Our Legacy: The History of Christian by John D. Hannah. Navpress, 2001. John D. Hannah, in his book Our Legacy: the History of Christian Doctrine, seeks to provide a framework for theological thinking by surveying the historical development of seven doctrines that are essential to Christianity. In this book, he looks at how each of these doctrines developed from early church to modern church times. The first doctrine covered by Hannah is that of authority. The ancient church found authority in the scriptures. The apologists, those writers who sought to defend the Christian faith from its accusers, began making lists of the books that were considered canonical. Exactly which books should be included in this cannon was disputed throughout the middle ages. Finally, the Protestant and Orthodox churches settled on the sixty-six books that are currently in our Bibles. The Catholic Church also included the apocryphal books. Authority was also seen in tradition at the time of the apologists, who held that tradition was the verbal witness of the gospel. By the time of the early modern churches, tradition had also become the various practices that are handed down throughout the generations. The second doctrine that Hannah covered is the doctrine of God. The early church fathers believed that God exists as a trinity. Heresies and attacks on the church led the later apologists to formulate a theology of the trinity. Theologians formulated the Nicene Creed of 325 in order to reconcile the opponents in this issue. However, it had little effect until the second ecumenical council inserted the proper terminology. Later, Protestant liberalism strove to make a more palatable version of God, which tended to paint God as a loving being who exists to make life easier. These liberal theories often deny a literal trinity. The third doctrine covered by Hannah is the doctrine of the person of Christ. The early church fathers, the apologists, and the theologians generally taught that Jesus was both human and divine. However, theologies such as Apollinarius and Nestorius denied the full deity of Christ. Because of these denials, the Council of Chalcedon was called to affirm the both the deity and the humanity of Christ. This affirmation caused the Syrian, Egyptian, Ethiopian, and Armenian churches to form the Monophysite Catholic Church. The remainder of the church was the Chalcedonian Catholic Church. In the early modern churches, many new ideas emerged. The rise of liberalism distorted the traditional understanding of the nature of. In response, Barth and other conservative theologians sought to refute these beliefs. The Orthodox churches, which believe strongly in the authority of tradition, have maintained that Jesus is both divine and human. The Catholic Church also still affirms the divinity and humanity of Christ, but teaches a wide variety of doctrines of Christ. After surveying the doctrine of Christ, Hannah turns to the work of Christ on the cross. The controversies surrounding this issue deal mainly with the questions of whether or not Christ’s sacrifice was necessary, whether the death of Christ was based on love or justice, whether the atonement was for guilt or for the acts of sin, and whether Christ suffered for our sins or suffered as an object lesson. The church fathers held that Christ died for our sins. The apologists later began to expound on this belief. For example, the apologist Irenaeus taught that Christ’s death is a result of God’s justice. Later, the theologian Athanasius further developed this view by saying that Christ’s work was substitutionary. Also, both Oregon and Gregory of Nyssa developed the idea that Christ’s sacrifice was a ransom paid to Satan. During the medieval period, many new ideas were added. One of these was the idea that Christ was a moral example. Another was the idea that Christ’s sacrifice was not the only way God could forgive sins. In the early modern period, the Roman Catholic Church developed the idea that sacraments are also necessary for salvation. They provide a progressive means to salvation. Protestants, in contrast, argued that the death of Christ provides complete salvation. However, Calvinists and Lutherans saw the atonement as a payment for all of the particular sins of people, whereas Armenians saw it as only a payment for past sins. In the late modern church, Protestant liberals produced the idea that Christ simply died as an example for us. Orthodox churches, because they hold to the traditions of the church, did not change their view of Christ’s sacrifice. Rather, they continued to see it as a victory, and disliked the Protestant and Roman Catholic emphasis on the judicial nature of Christ’s death. Next, Hannah surveys the doctrine of salvation, or what the sinner is or is not able to do to be saved. In the early church, some, such as Justin Martyr, taught that sin does not affect our ability to choose Christ. Others argued that man is unable to choose God. Some, such as Origen, denied the historicity of the original sin, whereas others, such as Tertullian, affirmed it. Before Augustine came on the scene, eastern theologians believed that faith is the means to salvation, and that people cooperate with God through their free wills to receive salvation. When Augustine came along, he argued that human will is limited to evil choices, but that some people are predestined. Pelagius opposed Augustine by teaching that human will, untainted by original sin, is free to choose good or bad, but choose the bad. Another theologian, Cassian, taught that the original sin only weakened the ability to do good. Synod of Orange affirmed Augustine’s view. However, the late medieval church drifted from his view to Pelagianism. In the late modern churches, liberalism distorted the message of the gospel. The theology of Calvinists who strove to make relevant response to this liberalism originated the theology known as New England Theology, New Haven Theology, or Taylorism. This theology rejected the doctrine of original sin. The next doctrine that Hannah covers is that of the church. The early church was at led by a plurality of leaders, and recognized only two sacraments: the Lord’s Table, and baptism. It generally viewed these as symbols. Later churches shifted to having a single leader over each church, and many sacraments. It set itself up as the sole distributors of these sacraments, introduced the doctrine of transubstantiation, and struggled to gain power over the state. In the early modern period, Protestant churches reverted to the original two sacraments. The Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic continued to hold to seven sacraments. The seventh doctrine covered by Hannah is that of the end times. The early church held to ancient premillenialism. However, amillennialism emerged in the third century, and remained the dominant view until early modern church times when ancient premilieialism was revived, and the doctrine of postmillennialism was created. In modern times, modern premillennialism emerged. This view sees history as divided into various periods called dispensations. However, ancient premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism continue to be held by various churches in the modern age. The survey of these seven doctrines in Hannah’s book Our Legacy: The History of Christian Doctrine has shown the development of the doctrine of authority, the trinity, the person of Christ, the work of Christ, salvation, the church, and the end times. It has shown how they have developed throughout the centuries. Hannah did an excellent job of showing the development of seven essential doctrines of the faith throughout history. Reading this book, as Hannah asserts in the introduction, will help Christians to understand that no Church or denomination has the complete truth. However, Hannah made a faulty assumption when he asserted that Christians throughout the generations have accepted the essentials of the faith. Evaluation: Hannah showed the development of seven doctrines throughout the church ages. One his reasons for doing this was to show, as he states in the introduction, that “no single assembly of saints or denominations, however orthodox, evangelical, or primitive, strictly follows the Bible.” Indeed, Hannah did such an excellent job of portraying the individual views of the prominent theologians within the many theological developments that it would be difficult for anyone to come away from this book believing that any particular denomination could have accurately determined the whole truth of the Bible. However, Hannah made the faulty assumption that Christians have embraced the essentials of the faith throughout history. He asserts “all truth,” as is found in I John 2:27, refers to the essentials of the faith, and that it “embraces what Christians essentially believe and have commonly accepted across all traditions and denominations.” However, this book, through its survey of the development of many of these essential doctrines, clearly shows that many people in the church have not accepted the essentials of the Christian faith. For example, concerning the person of Christ, Hannah explained, “The insights of Servetus, the Socinians, and the Unitarians concerning Christ, the attempt to reject His deity while clinging to His humanity, have dominated theology in the last two centuries.” The deity of Christ is an essential doctrine of the Christian faith. Its denial shows that the essentials of the Christian faith have not been commonly accepted across all traditions and denominations. It is possible that Hannah views those Christians who do not accept some of the essentials of the faith as not part of the Church. If so, Hannah’s exclusion of them appears to be based upon circular reasoning. In other words, because they do not accept the essentials, they are not Christians. Because they are not Christians, everyone who is accepts the essentials of the faith. Hannah’s book increases the understanding of the reader on how the various doctrines of the church have developed, and leaves them feeling as if no denomination could hold the pure truth. However, his assertion that the essentials, or “all truth,” have been accepted by Christians throughout history is clearly erroneous.