Posted by Robert Sagers
Do you know anyone who has no desire to study the history of Christianity—it's too complicated, or there's no relevance for the life of the church today? Maybe he professes some amount of indifference toward church history—or perhaps even some disdain for it?
Timothy Paul Jones has written Christian History Made Easy for just that sort of person. "What we don't seem to recognize is that church history is a story," Jones writes in his introduction. "It's an exciting story about ordinary people that God has used in extraordinary ways. What's more, it's a story that every Christian ought to know." Jones writes with "ordinary" people in mind, the kind of folk in the small country church he pastored early in his ministry.
The book, endorsed by Timothy George and J. I. Packer, covers nearly two thousand years of church history in 224 nicely illustrated, clearly laid out pages, replete with relevant picture captions, maps, quotes, web links, and chapter recaps (short lists of events, names, and terms that every Christian should know)—and even a study guide for group settings.
You can find other books from Jones at his Amazon author's page. Jones spoke this past spring at the Children's Desiring God conference, and you can listen to his audio from his session entitled, "Equipping the Family to Do Discipleship."
