Need a Book that Explains How the Church Started

[catholicWI]

It’s for someone that has read books I’ve suggested but commented “but I’m still not sure HOW the Church started. I want to go back to the beginning of the Church”. I assume they are looking for a book that chronicles how the Apostles went out and started the Church and how that evolved into the Sacred Liturgy, etc.

Something not too dense though since they are just getting into this and are very new to reading about this stuff. Anything more involved than, say, a Scott Hahn book would be might be too much.

Ideas?

 

[smead2942]

I have a good one-- the New Testament!

 

[Micosil]

I’m glancing through a book that seems rather decent: Early Christian Doctrines by J. N. D. Kelly.

It seems to mention many early Church Fathers, who in and of themselves give a good deal of testimony as to how things got started. It also gives references to Didache, and Hippolytu’s The Apostolic Tradition.

 

[midori]

It’s hard to find something that distills theology, philosophy, history, and politics into something easily-digestible (with no big words!) for a short attention span, yet still do things justice.

The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600)

The Christians as the Romans Saw Them

The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God

are all well-reviewed books. It might be easier to get two copies, read a section ever week, and then chat over (lunch) (tea) (cake) about whatever the subject of that section was. It won’t be a fast read, but it will be a good way to chew through a book that someone might be reluctant to tackle independently.

 

[Digitonomy]

It’s hard to find something that distills theology, philosophy, history, and politics into something easily-digestible (with no big words!) for a short attention span, yet still do things justice.

The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600)

I agree this is a great book. I think even better for what the OP wants would be The Early Church by Henry Chadwick which at about 300 pages is lighter and more readable.

 

[Hrvatski]

I have a good one-- the New Testament!

Acts of the Apostles would be a good place to start.

 

[Dandelion_Wine]

Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church: A 2,000-Year History by H.W. Crocker III

 

[Dpoc41]

I think even better for what the OP wants would be The Early Church by Henry Chadwick which at about 300 pages is lighter and more readable.

 

[Viki63]

It’s for someone that has read books I’ve suggested but commented “but I’m still not sure HOW the Church started. I want to go back to the beginning of the Church”. I assume they are looking for a book that chronicles how the Apostles went out and started the Church and how that evolved into the Sacred Liturgy, etc.

Something not too dense though since they are just getting into this and are very new to reading about this stuff. Anything more involved than, say, a Scott Hahn book would be might be too much.

Ideas?

If your friend has not yet read the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, he or she might get all tangled up in explanations written by moderns.
The Gospels and Acts are extremely easy to understand (on the surface) and have the benefit of the help of the Holy Spirit to understand them ( if the reader asks for help). Or he could just read one gospel and the acts.

 

[7_Sorrows]

Acts of the Apostles would be a good place to start.

That was going to be my suggestion as well.

Also any book dealing with the history of the Catholic Church or a history of the early church.

 

[JimG]

I second the idea of the Henry Chadwick book on church history. But there are a lot of good history books about the early church. You might also want to look at the books listed here.

 

[johnnyc176]

The History of Christendom by Warren Carroll - 6 Volumes

This is the complete 6 volume set which reflects an unabashedly Catholic view of the history of every Christian country. It is the fundamental affirmation of Christianity that God entered history as Jesus Christ. Yet history today is almost never written from this Incarnational perspective. The purpose of Dr. Warren H. Carroll’s fully documented history of Christendom is to present history from this Christ-centered viewpoint. This set belongs in the library of every serious Catholic who desires to understand the work that Christ has done in the world through His Church and His faithful people.