Negative Positive
Title: Sloppy History, Sloppy Editorials
Review: I was lent this book after finishing J.N.D. Kelly's 'Early Christian Doctrines.' Unfortunately, much of it is a disappointment. I was a little surprised to find how sloppy and broad-stroked Shelley's historical development of Christian history was, especially during the first five centuries: the development of papal doctrine, for instance, occurs much earlier than Shelley concedes in his book. Once the doctrine does develop, Shelley seems obliged to offer unsatisfying counterarguments to the reader - as if the reader were somehow unsettled by a historical development, and needed reassurance. This overall polemical attitude toward Roman Catholicism makes the book read much more like an editorial against it than a history of how it developed among other Christian churches. I would recommend trying a different book that aims to do more straight-forward history, and not historical promotion of one ideology over another.
Is the review positive or negative? 