Light in the darkness

RECLAIMING THE DARK AGES:
How the Gospel Light Shone from
500 to 1500
By Iain Wright and Yannick Imbert
Christian Focus. 128 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978 1 527 111 554

Reclaiming the Dark Ages is a great taste of church history that many of us will be ignorant of.

How many of us have heard of Gottschalk, let alone know anything about him? What about Peter Waldo and his followers? Wright and Imbert are aiming to show us the light in the dark ages. Praise God there is much light!

We are introduced to ten Christians through the period who stood up for the word of God in difficult days. They take a manageable approach which leaves you wanting to know more rather than wishing they had said less.

For each Christian they do a biographical sketch of their life, put them in their context, reveal their theology and then give a conclusion. Gloriously, given the brevity of the sketches, they do not ignore the negatives. None are painted as purely saints, but each is put in their context and shown for how they did stand firm, even in less than godly ways.

There is a certain amount of presumed knowledge, particularly of the Reformation, that would make it more difficult for the beginner. If you, for instance, have not come across the Council of Trent you might find that discussions of when the Roman Catholic tradition gets going are over your head. If you are interested in history generally and church history in particular, then I do commend Reclaiming the Dark Ages.