Church histories

[fhansen]

Any recommendations for the best work on Church History, in the ‘relatively modern’ category? I’ve read a few but I’ll assume there are some solid, popular standard texts or volumes out there that I’m unaware of.

 

[Hodos]

I think The Church From Age to Age does a nice job if you want something that is relatively easy to read but fairly thorough. It does a nice job going by epoch, noting the major developments and people in that era, talking about the development of doctrine, development of organization, and development of liturgy and tying all those things together. It also does a nice job of providing a lot of excerpts from primary source documents for each major section to give you a feel for some of the extant writings in that time period.

 

[bpd_stl]

Depends upon what you mean by “church histories.” Do you mean popular overviews? Scholarly? Ones that approach church history as a social institution? Ones that survey the Church’s teachings?

I have an extensive bibliography to recommend, if you would help narrow the focus.

 

[hope]

Warren H. Carroll series:

1. The Founding of Christendom
2. The Building of Christendom
3. The Glory of Christendom
4. The Cleaving of Christendom
   He died before finishing the series. I believe his wife finished some of them.

 

[fhansen]

Thank you. Noting too sophisticated, just a solid general overview of the history itself. I know, it’s a big topic. I read a fairly recent work, “A Concise History of the Catholic Church” by Thomas Bokenkotter. It seemed a bit too concise however, so something more in depth.

 

[fhansen]

Thank you-I’ll check those out

 

[fhansen]

Alright, thank you. I’ll check that one out too.

 

[fredystairs]

Warren H. Carroll series:

1. The Founding of Christendom
2. The Building of Christendom
3. The Glory of Christendom
4. The Cleaving of Christendom
   He died before finishing the series. I believe his wife finished some of them.

Good series!!

 

[bpd_stl]

Yes, Bokenkotter is indeed too concise for a lot of folks…but a place to start.

Well then, I’d suggest the Penguin History of the Church series. Multiple volumes, none over 400 pages, including indexes. I believe there are 7 or 8 in the series. Cover the entire 2000 year history of the Church, broken up by period. Intended audience is undergraduate students, so no massive bibliography or heavy footnotes to distract. Written by well-respected scholars. Reliable. Affordable paperbacks. Easy to find used.

They were assigned texts in my seminary days.

 

[PrayForMe]

I read “Timeless: A History of the Catholic Church” by Steve Weidenkopf, and it was a great book. Offers good insight into everything from the early Church, to the Crusades, to the Reformation, all the way to modern times. I would recommend it. It goes pretty in depth, which I know is what you’re looking for.

 

[fhansen]

Thank you all-I was hoping to get more recommendations, possibly with some kind of consensus even? But maybe those listed here exhaust all the works available on the history of the Church??!! Anyway, anyone have thoughts about the Encyclopedia Britannica as a decent resource on this topic? Just asking -because its readily available.

 

[fhansen]

I read “Timeless: A History of the Catholic Church” by Steve Weidenkopf, and it was a great book. Offers good insight into everything from the early Church, to the Crusades, to the Reformation, all the way to modern times. I would recommend it. It goes pretty in depth, which I know is what you’re looking for.

Thank you, that sounds like an interesting prospect.