Outlines of Ecclesiastical History

The text traces the development of Christian institutions in four parts: the establishment of the church through the ministry of Jesus and his apostles; a subsequent apostasy marked by persecution, doctrinal corruption, and incorporation of pagan philosophy; the sixteenth-century Reformation treated as a revolution that loosened papal power but did not restore primitive Christianity; and the nineteenth-century restoration effected through revelations received by Joseph Smith and the ensuing Dispensation of the Fullness of Times. It combines chronological narrative with doctrinal argument, organized into numbered sections with topical headings, explanatory endnotes, and review questions intended for classroom study.