Powel Mills Dawley (1907-1985) In "Chapters In Church History" Dawley takes us through the Church history in five sections. First is the formation of Christian institutions during the Roman period. In the second section he gives credit to these institutions and eminent thinkers, such as St. Thomas Aquinas, for preserving Christianity during Medieval times. In the third section Dawley traces the course of Christianity in the British Isles from Roman times to the Reformation, and in the last two sections he describes the Crisis of the Reformation and Christianity in the Modern World.