In History of the Church to AD 325, author H. N. Bate begins with an account of the Roman world and Jewish religion, believing it a base for Christian history. He follows with 10 additional chapters covering the Apostolic age, Jewish Christianity, gnosticism and montanism, apologists of the second century, church and state from Hadrian to Commodus, the churches of Rome and Alexandria, church and state from Septimius Severus to Constantine, the Council of Nicaea, and the church calendar. While, scholarly, this volume is easy to read and includes a helpful chronological table.