Spotlight on Mark Noll

One of the most respected Christian historians is Mark A. Noll.  Here is a selection of his books that you can purchase from Christian Book Distributors by clicking on the links below.

Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity, Second Edition By Mark Noll / Baker What do the destruction of Jerusalem, the Diet of Worms, the French Revolution, and the Edinburgh Missionary Conference all have in common? According to the leading evangelical historian Mark Noll, they are among a select number of pivotal events in the two-thousand-year history of Christianity. Organized around thirteen key moments in the history of Christianity, this popular introduction to church history provides contemporary Christians with a fuller understanding of God as he has revealed his purpose through the centuries. A study section has been added that includes questions and application challenges for today's church, making the second edition of this book more useful for students of church history and church study groups.

A History of Christianity in the U.S. and Canada By Mark Noll / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. From the lively severities of the 17th-century Pilgrims and Puritans to the ebullience of the televanglism age, the Christian experience in North America is rich and varied. Noll covers it all in this superb narrative survey. Tracing the growth of Christian belief and institutions and their interactions with culture in the U.S. and Canada from the colonial period to the present, his approach is broad and comprehensive. Many biographical profiles add a personal dimension to the narrative. 576 pages with over 200 illustrations, softcover from Eerdmans.

Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind By Mark A. Noll / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. In The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (1994) Mark Noll offered a forthrightly critical assessment of the state of evangelical thinking and scholarship. Now, nearly twenty years later, in a sequel more attuned to possibilities than to problems, Noll updates his earlier assessment and charts a positive way forward for evangelical scholarship. Noll's new work Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind shows how the orthodox Christology confessed in the ancient Christian creeds, far from hindering or discouraging serious scholarship, can supply the motives, guidance, and framework for learning. Christian faith, Noll argues, can richly enhance intellectual engagement in the various academic disciplines--and he demonstrates how by applying his insights to the fields of history (his own area of expertise), science, and biblical studies particularly. In a substantial postscript Noll candidly addresses the question How fares the "evangelical mind" today? as he highlights "hopeful signs" of intellectual life in a host of evangelical institutions, individuals, and movements.

The Rise of Evangelicalism By Mark A. Noll / IVP Academic Winner of a Christianity Today 2005 Book Award in Church History, and now available in paperback, is Mark Noll's masterpirce The Rise of Evangelicalism In this, the inaugural volume of the A History of Evangelicalism series, The Rise of Evangelicalism charts the the embryonic and ealiest stages of Evangelicalism's rise from its precursors in the Anglican Church, to the movement's explosive revivalist powerin the American Colonies under the leadership of Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield, and John and Charles Wesley. Mark Noll, a renowned historian and sociologist, tells the story of Evangelicalism's beginings in England, and follows it eventual spread and remarkable expansion in the embryonic American republic. Noll considers a myriad of subjects within his striking historical narrative including theology, hymnody, gender, warfare, politics and science. Nevertheless, it is the charismatic personalities of Edwards, Whitefield, and the Wesleys, the dramatic events they participated in, and their social influence that drive Noll's narrative, and shaped the now global Christian Evangelical movement. Moreover Noll emphasizes, particularly, the mid-eighteenth century revivals in Britain and North America that proved to be foundational in the development of the movement, its ethos, beliefs and subsequent direction. In these revivals, the core commitments of evangelicals were formed that continue to this day. In this volume you will find the fascinating story of their formation, their strengths and their weaknesses, but always their dynamism.

Confessions and Cathechisms of the Reformation By Mark A. Noll / Regent College Publishing Both by his choice of confessions and by his judicious and scholarly introductions, Mark Noll has made [the major Reformation confessions and catechisms] available in a form that is sure to deepen and enlighten doctrinal discussion and confessional awareness and that will therefore contribute to solidly evangelical and hence soundly ecumenical theology. Mark Noll has ably introduced these still living confessions to a modern audience more prone to forgetfulness than any since the sixteenth century. This collection will be useful not only for classes in historical and systematic theology, but also to pastors and lay readers who wish better to understand their Protestant heritage.

The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind By Mark A. Noll / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. In this treatise on the state of the intellectual status of the evangelical movement, Mark Noll reminds us that 'modern evangelicals are the spiritual descendants of leaders and movements distinguished by probing, creative, fruitful attention to the mind' and challenges us to reclaim that heritage. Noll combines passion and his own impressive scholarship, arguing that if Christians are to serve God with their minds, they must do their homework, and think intellectually.

What Happened to Christian Canada? By Mark A. Noll / Regent College Publishing On September 15, 1959, Georges Vanier, Canada's Governor-General soon-to-be, began his acceptance speech with the following invocation: "Mr. Prime Minister, my first words are a prayer. May Almighty God in his infinite wisdom and mercy bless the sacred mission which has been entrusted to me by Her Majesty the Queen and help me to fulfill it in all humility. In exchange for his strength, I offer him my weakness." Fifty-six years later, on September 27, 2005, Michaklle Jean became Canada's 27th Governor-General. In her acceptance speech, by contrast, Jean referred to how Canadian history "speaks powerfully about the freedom to invent a new world," and made no reference to the deity. What happened to the Canadian religious conscience, as illustrated by the speeches of these two luminaries, in the approximately fifty years between then and now? Why might have church and synagogue attendance fallen from 67 percent after World War II to less than 20 percent in 2000? In What Happened to Christian Canada?, renowned church historian Mark Noll investigates these and other related questions, and makes timely observations about one of the more prominent sociological shifts in modern North American history.

The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith By Mark A. Noll / IVP Academic A compelling assessment of global Christianity in light of the American experience. Surveying the changes in the worldwide body of Christ over the past century, Noll examines 19th-century evangelical identity, power, and culture; presents the U.S. view from 1900 to 2000; and reflects on the impact of American evangelicalism on the international development of Christianity. 250 pages, hardcover from InterVarsity.

God and Race in American Politics: A Short History By Mark A. Noll / Princeton University Press "This book, which originated as a set of endowed lectures at Princeton University, received the 2009 Christianity Today Award of Merit in History/Biography. Noll argues that race figured prominently in all but the third of the four main eras of U.S. history. A sobering story, brilliantly told,"---Christian Century. 209 pages, softcover. Princeton University.

The Old Religion in a New World: The History of North American Christianity By Mark A. Noll / Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Providing a superb look at Christianity's growth in America, a leading church historian explores the contrasts between European religious tradition and its innovations and evolutions upon the North American continent. Painting broad outlines of major events and developments---including those of indigenously generated denominations---Noll elucidates the remarkable vitality and diversity that typifies new world Christianity. One of the foremost historians of religion here chronicles the arrival of Christianity in the New World, tracing the turning points in the development of the immigrant church that have led to today's distinctly American faith. Taking a unique approach to this fascinating subject, Noll focuses on what was new about organized Christian religion on the American continent by comparison with European Christianity. In doing so, Noll provides a broad outline of the major events in the history of the Christian churches that have filled North America with such remarkable vitality and diversity. He also highlights some of the most important interpretive issues in the transfer of the hereditary religion of Europe to America.

America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln By Mark A. Noll / Oxford University Press "A notable achievement in narrative history, made even more persuasive by the prodigious research that undergirds each step of the argument, as well as by the comparative judgments that situate the American experience in the larger transatlantic world. Remarkable,"---Christian Century. 622 pages, softcover. Oxford University.