---
title: 'Philip Schaff on the Reward of Studying Church History'
type: post
author: 'R. Andrew Myers'
date: 2022-10-29
url: https://confessional.org/blog/2022-philip-schaff-on-the-reward-of-studying-church-history
---

# Philip Schaff on the Reward of Studying Church History

“I am deeply engaged in the study of church history.... But who can master such a mass of material! I wish I had twenty years more before me. History is long, life is short. The longer we study, the more we find out the limitations of our knowledge. Others will follow, and do better work. The Lord bless you with long life and vigor. There is no richer field for a rising American divine than church history. It carries its own exceeding great reward. It furnishes a solid base for all other departments.” — [Philip Schaff](/authors/philip-schaff), in an 1890 letter from Italy, quoted in [David S. Schaff](/authors/david-schlefy-schaff), *The Life of Philip Schaff: In Part Autobiographical* (1897), p. 466