Where to Find an Overview of Church History

William Faulkner famously wrote,

“The past is never dead. In fact, it’s not even past.”

Nowhere is this more true than in the history of the church.

Why church history is important

The study of church history involves conversation with our brothers and sisters across time: how they read Scripture, how they wrestled with doctrine, how they worshiped, prayed, and practiced Christian formation. What were their challenges? What were their struggles and doubts?

Studying church history is important because studying the past helps us discern how God is guiding the church in the present. Often, our hopes are their hopes; our doubts are their doubts; our struggles are their struggles.

The church spans time and culture more, perhaps, than any other institution. Learning its history is vitally important.

Introducing the Oxford History of the Christian Church

We’ve recently made the Oxford History of the Christian Church available. This world-renowned series has become the academic standard for studying church history.

Each volume tackles a particular topic, such as Christianity in India or the history of the Great Schism. The authors pay particular attention to the place of the church in surrounding society, the institutions of church life, manifestations of popular religion, the link between forms of national culture, and the intellectual tradition within Europe and beyond. Many of these volumes have become groundbreaking works in their own right.

Taken together, this set provides an overview of the church in the past two thousand years that’s unmatched anywhere else.

Get it at an excellent price

These volumes would normally cost you nearly $2,000 in print. Even at the best used print prices, you’d still pay more than $100 per volume in print—or more than $1,000 for the whole set. That makes the current price of $499.99 a phenomenal deal.

In fact, if you’ve had your eye on two or three of these volumes, it’s probably a better deal to grab the whole set. Get the Oxford History of the Christian Church today!