Maxfield Church History

Church History
and other writings by
Dr. Charles A. Maxfield
724 Derstine Ave.
Lansdale, PA 19446

215-896-0196

Articles and books in print by Dr. Maxfield
because they are in print they do not appear on this website.

"The Legacy of Jeremiah Evarts," International Bulletin of Missionary Research 22:4 (Oct 1998):172-75.: A biographical article about the second corresponding secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and his campaign in opposition to Cherokee removal.
"The 1845 Organic Sin Debate: Slavery, Sin, and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.� In North American Missions, 1810-1914: Theology, Theory and Policy, ed. Wilbert R. Shenk, 86-115. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004.: The debate over slavery which came into conflict with developing missionary policy, and the introduction of the doctrine of "organic sin" by Edward Beecher and Calvin Stowe.
Germanness on Trial: The German Evangelical Synod of North America and the Espionage Act of 1917. Santos Press, 2025: A description of the struggle in the Evangelical Synod caused by anti-German hysteria at the time of World War I, with special attention to the trials of pastors Wilhelm Schumann and John Fontana.
A Pilgrim People: A History of the United Church of Christ and Its Antecedents Santos Press, 2025.: I wrote this book out of a need for the history of our denomination in one volume, for use in teaching lay ministers. Self-published, with two printings, the 700 copies have now sold out. It is now being published, with minor revisions, by Santos Press and should be available before the end of 2025.

When I applied to graduate schools, some of them required I submit a research paper. As I had been out of school 20 years, I wrote a paper for submission, The Creation of the United Church of Christ in North Dakota. As Part of my Th.M. work at Union Seminary, Richmond, Virginia, I wrote The Presbyterian and Congregational Churches Among the Dakota. For the Ph.D. degree I wrote The 'Reflex Influence' of Missions. I later wrote A Pilgrim People.

Any major project offers numerous tangents, sidelines, or spin-offs that can only be pursued at a later time. After completing Reflex Influence, I wrote two other papers, that do not appear here because they have been published in print form: Not published was A Missionary Spirit. After completing Pilgrim People, I wrote Germanness on Trial, What Kind of Unity and Conference Staffing. As a teacher of United Church of Christ History and Polity, I have used in my classes Wholistic Church History, Effects of World War I on Religious Thought in Europe, and The Braid of Post-Reformation Theology.

Church History Resources

The Creation of the United Church of Christ in North Dakota

A history of the five communities that came together to form the North Dakota Conference, now the Northern Plains Conference, of the United Church of Christ, from 1876 to 1989.

The Presbyterian and Congregational Churches Among the Dakota

My Masters in Theology Thesis, It's about the Indians, the mission, the churches, and the denominations. It's about Christian unity and integrity, and a distinct way of thinking and doing.

The 'Reflex Influence' of Missions: The Domestic Operations of the Americal Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 1810-1850.

My Ph.D. dissertation, it explores how the missionary movement changed the church at home.

There are a couple of traditions related to the early history of the ABCFM which have acquired mythic proportions. These were not essential to my dissertation. Here are my comments on them:

In preparing the book A Pilgrim People, I cut several sections that were worthwhile explorations, but not essential to the telling of the story. I share these here: Unitarian Schism Chapter 6, part B, on the Unitarian Schism was origionally 77% longer than what I finally included. This expansion includes everything in that section of Pilgrim People, plus more material on the theological debate and court cases. How the West was Lost I cut this essay from Chapter 9. Efforts to explain the relative decline of Congregationalism as the country moved West, are varied. This essay examines those theories and other possible explanations. The Theology of the Churches on the Threshold of Union I cut this from Chapter 18. Before the formation of the U.C.C., each of the two groups developed theological statements. This is a brief review and comparison of these statements.

Missionary Spirit: Instructions Given to One of the First Permanent Agents for Foreign Missions

This letter of June 11, 1834, from Benjamin Wisner to William Armstrong, clearly presents the philosophy of the domestic operations of foreign missions. I have reproduced the letter, with a thorough introduction and notes.

What Kind of Unity?

An examination of the different understandings of Christian unity among the four groups that came together as the United Church of Christ.

A Brief Survey of Conference Organization and Staffing in the United Church of Christ and Its Antecedents

Prepared when New York Conference was considering reorganization in 1998, it is relevant to any UCC Conference.

Wholistic Church History

A Statement of my approach to Church History.

The Effects of World War I on Christian Thought in Europe.

A paper that examines the impact of the War on the thought of Karl Barth, Albert Schweitzer, and others, and their impact, in turn, on Europe.

The Braid of Post-Reformation Theology

My way of simply describing the three major movements in theology since the Reformation.

Other Writings of Dr. Charles Maxfield

Education for Ministry: A working paper presenting a theology of ministry and strategy for education of all forms of ministry
Blank Chart
Chart filled in from this article
Issues in Mission Today: A series of essays, not providing answers, but asking questions that need to be asked, concerning mission of the church today.
Poems, Stories and Essays: A collection of poems, character sketches, letters to the editor, and other writings, which I put together at the time of the 45^th anniversary of my ordination, and which I gave away under the title From the Heart and Mind of Chuck Maxfield.
Sermons: Sermons and worship services which I led as pastor of Saint John Hill United Church of Christ, Boyertown, Pennsylvania, during the pandemic of 2020, in video form.
Take another Look: Dr. Maxfield examines some scriptures that have been interpreted by tradition in a certain way, and challenges us to take another look.

This page updated in 2025
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