These two volumes are derived from Dr. Cunninghams lectures to his Church History class at New College, Edinburgh between 18471861. Cunninghams living faith, devout submission to God, clarity of thought, and reverence for the authority of the Bible make him well-positioned to comment on the relationship between the church and its theology.
Volume one covers the biblical view of the church, the church councils and the apostolic fathers, the development of the churchs central doctrinessuch as the incarnation and the Trinityas well as the rise of scholasticism, the Reformation, and the Council of Trent.
Volume two documents the development of the doctrines of justification and the atonement and the Arminian and the Socinian controversies. He also devotes lengthy discussions to Presbyterianism, Congregationalism, and the Free Church of Scotland.