I greatly enjoyed learning about church history. The book is well written, and easy to read. Well laid out and broken down into chapters and subsections, with suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter which is something I've always appreciated.

Received for review ( )

I greatly enjoyed learning about church history. The book is well written, and easy to read. Well laid out and broken down into chapters and subsections, with suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter which is something I've always appreciated.

Received for review ( )

A textbook level exploration and analysis of the history of Christianity from its inception until 1300.

The author has a commanding view and understanding of the narrative at hand. He explores the Jewish and Greco-Roman context in which Jesus and Christianity arose, and proceeds to tell the story of Christianity through this time period: Jesus, the Apostles, the early church, early patristics, persecutions, heresies, Trinitarian disputations, Constantine and legitimacy, Christological disputations, Augustine and Pelagius, later patristics, development of papacy and patriarchate, divisions between west and east, the Germanic invasions, early monasticism, Christianity in the British Isles, the Carolingian renaissance, Byzantine developments, the pope vs. the emperors, the development of Scholasticism and the Scholastics, monastic developments, the Crusades, heresies, etc., all leading up to 1300.

This is a very clear exposition of the story and easy to read. A bit overwhelming, of course, with all sorts of people and events and ideas explained, but this remains a great introductory resource to understand the development of Christianity in its first 1300 years. ( )

Volume One of Church History is a very good textbook or reference for early Church history. The format is straightforward and, for those studying the book, set up in outline form which makes note-taking quite simple.

The presentation is balanced and at the end of each chapter there is a brief "for further study" bibliography for those seeking more detail about some portion of that chapter's coverage. While there is certainly some theological discussion this is a history book first and foremost.

If used in a classroom setting there is also free online resources available from Zondervan to supplement the text, which broadens the appeal in an academic setting or for those seeking to study the history in a more complete and academic manner.

Reviewed from an ARC made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )

Zondervan has released a two volume set of textbooks covering church history. They come in at around 1300 pages total and they look to be a great resource for students of all sorts.

These books are formatted beautifully. Zondervan did a real service by allowing plenty of room in the margins to let the reader make notes and doodles…assuming it is used in a lecture format. They also provided some great charts that summarize neatly large portions of important information.

There are no discussion or review questions included at the ends of the chapters. That may be a negative to some but I had nop problem with it. I do not usually utilize them, but always feel a bit burdened with them sitting there…like I am doing a disservice to the book by not answering the question in 1000 words, double spaced in Times New Romans 12 point.

The books have in the back a wonderful, I repeat wonderful, timeline that shows in parallel columns political rulers, writers/thinkers, events and bishops. It allows the student to see events and people in perspective and is just plain old interesting.

Is the content of the book accurate? I can only assume so based on the reputation of Zondervan but I could offer no insight of my own into that question. That is simply beyond my knowledge. What I do know is that both of these books are approachable, informative, and entertaining and I would love to have these be a text in a Christian history course.

I received review copies to look at and provide an honest review. ( )