Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

This selection of writings from the most important moments in the history of Christianity has become established as a classic reference work, providing insights into 2000 years of Christian theological and political debate. While retaining the original material selected by Henry Bettenson, Chris Maunder has added a substantial section of more recent writings. These illustrate the Second Vatican Council; the theologies of liberation; Church and State from 'Thatcher's Britain' to Communist Eastern Europe; Black, feminist, and ecological theology; ecumenism; and inter-faith dialogue. The emphasis on moral debate in the contemporary churches is reflected in selections discussing questions about homosexuality, divorce, AIDS, and in-vitro fertilization, amongst other issues. This further expanded fourth edition brings the anthology up-to-date with a new section looking at issues facing the twenty-first century churches. This includes extracts exploring the churches' responses to questions of social justice, international politics, trade and debt, environmental change, and technological development. New material also covers the global growth of Christianity, the progress of Christian unity, and mission in multi-faith and postmodern societies.

In the early twentieth century B. J. Kidd put together a fully representative collection of continental Reformation writings in French, Latin, and English translation. Kidd's work was a standard in classrooms for years. The work offers representative source documents for the Lutheran and Reformed reformations on continental Europe. Included are documents predating the Lutheran reformation, through the Ninety-five Theses, to the Peace of Augsburg (1555). The Reformed Party is represented by Zwingli, Farel, and Calvin, including the disputes with Anabaptists. Kidd closes the collection with a section on Calvinism beyond Geneva, with representative documents from France, the Netherlands, and Scotland.

The Reformation era has long been seen as crucial in developing the institutions and society of the English-speaking peoples, and study of the Tudor and Stuart era is at the heart of most courses in English history. The influence of the Book of Common Prayer and the King James version of the Bible created the modern English language, but there has been no collection of contemporary documents available to show how the momentous social and political changes took place. Gerald Bray’s comprehensive collection covers the period from 1526 to 1700. The book contains many texts previously relatively inaccessible, along with others more widely known. The book also provides informative appendixes, including comparative tables of the different articles and confessions, showing their mutual relationships and dependence. Containing fifty-eight documents covering all the main Statutes, Injunctions and Orders, Prefaces to prayer books, Biblical translations and other relevant texts, Documents of the English Reformation is an invaluable resource for students, and a useful aide memoire for scholars in Theology, the English Church, and late medieval and early modern English history.