From Fallow Fields to Hallowed Halls: A Theologian's Journey Book

While this book deals with the nuances of Church apologetics and history ' specialist topics, if there ever were ' Prof. Burch writes well and gives a concise overview of three influential evangelical historians. Marsden, Hatch, and Noll all engage modernity and, while opposed to a fully secular culture, aspire to a high level of scholarship in their books of Christian history. They are believers, but they are also trying to write honest and, when necessary, critical histories about the church. Burch outlines the upbringing of the three historians and details their opposition to the anti-intellectualism of the modern Religious Right. As a result of their idiosyncratic views, claiming an evangelical identity as well as the mantle of scholar, the three historians have received criticism from the evangelical world and the secular academy. Very useful as a quick gloss on recent Christian and religious historiography, but of little interest to general readers.