Regardless of how you feel about history, there are many benefits to studying church history for the Christian. I have selected five reasons that I believe speak both directly and indirectly to issues facing the American church at present. A healthy dose of historical study can perhaps help the church keep things in perspective. All of us, to one degree or another, are naturally prone to pendulum swings. If we experience an extreme expression of worship or practice, we tend to either embrace it or run to the other extreme. Church history, then, provides a constant “check” on what we see, hear, think, and feel.
Part of the beauty of church history is that it’s not pretty. It is the story of millions of broken sinful people struggling to live and articulate the faith once for all delivered to the saints. There are incredible victories and inspirational heroes, but also moral failures and huge mistakes. But which one of us has not had a moral failure? Or, made a detrimental mistake?
Thus, better than any of the benefits listed below, church history is the story of God’s faithfulness to his people from the Apostles to the present day. Our lives will be messy, but God has preserved the church and will preserve our faith as well.
1. Christianity is a faith that is received.
The Christian faith has specific content, revealed in the Bible, which should be articulated within boundaries. Specifically, Christianity is the faith of the Prophets and Apostles handed down in the writings of the OT and NT. Thus, Scripture is the supreme norm and authority for Christians. However, Christians have struggled for centuries to articulate the faith in culturally appropriate ways. In large part, this is the story of church history. Studying church history recognizes that our faith rests on the shoulders of millions of faithful men and women of earlier generations.
Because of this, church history has a remarkable ability to combat individualism. A study of church history will challenge our reasons and motives for thinking the way we do. It tells the story of how ideas took shape, and will expose us to the other side of various issues and controversies. Either way, we do well to understand how the convictions we hold have been handed down and taken shape over the centuries.
2. An awareness of church history can yield intellectual and experiential humility.
My generation seems to have a strong aversion to anything that would challenge at the level of belief and conviction. We believe no one has the right to tell anyone else what to believe or how to live. Yet, the inconsistency in this thought process is painfully obvious, because to claim that we have no right to tell someone what to believe is to tell someone what to believe. The inconsistencies to “absolute tolerance” could go on and on, and this is just as much of an issue inside the church as outside.
We all have the tendency to make our own experience king. One of the reasons studying history can be intimidating or daunting is that it may expose questionable foundations underneath our beliefs. It’s easier just not to think about it. At the very least, history will challenge you. However, being challenged is healthy because it cultivates humility. At the end of the day, church history will strengthen our theology and experience as we begin to dialogue with, and identify with the body of Christ throughout the centuries.
3. Knowledge in church history can cultivate a stronger commitment to the church.
One unhealthy trend in our American context is to deny the legitimacy of either the local or universal church. There is also the “lone ranger” Christianity, which denies the importance of the church in general. I’ve seen this originate from a resolved individualism, animosity toward authority, or ignorance about denominationalism. Church history fills in the knowledge gap, helping Christians arrive at an educated understanding about why there are different theological view points and different denominations, and why that is important to the overall unity of the church. We see the good, the bad, and the ugly of how things have taken shape. To be sure, seeing these things can lead to bitterness, but it can also lead to wisdom, faithfulness, and fruitfulness in ministry. This generally strengthens commitment to the church as we gain perspective on whose shoulders we are standing.
4. Ability to have intelligent and charitable conversation with other Christians of different denominational or theological convictions.
This flows out of the previous observation. As you learn about how things progressed from the first century, you will inevitably have more clarity about battles that are worth fighting. I am a Baptist, but I have good friends who are Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Greek Orthodox, and non-denominational. At the end of the day, we have more in common than not. There are definitely places where we take very different positions on how to interpret Scripture. But my knowledge of church history has helped clarify why they hold those positions, and how those ideas developed. This process has had the twin effect of strengthening my own convictions, while also strengthening my affinity for Christians of other denominational and theological persuasions.
On the flip side, there are times when someone who claims to be a Christian has abandoned the faith. There is nothing new under the sun, so how have Christians address issues like this in the past? What approaches did they take? What did they say? Why did they say what they said? Looking at what Christians did and said in the past is an incredible benefit to the present.
5. Helps us navigate our present cultural contexts with wisdom.
Church history helps us see both the successes and failures of the past. Respected church historian, Jaroslav Pelikan says, “Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.” We are after the living faith of the dead. Yes, knowledge can puff up. Yes, mere academic study can lead to dead orthodoxy, but conversely it can be an invaluable source of wisdom to help guide the church forward in diverse cultural contexts.
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If this post peaked your interest, here are a few helpful resources:
“Turning Points,” Mark Noll
“Church History in Plain Language,” Bruce Shelley
“The Story of Christianity,” Justo Gonzalez
the blog of Philip P. Smith 