more rationalistic treatment; and Planck (died 18331. In modern times the first great name is Neander (died 1850), and F. C. Baur, who followed out the im pulse, of Semler. has had much influence. Banes work was continued by his son, F. Baur, and his son-in-law, Zeller. Hase (died 1590) holds a middle ground between Baur and the more orthodox: and later still in time come llar na•k, and Loofs. Other historians in the Reformed churches have been largely spe c•alists, such as Pearson, Dallans, Dodwell, Ilev eridge, Bingham, rsher, Cave, and Blondel. The Church of Epgland, to which some of Iln-se names belong, and produced in the middle of the Nineteenth Century Milrnan's History of Latin Christianity and the work of Robertson, has later been adorned by the learning of Stubbs and Creighton. A succession of learned n writers in the Roman Catholic Church elates from Count von Stolberg (died 1519), whose work was continued by von lierz, Bri s•har, and Katerkamp. Others of this school are (died 15471, Bitter (died 1557)• Alzog (died 1878), Ilefele (died 1893), Cardinal ltergenrother (died 18901, and Pastor. In Amer ica, Church history has not 1)(4'11 much cultivated, but the best general historian is Philip Schaff. I thers who have clone good service are G. P. Fisher, J. 11. Hurst, and 11. C. Sheldon. The modern tendency everywhere, as in other branches of learning, is toward specialization rather than an attempt to cover the entire field; and a multi tude of works bearing on the history of par ticular churches and periods will be found re ferred to in the bibliography of the articles on those subjects. For bibliography of a more ex tended nature, consult: liagenba•h, Encyk/o pudic und lIcthodologie der theologischen Wis scnschaften (I2th ed. by Reischle. Leipzig, 1859) ; Crooks and Hurst, Theological Eney elopcudia (New York, Iti84), which is based upon Tlagenbach; and, for the names of Roman Cath olic works, Hurter, .Vomenclator Lifcecieius (5 vols.. Innsbruck, 1871-86).