Andrew Kesterson

"Love God. Live Righteously. Die Well."
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# Christianity: The First 3000 Years

2023-09-12 Books Faith 430 words

Rating: 8/10
Amazon Link: click here
TL;DR A complete (if highly opinionated) coverage of the first 3000 years of the history of Christianity, including the major historical events, points of disagreement amongst the elements of the church, and the interplay between the Church and the rest of society. This is a record not only of the Church, but of Western society - the two are, as you understand once reading this volume, inseparable.

AT LAST, IT IS FINISHED. 46 hours later!

First, I learned a lot from this book. But I also learned a lot about the author’s opinions. The information is significantly more rich in depth in the first thousand years of church history; as it moves into the second millennium, especially the reformation, I find that the material gets thin. Perhaps it must, since the church has become so broad and varied by that time. I definitely came away from this book with more questions than answers - but in a good way; I am inspired to learn more about certain segments of church history.

But mostly, I have to be honest, I’m exhausted by this book. And it’s not necessarily the author’s fault - there’s just SO MUCH HERE. About halfway through, it was less about learning, and more about persevering and defeating the book. I couldn’t let this text beat me - I had to see it through to the end. At times it became a real slog. The author and the content are both generally engaging, but the way he jumps around through the timeline can be confusing. And there are definitely parts that are more boring than others, but that may just be me. I realize I will honestly have to go through this book several times to actually retain all the information; there’s just so much, and I spent so much time focused on finishing rather than retaining, that I think it’s inevitable.

Overall if you find a copy of this I’d snatch it up. It isn’t complete (and, after listening to it, I understand why - the history of the western world IS the history of the church, and vice versa, so you can’t fit it all into one volume) - but it is sufficiently complete to form a basis of understanding of major events, key players, repeating themes and conflicts in the history of the faith that has literally shaped the history of the world for the last two thousand years.

8/10, would recommend. But beware - this is a marathon, not a sprint.

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