Christian History . . intimidating? Not if you read Gonzalez.

Interested in learning more about Church History? If so allow me to recommend a good book to start with: The Story of Christianity by Justo L. Gonzalez. The book comes in two volumes, although they publish a copy with both volumes in one book. Don't let the "two volumes" scare you away. The greatness of Gonzalez's work is that it is easy to read and does not get bogged down in merely reciting dates. It is a straightforward telling of the history of the church. Often it reads more like prose than anything resembling the boring text books you remember (perhaps with horror as I do) from school. However, Gonzalez does not gloss over parts of history or oversimplify historical events or their effect on history. What he does is make a very intimidating subject accessible to the everyday Christian. While reading his work the reader gains a greater understanding of how the church came together and how it arrived at the state it is in today. I challenge you to pick up Volume 1 and give it a try.