Most concise and exhaustive book on church history

josiahrussell · Dec 26, 2017

What is the Most concise and exhaustive book on church history available?

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RamistThomist · Dec 28, 2017

Concise and exhaustive appear to be mutually exclusive.

Jake · Dec 28, 2017

BayouHuguenot said:
Concise and exhaustive appear to be mutually exclusive.

Ever seen Concise Reformed Dogmatics by J. Van Genderen (a textbook for my Doctrine I class at Covenant College)? To quote John Frame: "When an 800-page book has 'Concise' in its title, we expect a different perspective. Indeed, this book comes from the Netherlands, the land of Kuyper and Bavinck, where three- and four-volume theology texts are the rule."

Ask Mr. Religion · Dec 28, 2017

BayouHuguenot said:
Concise and exhaustive appear to be mutually exclusive.

Bill The Baptist · Dec 28, 2017

If you are looking for a book covering a specific area of church history, then I’m sure there is something that would fit your criteria. However, if you are looking for a book that covers all of church history, then I doubt you will find one that is both concise and exhaustive. Although it is not really concise, I would still recommend Nick Needham’s 2000 Years of Christ’s Power as a great and easy to follow set on the history of the church.

Ask Mr. Religion · Dec 28, 2017

Jake said:
Ever seen Concise Reformed Dogmatics by J. Van Genderen (a textbook for my Doctrine I class at Covenant College)? To quote John Frame: "When an 800-page book has 'Concise' in its title, we expect a different perspective. Indeed, this book comes from the Netherlands, the land of Kuyper and Bavinck, where three- and four-volume theology texts are the rule."

A biased review of the same:
https://archive.org/stream/BookRevi...BookReviewOfConciseReformedDogmatics_djvu.txt

That said, I would like to obtain the book someday, preferably in electronic form.

Stephen L Smith · Dec 28, 2017

Bill The Baptist said:
Nick Needham’s 2000 Years of Christ’s Power as a great and easy to follow set on the history of the church.

I second this. There are 4 volumes now up to the time of the Puritans. I think it will be 6-7 vols by the time the set is finished. It strikes a good balance. Thorough coverage but very readable. It is confessionally Reformed so I would argue it is one of the best resources on Church history.

RamistThomist · Dec 28, 2017

We read Everett Ferguson in seminary. You're just not going to find a thorough, manageable, one volume church history text. Williston Walker's is the closest (it's what Gerstner used), but he is kind of liberal.

The best thing to do is to breeze through a survey volume, and then focus on the big moments (Patristic councils on God and Christ; Investiture controversy of the Middle Ages, Split between East and Rome; Thomas Aquinas, etc.).

Patristics: JND Kelly's book on Doctrines of Early Church (and also read Kelly's bios on Jerome and John Chrysostom).

Ed Walsh · Dec 28, 2017

josiahrussell said:
Most concise

I am laughing at the phrase above given what I am offering. Cheap to a good home. See the link below for the PB post.

History of the Christian Church by Philip Schaff, all 8 volumes for sale.

josiahrussell · Dec 28, 2017

Ed Walsh said:
I am laughing at the phrase above given what I am offering. Cheap to a good home. See the link below for the PB post.

History of the Christian Church by Philip Schaff, all 8 volumes for sale.

I think shipping would be to much to Australia to be honest

josiahrussell · Dec 28, 2017

And yeah I didn’t mean to write concise.... feel like an idiot right now. What I was meaning to say is I want a exhaustive and accurate resource or resources that cover all Church history

bookslover · Dec 29, 2017

Ask Mr. Religion said:
A biased review of the same:
https://archive.org/stream/BookRevi...BookReviewOfConciseReformedDogmatics_djvu.txt

That said, I would like to obtain the book someday, preferably in electronic form.

That's an interesting review. I have the book, though I have not yet read it. As the reviewer says, it would be interesting to see how much interest there will be here in North America for a dogmatics originally written for a primarily Dutch audience. Glad to know it's orthodox and confessional, though.

Dr. Ryan McGraw, by the way, told me once that he thinks it's currently the best one-volume systematics available now. (Kind of a shame that Reymond's didn't catch on as a systematics for seminarians.)

Most concise and exhaustive book on church history

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