Bede's Comprehensive History of the English People's Ecclesiastical Development

Dave: This is the history that deals with Christianity advanced in our great nations. Told from Bedes information that he was able to gather. It is the story of the Church from Rome the Catholic as they forget a path as the Celtic Christians went another way. The main difference being the date of Easter although there were other facts but those are explained elsewhere.

I found this both fascinating and incredibly informative and challenging in places especially the letters at the back, the purpose and desire of the Church to spread the word and compared to where we the Church are today is staggeringly different. They had a much more charitable heart and giving to meet the needs of the poor both spiritually and the poor of society. I was challenged as a Christian the amount we spend on things other than people's needs like keeping buildings going while people starve but that's preaching and this is abook review so off my soap box. Thar was what challenged me the book itself is very detailed in the amount it covers for its size and a must read for those who want to know the history of the Church especially in the UK and how it grow from 300 AD to the mid 700 AD

I read a hard...

United Kingdom on Jan 08, 2023

Amazon Customer: Great

United Kingdom on Aug 07, 2022

Templar Truth: I read an earlier edition of this book many years ago and very much recommend this as a way of glimpsing the early Christian history of England and the people who figured during those times. It may not cover so much about our "Celtic" heritage, but all the same is well worth reading). The additional items in this revised edition make it even more interesting and informative

United Kingdom on May 25, 2021

Kizzy: I haven't read the whole of the book yet, just dipped into it. I needed some information about St Hilda of Whitby for something I was doing and found the text really helpful.
The translation is very readable and it is so interesting to have this history written so long ago preserved for us.

United Kingdom on Dec 13, 2020

Ian M. Slater: Just in case Amazon software jumbles up reviews of different editions, I am here reviewing (primarily) the paperback and Kindle editions of the Penguin Classics book of “Ecclesiastical History of the English People,” by Bede (also known as the Venerable Bede), translated with notes by Leo Sherley-Price, as revised by R.E. Latham, and revised and expanded by D.H. Farmer.

This translation originally appeared under the more explanatory title of “The History of the English Church and People,” translated with annotations by Sherley-Price alone.

There is another recent translation, also titled “The Ecclesiastical History of the English People,” with some additional material. It was originally published with a Latin text, and is now available, somewhat revised, from Oxford World’s Classics, likewise available in paperback and Kindle editions, and expanded with supplementary texts. (I intend to review it separately.)

The present, enlarged, Penguin edition is (as on the Amazon page, and the book’s title page, although not the cover) titled in full “Ecclesiastical History of the English People: With Bede’s Letter to Egbert and Cuthbert’s Letter on...

United States on Nov 29, 2015

Richard Atkinson: Read this, be inspired that you are but a small part of the historical walk of Christian life throughout the centuries.

Has one of my favorite quotes in all Christendom.

read the book it is well worth it

Your Majesty, when we compare the present life of man on earth with that time of which we have no knowledge, it seems to me like the swift flight of a single sparrow through the banqueting-hall where you are sitting at dinner on a winter’s day with your thegns and counsellors. In the midst there is a comforting fire to warm the hall; outside the storms of winter rain or snow are raging. This sparrow flies swiftly in through one door of the hall, and out through another. While he is inside, he is safe from the winter storms; but after a moment of comfort, he vanishes from sight into the wintry world from which he came. Even so, man appears on earth for a little while; but of what went before this life or of what follows, we know nothing. Therefore, if this new teaching has brought any more certain knowledge, it seems only right that we should follow it.”

United Kingdom on Jan 12, 2015

Thomas Donahue: The Venerable Bede is a "must have" book for anyone who aspires to know the history of the early English people. Monk, student, ardent believer and keen observer of his world, Bede speaks to us from an era that would otherwise be essentially dark. The Anglo-Saxon world kept nothing in writing. Centuries go by in which the scholar is forced to depend on archaeology and intuition to deduce truth. Venerable Bede is a sharp point of light for those who would know the era. Writing in roughly 731, at about sixty years of age, he takes a scatter gun approach to the world around him. Each of his chapters is short, matter of fact, and unblinking. Is he omniscient? No. But he can be depended upon to tell the truth as he sees it. His core theme is Christianity as the unifying force of Britain, and he never misses a chance to show us a miracle or explain a conversion or applaud the good works of a monarch. Through it all he is unselfconsciously giving us the history of a people, his people, and speaking to us from an era that defines the term "Dark Ages." This is a work along the lines of Gregory of Tours History of the Franks. It is, as I've said, an essential piece of reading for all who...

United States on Jun 25, 2012

Christopher R. Travers: In this work, Bede set out to write the history Christianity in Britain. It covers the Roman invasions of Britain, the coming of the Anglo-Saxons, the conversion to Christianity, the rise and fall of the Arian and Pelagian heresies in England, and various historical events as they relate to the development of Christianity in England. The discussions of the Roman period are likely taken from other histories.

This is not a general history of England (for that, you want to also read  The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle  as that work contains more material of general historical interest).

Bede's work is fascinating, despite its narrow focus, for a couple of reasons. First, he provides a window into the view of the religious values of Anglo-Saxon England and it is interesting to compare this work with  Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney (Penguin Classics)  and  The Journey Through Wales and The Description of Wales (Penguin Classics) , both of which provide additional views into the religious sentiments of the Middle Ages. Secondly, he provides one of only a few early histories of the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons.

I found the...

United States on Feb 07, 2010