Church History Books- Recommendations anyone?

[Mr Arkadin]

I've recently become more interested in church history and was wondering whether there are any works you could recommend. I'd preferably like one which covers most of church history up and till the 20th century.

[One Bad Pig]

Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley is the best I've read so far. Like other Western books on church history I've read, it largely ignores Eastern Christianity; you'll have to supplement if you want more information in that area.

[RBerman]

Paul Johnson's "The History of Christianity" is an excellent work from a Roman Catholic perspective that's willing to critique its own tradition.

Jaroslav Pelikan's five volume "The History of Christian Doctrine" is less about personalities and wars than about, well, doctrine. One of the five volumes is on the Eastern Church, to which Pelikan converted.

[One Bad Pig]

Jaroslav Pelikan's five volume "The History of Christian Doctrine" is less about personalities and wars than about, well, doctrine. One of the five volumes is on the Eastern Church, to which Pelikan converted.

Yeah, this is excellent, just a bit narrower in scope than he's probably looking for. IIRC Pelikan finished the series (which took him about 3 decades) before he converted.

Phillip Schaff's 8-volume History of the Christian Church isn't going to help with the 20th century, but would be good for prior centuries. As it's out of copyright, you can find electronic versions on the internet for free.

[Mr Arkadin]

Thanks for the recommendations.

[OmniSkeptical]

If you are into the gritty, you can look into the ante-nicene and post-nicene fathers. Eusebius tends not to document his history inaccurately, and the same can be said of Josephus's work sometimes.

[Premo316]

I know this isn't a book but I came across a website some time ago that deals mostly with christian history up to and including the council of Nicaea.

http://www.christian-history.org


Premo316

[KingsGambit]

I know this isn't a book but I came across a website some time ago that deals mostly with christian history up to and including the council of Nicaea.

http://www.christian-history.org


Premo316

I don't have a good vibe from that website. It promotes a church in TN that seems to imply that it is perhaps the only true church remaining and seems almost cultic in nature. While it claims to uphold salvation by faith alone, I don't get that impression from what I read on the rest of the page.

[siliconwafer]

I would recommend The Story of Christianity: Volume Two - The Reformation to the Present Day by Justo Gonzalez. I read it and I enjoyed it.

[One Bad Pig]

I would recommend The Story of Christianity: Volume Two - The Reformation to the Present Day by Justo Gonzalez. I read it and I enjoyed it.

Ick. That's the history book I'd least recommend (along with its companion volume).

[arnoldo]

I would recommend the following two books to learn about "non-western" church history. The first is called The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--and How It Died, by Philip Jenkins. As the title suggest it covers christian history in an area where it was literally wiped off the map. Another book is The African Memory of Mark: Reassessing Early Church Tradition, by Thomas C. Oden. This book also describes the great struggles that the Coptic Church has faced in Africa and survived to this day despite all the odds against it.

[One Bad Pig]

I would recommend the following two books to learn about "non-western" church history. The first is called The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--and How It Died, by Philip Jenkins. As the title suggest it covers christian history in an area where it was literally wiped off the map.

This book pretty much only deals with non-Chalcedonian church history, and the title is somewhat misleading - the Copts, Ethiopians, and Iraqi Christians are still there (though the latter are leaving in droves). It is, however, a sobering look at what tends to happen to a church under Islam.