Looking for Good Book on Church History

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I’m looking for a good, credible book on early Church history (the development of the Church), with a decent amount of depth. To reiterate, I just want a credible historical perspective. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
 
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Alterum:
I’m looking for a good, credible book on early Church history (the development of the Church), with a decent amount of depth. To reiterate, I just want a credible historical perspective. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
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👋 Dear Alterum,

I have personally found the book TRIUMPH The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church A 2,000 YEAR HISTORY
by H.W. Crocker III to be excellent. It is extremely well-researched, and has a 16-page Select, Critical Bibliography in the back of the book. But what do you mean by “decent amount of depth,” and “credible historical perspective?”

Hope this helps,

Angelina :angel1:
 
giegietx said:
👋 Dear Alterum,

I have personally found the book TRIUMPH The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church A 2,000 YEAR HISTORY
by H.W. Crocker III to be excellent. It is extremely well-researched, and has a 16-page Select, Critical Bibliography in the back of the book. But what do you mean by “decent amount of depth,” and “credible historical perspective?”

Hope this helps,

Angelina :angel1:
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I second Angelina’s critique of “Triumph”. The book is quite long, and I’m only about half way through, but what I have read has given me a greater appreciation for my faith, and a greater sense of the communion of saints and connection to Catholics of all times.

I’ve been looking recently for information about the role of the church in the Middle Ages. I hear so often from Protestants that we’re so much better off since the reformation because the power of the Catholic Church was diminished–the assumption being that this power was somehow a bad thing. In his book, Crocker says of the time that the “Age of Faith” had died. It sounds like he believes that we are missing something now that was very good about the role of the Church in the Middle Ages.

I wish so much that I had more time for research, but if anyone has any insight to this question, or knows of any references, I would appreciate it.
 
You might also enjoy “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church” by Malachi Martin.
 
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patg:
You might also enjoy “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church” by Malachi Martin.
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I’m sorry, but I have a problem with Fr. Martin, and I just don’t feel comfortable with looking to him for truth.

I first heard him on Art Bell’s show 6 or 7 years ago, and was quite interested since he was a priest. I listened for hours to all his interviews, as they were archived on the website. After listening for awhile I just became disturbed by some of things he said.
 
Warren H. Carroll’s ongoing multivolume work, A History of Christendom, especially the first two volumes, should help you.

volume 1: Founding of Christendom.
volume 2: The Building of Christendom.
volume 3: The Glory of Christendom.
volume 4: The Cleaving of Christendom.
 
Thank you all for your (name removed by moderator)ut 🙂 I’m looking forward to reading *Triumph *as soon as I can get my hands on it!
 
I’m going to have to do some research to see if I can locate the book that I’m thinking of.

In Catholic elementary school I found a Church history book when I was in the seventh or eighth grade (1963), and it was terribly interesting. It went into quite some depth but I found it to be a real page turner, OH, and amply illustrated to boot.

I’ll be back here if I can locate it.
 
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giegietx:
I have personally found the book TRIUMPH The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church A 2,000 YEAR HISTORY
by H.W. Crocker III to be excellent.
Click to expand...
I’ve read some of it. Never finished reading it, but I eventually will sometime. It’s a good book. 👍
 
Todd Easton:
Warren H. Carroll’s ongoing multivolume work, A History of Christendom, especially the first two volumes, should help you.

volume 1: Founding of Christendom.
volume 2: The Building of Christendom.
volume 3: The Glory of Christendom.
volume 4: The Cleaving of Christendom.
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Yes, this is an excellent set of books. One can purchase the entire set at Christendom on line. I sincerely hope Dr. Carroll recovers enough from his stroke to finish the last two projected volumes. I particularly like volume 4. It puts to rest the myth that Martin Luther was a “good” guy or had good intentions.
 
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JMJ_Pinoy:
I’ve read some of it. Never finished reading it, but I eventually will sometime. It’s a good book. 👍
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The one by Mr. Carroll has excellent reviews; I hope to read it someday. For early Church history you could also read books on the early Church Fathers (The Early Church Fathers , Patristics, Four Witnesses ,and maybe the Didache, the Shepherd of Hermas, and Josephus. If you are interested in more recent history, there is Catholicism and American Freedom, and Black Catholics In America (I’m not sure if it’s still in print, I bought it about 10 yrs ago) which is very sad – I cried most of the way through it – but it is an important perspective. I can’t really think of any right now concerning the Middle Ages, sorry. I live in a town without a Catholic bookstore, so I shop at Barnes and Noble; I go straight to the Christianity section and ask the Holy Spirit to help me select/discern which book I should get, and He’s never steered me wrong yet!

Love, Angelina :angel1:
 
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Ruthmary:
I’m sorry, but I have a problem with Fr. Martin, and I just don’t feel comfortable with looking to him for truth.

I first heard him on Art Bell’s show 6 or 7 years ago, and was quite interested since he was a priest. I listened for hours to all his interviews, as they were archived on the website. After listening for awhile I just became disturbed by some of things he said.
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I don’t think he presents the “truth” on this subject any more or less than anyone else BUT I do feel it is very important to have a variety of views when studying any topic. And his style certainly adds interest to a potentially very dull subject.
 
I’ve been reading “The History of the Church”, written in the 4th Century by Eusebius. It’s readily available.
 
I am 2/3 of the way through A Concise History of the Catholic Church, Revised Edition by Thomas Bokenkotter. At 500+ pages it’s probably fairly light. The last 100 pages are mostly about the reign of JPII.

I needed a fly-by of the whole history to understand kind of who lived when and in what historical context and it gives it in a way I enjoyed.
 
Triumph is good.

But so is ONE HOLY CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC, Kenneth D. Whitehead. Ignatious press. The early church was catholic.
 
Speaking of church history…can anyone recommend a book about the Reformation? I’d like to get a “well rounded” history of this event and not a “one sided” Protestant or Catholic bias. I just want to understand what was going on in that era of church history. Thanks.
 
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All4lifetoo:
Yes, this is an excellent set of books. One can purchase the entire set at Christendom on line. I sincerely hope Dr. Carroll recovers enough from his stroke to finish the last two projected volumes. I particularly like volume 4. It puts to rest the myth that Martin Luther was a “good” guy or had good intentions.
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Are these books, and Triumph still in print?
 
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JMJ_Pinoy:
I’ve read some of it. Never finished reading it, but I eventually will sometime. It’s a good book. 👍
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I never finished Triumph either and probably never will. Not that Crocker has written bad history, but the style is difficult to overcome. He makes use of obscure French phrases and racial stereotypes :tsktsk: way too much for my taste. While the information in the book is great, the author almost goes out of his way to send the message “If you are a Western European or American who wants to feel superior to those public school chaps, this is the religion for you!” :mad: The constant French expressions underscore the elitist attitude, and i really would finish the book…if i were bilingual. :rolleyes:
I am going to try out Bokenkotter’s history and hope to get more history with less attitude.
 
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