History Books

Hey guys,What are some good books to read to learn about christian history?

How does everyone know all of this church history?

There are of course plenty of books but I think you will find an amazing variety of websites maintained for this subject as well. Rather then me posting a dozen links let me suggest searching "Church History" at Google...Or try searching for particular eras or people such as "Reformation" or "Augustine."Dig around and you'll find some good sites that will interest you! If you find some really great ones, let me know!MC

As with any history you need some idea of the timescale. Chronology is the backbone of history. There are three books which spring to mind which will give you this kind of overview. They are all from a Brethren perspective, and all have the 'pilgrim' theme running through them.The Pilgrim Church: BroadbentThe Torch of the Testimony: KennedyMillers Church History: Miller"The Torch of the Testimony" is the cheapest and will give you a good feel for the 'church vertical' ie down the centuries. I would also recommend that where possible you read a secular history of the particular period you are studying; this will give you another perspective of the church's pilgrimage through the world.

Greetings,Church History is all I read for years, as we (I & my family) were without fellowship at the time. Therefore I bought many books, I would like to recommend a few of these.1) The following major on all these groups that made a stand against "organised Christendom":Andrew Miller: Miller's Church HistoryEdmund Hamer Broadbent: The Pilgrim ChurchJohn Kennedy: The Torch of the TestimonyThese three I consider as "must read".2) Then for general Church history:Williston Walker: A History of the Christian Church, (a classic)Kenneth Scott Latourette: A History of Christianity, (a large book, many details)G. P. Fisher:The History of the Church3) DictionariesF. L. Cross: The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian ChurchJ. D. Douglas: The New International Dictionary of the Christian ChurchE. S. Moyer & E. Cairns: The Wycliffe Biographical Dictionary of the Church4) Early ChurchEdward Backhouse & Charles Tylor: Early Church HistoryA. C. McGiffert: History of Christianity in the Apostolic AgeT. M. Lindsay: The Church and the Ministry in the Early CenturiesThese are just a few of the better titles, there are many more. I have bought all of these second hand, as a lot of these are now out of print.I would be happy to help further, if needed.

Good Morning Preach. Here are a couple of good Church History sites I have found.www.ccel.org (Christian Classics Ethereal Library)andwww.gty.org/~phil/hall.htm (Hall of Church History)These are not links so you might have to enter them in manually.good luck and have fun.Dave

Sorry about that, they came up as links. EnjoyDave

Thanks you all very much. As soon as school slows down (when i graduate this spring) I will have alot more time to study the history. Its very important to know your roots :-)

A great site, though it has obvious, intentional biases is Hall of Church History at:http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/hall.htmI haven't read books on the specific subject of "church history", I think I would get bored. I enjoy videos and websites on the subject. Although there are some I've heard are awesome. All the great sermons I've heard of preachers past and present agree that you can't go wrong with book's by/about one of the following: John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, D L Moody, and Jonathan Edwards.I've read some of Wesley's bio and some of Spurgeon's stuff, and there really is no substitute, if you are looking at how to apply the Scriptures to the max.This is someone's website that I met in this forum, it is turned out to be good so far:http://www.believeonjesus.com/video/videos.asp