Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Book Recommendations

     This year is the 500 year anniversary of the Reformation. What always strikes me is how little many people know about the history of the Christian church.  Today, I am going to recommend four books to help those who haven't read or studied much about church history.
     A good general church history written for laypersons is "Church History in Plain Language" written by Bruce Shelley.  This is written in an easy to read and understand way.
     When I was in college, I took a course in church history. The book we used was, "A History of the Christian Church" by Williston Walker.  This is a very good book. It goes into more depth than the first book I mentioned.
     For those who might be interested in American church history, I would recommend "A Religious History of the American People" by Sydney Ahlstrom.  This was my text when I took American church history in college. 
     Another book about church history that I would recommend deals with the Church of the East. "The Lost History of Christianity" by Phillip Jenkins is an excellent account of a subject not much dealt with in most church history textbooks.

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