Good One Volume Church History Written For Laymen?

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Puritan Sailor

Puritan Sailor

Puritan Board Doctor
Does anyone have any recommendations for a good one volume church history written for highschool level education? I'd prefer one that also does a good job at integrating the Reformed faith and demonstrating how Reformed theology developed from the debates of church history. Any ideas?
 
It depends what kind of reading level the students can manage, but Renwick and Harman, The Story of the Church, is quite useful and easily readable. More of an historical theology resource is Finlayson's Story of Theology.
 
The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez was very good and very easy to read. Technically it's two volumes but here you can get them in a single book: Amazon.com: The Story of Christianity (9781565635227): Justo L. Gonzalez: Books

The history is written in a very conversational form, and not necessarily always linear--but that also makes it very easy to read and to get an appreciation for "while this was happening here in the west, over in the east..."

I found it to give excellent contours of history and it did a fair treatment of the Reformation and post-Reformation. It also includes some material on the expansion of Christianity into the world, particularly the Spanish expansions into South and Central America, which is something very often overlooked in religious history, which tends to focus almost exclusively on Western Europe and North America.

A high school or college student could handle it easily and probably find it interesting.

You could also glue all of Pelikan's histories together and put them on wheels for easy carrying in a single volume :)
 
wturri78 said:
The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez was very good and very easy to read. Technically it's two volumes but here you can get them in a single book: Amazon.com: The Story of Christianity (9781565635227): Justo L. Gonzalez: Books

The history is written in a very conversational form, and not necessarily always linear--but that also makes it very easy to read and to get an appreciation for "while this was happening here in the west, over in the east..."

I found it to give excellent contours of history and it did a fair treatment of the Reformation and post-Reformation. It also includes some material on the expansion of Christianity into the world, particularly the Spanish expansions into South and Central America, which is something very often overlooked in religious history, which tends to focus almost exclusively on Western Europe and North America.

A high school or college student could handle it easily and probably find it interesting.

You could also glue all of Pelikan's histories together and put them on wheels for easy carrying in a single volume :)
Click to expand...

:ditto:
 
Contra_Mundum said:
A bit dated (in certain respects), but it was written for exactly your purpose:
Amazon.com: The Church in History (9780802817778): B. K. Kuiper: Books
(as a bonus, it even mentions the OPC)

here's another, perhaps for a bit younger age:
God's Care and Countinuance of His Church, 3 Vol. - Reformation Heritage Books
Click to expand...

So Kuiper here does a good job at explaining the Reformed faith as it developed in history? I really want a good book that shows how the Reformed faith is organically connected to the debates of church history and the most logically consistent expression of the Christian faith in history. Perhaps I'm a little too ambitious. But I think it would help my young people to appreciate their faith more to know how they got to where they are today, and why Presbyterianism is not just one among many legitimate options, but the most consistent form of Christianity.

I've thought about using Lucas's "On Being Presbyterian" but he only begins the history in the Reformation, and the reading level is a little more advanced than high school level.
 
Patrick,
All I can tell you is that the book was written to teach church history from a Reformed perspective to junior highers back in the 1950s or thereabouts. It has been "updated," and reissued in paperback, but I think its still essentially the same.

Try a "google-books" preview. Or buy a single copy for yourself/family. And if its what you want, then get more. Otherwise, its a great resource for your own kids eventually.
 
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