# 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.

Reactions: Like 2 | Funny 2


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## 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."


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## Ask Mr. Religion (Dec 28, 2017)

BayouHuguenot said:


> Concise and exhaustive appear to be mutually exclusive.


I thought the same.

*Concise:*
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00245A400/

https://www.amazon.com/Church-History-Plain-Language-Fourth-ebook/dp/B00GCG55EM

https://www.amazon.com/Church-History-Crash-Course-Curious-ebook/dp/B0017JWL0A/

https://www.amazon.com/Historical-Theology-Made-Matthew-McMahon-ebook/dp/B007UJ6H5Q

https://www.amazon.com/Historical-Theology-Introduction-History-Christian-ebook/dp/B008D30RKE/

https://www.amazon.com/God-Has-Spoken-Christian-Theology-ebook/dp/B00O7UPECI

*Exhaustive*:
https://www.amazon.com/History-Pre-Reformation-Cultural-Intellectual-Political/dp/0310516560/
https://www.amazon.com/Church-History-Two-Pre-Reformation-Intellectual/dp/0310257433

https://www.amazon.com/Story-Christianity-Early-Church-Reformation-ebook/dp/B00JOGB2DU/
https://www.amazon.com/Story-Christianity-Vol-Reformation-Present/dp/0061855898/

http://www.heritagebooks.org/products/a-history-of-christian-doctrine-2-vols-shedd.html (also available online)


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## 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.


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## 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.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## 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.


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## 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).


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## 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.

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## 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

Reactions: Like 1


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## 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


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## 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.)

Reactions: Like 1


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