Have opened this book from time-to-time and, shamefully, never posted a review: so, though woefully tardy, I do recommend Everett Ferguson's book on church history. I hope the book has been successful since publication several years ago!

Something must have happened with the download. I cannot find a NetGalley copy, so I will not be reviewing here.

The most comprehensive Church History with the most clearly shaped narrative since the History of the Church of Church (Histoire de l’Église du Christ) by French historian Henri Daniel-Rops. This history illustrated with photos and graphs almost on every page makes exploring complex facts not only more pleasant but also efficient. The book is elegantly published.
It is a must-have for everyone interested in Christianity and perhaps for every intelligent reader.

Such an interesting history, very informative. I'd like a physical copy, as I feel like it would be best read that way instead of on my laptop.

A decent survey of early Christian history. The book seems to be written for undergraduate survey classes, but the average reader can get some good information as well.

Would buy a physical copy if I ever came across it.

Ferguson does an excellent job of helping the reader see the issues and transformation of the early church. The narrative flows smoothly to follow the historical progression. This is a book I highly recommend for beginners to church history. It covers several key events and writings that influence the Christian community during each segment of history.

This is a great educational book to put alongside of our learning the timeline of happenings in the history of the Church. This one starts out at the time of Christ and runs to the Pre-Reformation. It has 24 chapters and it’s broken up really nicely by centuries. It has some pictures scattered throughout and that’s nice to add to all the learning. Whether you’re looking at Diocletian, Constantine, Augustine or the First Crusade it’s in there. I’m thankful to add this to our school library and I’m sure it will continually be a valuable resource as we journey through this time frame.
I received a copy of this work in exchange for my honest 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.

I got this book when I started church history classes at the seminary. It was very useful for me as I reviewed the sujects the teacher talked about later every day, and got more information about them.
In my opinion, this edition has a good amount of contents and a good balance of details. In general, if someone needs more details about an event, it is better to read a specific book instead of a general one.
For me, this book fulfills its premise, which is to be a general history book, that provides the reader with information about the main events in the church history.
I also must highlight the illustrations. Every topic has pictures and images relevant to it, which enriches the reading/studying experience.
Even though it is a good history book, it is not an easy read for the casual reader, but students, theologians and people in general who want to study the topic will find it very useful.

Church History, Volume One is like what it says, about the history of the Church from the first century to the thirteenth century. I'm not even going to attempt to summarise contents, but the book basically looks at events, trends, and notable people in Church history. Each chapter also comes with a list of recommended resources, so you could (ideally) use this book as a starting point and then delve into certain issues or events.

I found this book easy to read and follow, even for someone like me, who has no formal education in Church history (apart from what I learnt in Sunday School). In fact, I was listening to one of my cousin's lectures of the Holy Spirit (she records her teachers and shares them with those interested) and I realised that it was easier to understand what the lecturer was saying, in part because I had already encountered the concepts and events mentioned in this book.

But though the book does explain the basics of certain theological issues (like the nature of Christ), because a certain level of understanding is needed to comprehend why the disputes were a big deal, I still found myself wishing for a theology textbook that I could use as a reference. So while the theology explanations are definitely adequate, they are not sufficient. Still, this is a history book so I shouldn't be quibbling.

And since Silence is still on my mind, or rather, it has been on my mind more than normal, I found myself particularly struck by the explanation of Christian persecution in Ancient Rome. In those times, religious functions were also used as expressions of political loyalty. And since Christians would not offer such sacrifices, they were seen as a threat to the Roman state. I thought that this was remarkably similar to the persecution depicted in Silence, which explains why it was controversial.

Oh, and while I'm on this topic, I also wanted to share that there was some discussion on whether Christians be persecuted on the basis of "the name" (aka being known as Christians) or for the crimes attached to the name. Christian apologists wanted it to be the latter, since they knew they were innocent, but guess which side won out?

I think that people interested in learning more about Church history should consider picking up this book. It's accessible, and I was able to follow what the author says without additional lectures - though I'm sure that lectures and discussions would have made it even better.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

A hefty tome, this textbook is an ecumenical's dream. A little more readable than most Church textbooks I've read this offers a great overview for the interested individual, and even this tome might be enough to tie up a couple semesters worth of work.

I wouldn't say this is a true scholar's reference, and as I said above there is a very ecumenical tone that crosses Protestant and Catholic thought in many places. I have to say good job, and for a higher level view a great offering.

I found this book both informative and interesting.l will be looking forward to suggesting it to others.