The story of Christianity is a fascinating tale. Here we find drama, vision, and expansion along with failure, setbacks, and tragedy. Yet during the past 2000 years, the power of Jesus is felt throughout the interplay of human actors and the forces of world events. How can you grasp the story played out on such a gigantic stage? This book is an ideal place to start. D. Jeffrey Bingham has skillfully selected the key people and episodes to tell a grand and humbling story. From Roman persecution to the early creeds, from the monastic movement to the Reformation, from the rise of liberalism to missionary expansion, he chronicles the ups and downs of a people and a faith. This pocket history has been crafted for students, pastors, and other busy people who want an informed, clear, and concise presentation that feeds the mind and moves the heart. It is an account that nurtures the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love. For Bingham aims not only to uncover the treasures of the church’s past but also to show how history aids your own spiritual journey today.
“Third, history can give us new ideas, new ways of thinking, new examples of practice that may be biblical.” (Page 11)
“With the death of the apostles, the early church faced with enhanced concern the questions of unity, authority, persecution and the measure of truth.” (Page 19)
“Some false teachers were promoting Docetism, the belief that Christ only seemed or appeared to be human and to possess actual flesh.” (Page 23)
“Factious envy and pride within communities of Christians continued to divide the churches” (Page 19)
“Worship and discipleship as Christ’s community in humble unity, doctrinal truth and self-denial—this theme held captive the pens of the earliest Christian writers outside the Bible. These Christians are known as the ‘apostolic fathers’ to indicate their close connection to the times of the apostles.” (Pages 19–20)