Reviews
Delightful Read
From my interactions with Protestant parishioners over the years, it seems to me that there is this high brick wall between the present and the past. Most are fairly in–tune with recent history (sort of), barely in–tune with Reformation history up to the near present, and utterly out–of–tune with anything before 31 October 1517. That’s where the high brick wall looms, with no perceptible way to climb it and gaze on the other side. But recently Christian Focus has happily published a handy, 152–page paperback, “Reclaiming the Dark Ages: How the Gospel Light Shone from 500 to 1500.” The authors,
Iain Wright, pastor of Covenant OPC, and Yannick Imbert, who holds the William Edgar Chair of Apologetics at Faculté Jean Calvin, Aix–en–Provence, southern France, and serves on the theological committee of the National Council of French Evangelicals, have sought to give Protestant Christians a boost so they can gaze over the wall, and a nice boost it is.
Wright and Imbert don’t give readers a full–course meal, but rather a sampler plate. Guiding us chronologically, the authors allow us to spend a little time with Leo the Great (400–461), Boethius (476–524), Alcuin (735–804), Gottschalk (814–868), Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109), Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), Peter Waldo (1140–1205), Bonaventure(1221–1274), John Wycliffe (1320–1384), and Jan Hus (1372–1415). And they help us to start at the right end. Instead of readers seeing, first and foremost, the problems, dangers and unfaithfulness in those times, they help us to train “our theological minds to see the best first, instead of the worst” (xiv). The authors don’t shy away from pointing out the theological and even moral problems, but they don’t start there. In fact they help us to fathom a bit of the historical and social context of each specimen to consider the person charitably, while critically. That was clear all the way through and I kept saying, “Thank you, guys! Score one for you!”
In a nutshell, Wright and Imbert want us to see how the Gospel, God’s truth, orthodox fidelity, and Scriptural priority have run through history. And for anyone who has ever delved deeply into the annuls of yesteryear knows, people are messy and antiquity was definitely untidy. Just like the world and the church are in 2024!
The authors spend a decent amount of time with each character. When one walks away from reading through Leo or Gottschalk, for example, they have a better sense of the times in which those characters lived, the theological and moral struggles around them and into which they lived, where they came up short, where they stood tall, and lessons we can learn from them. “The main thrust of this book was that the light of the Gospel was not expunged when Constantine made it acceptable to openly be part of the Church of Jesus Christ” (129). The authors reached their goal, in my mind.
“Reclaiming the Dark Ages” is perfect for just about anyone from Tweens to 80 year–olds. Ideal for High School and Adult classes, it is also very useful for personal education. Buy copies to give out this Christmas, and make sure you get one for your pastor. I highly recommend the book.