Examines the beginning of the Christian movement during the first centuries CE, and the explosive force of its expansion throughout the Roman world.
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reviews
Sep 16, 2011
David
rated it: 
This classic is a bit old-school now: the orthodox meta-narrative is a high road from which to look down on the impotently raging tides of heresy. Some will find that reassuring; some will find it frustrating. I tend towards the latter, mostly because I believe it was all a bit more complicated than Chadwick has scope to describe. There are also some questions concerning the philosophy of history lurking in the undergrowth.
Nevertheless, the path is easy. The prose is smooth and r More...
Nevertheless, the path is easy. The prose is smooth and r More...
Nov 22, 2009
Juli
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Chadwick's overview on the early church was hard to follow at times and I felt like it was written for someone who already had some knowledge in this area. But more importantly I felt he made fairly large statements regarding issues where evidence is not clear and invoked historical figure's with emotions that they may or may not have actually felt. In particular, I disagree with his account of early Christian art (a favorite topic of interest and research for me). He makes bold claims based
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Feb 05, 2012
This is the first volume of the penguin history of the church and not the beginning of a history of christianity. Implicit in this book is the idea that orthodoxy has always existed. This reflects the sources but the reader may suspect that the reality was considerably more messy. I would have liked more on the emergence of a biblical canon and more of a sense of what texts (and of what quality) different figures and movements in Christian history were drawing from - but again this may well b
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Jul 17, 2011
Amy
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There's got to be an informative work about church history that is inbetween Idiot's Guide and theology doctorate. This skews more towards the latter, or maybe it is just poor writing. At best, this work wetted my appetite for papal history. At worst, I may just give up reading about petty ecumenical politics and semantic backstabbing in an institution born of, depending on your view, eternal freedom for all because it just makes me depressed about people.
Jul 19, 2009
Ian
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Superb analysis and description of the Church up to the (sad) major split between East and West, as well as the many (equally sad) splits before-hand. Henry Chadwick writes well and evenly, and provides a fascinating account of the history of the Church.
Nov 19, 2007
cole
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Chadwick's account of the earliest years and struggles of the Christian church is both readable and informative. probably why it was published by Penguin books. The history in general is difficult to take in as so much happens in such a short time and so much hinges on single syllables. you will still be confused just what the deal with homoousias and homoiousias is, but you will atleast recognize the terms.
chadwick also does a stellar job bringing out the extent to which the easter More...
chadwick also does a stellar job bringing out the extent to which the easter More...
Oct 31, 2009
Mel
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The information in this book was interesting, but the way it was presented was too dry and appeared to have been meant for a reader with a strong background in this era of history. Now, if John Julius Norwich had written a history of the early church, I wouldn't have been able to put it down.
Aug 07, 2011
Mike
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A good introduction, though didn't seperate too well the heresy from the orthodox
May 17, 2011
David
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Insightful look at the early church. It made me inquisitive being raised as a Catholic (now completely gone). It was a good pairing as I spent the year reading all the Graham Greene books and wanted to have a good perspective on that religion.
Feb 01, 2011
Christopher
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A concise summary and introduction to early church history, I read it in tandem with Bruce Shelley's book "Church History in Plain Language" and you can tell Shelley drew a fair amount from Chadwick but adds some modern day applications and is far more brief in his descriptions than Chadwick, sometimes leaving things out that Chadwick fills in nicely. It was good to work through it with pen in hand to record thoughts and interact with the text. Chadwick's book was a good appetizer whic
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Dec 26, 2007
Rob
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An educational book by one of the more esteemed church historians of the latter twentieth century. I enjoyed reading it, though I don't know that I would recommend it to everyone; it's pretty scholarly, so for those wanting a simple introduction to the early church, this isn't it. But if you're seriously interested in the development and history of the church during the first several centuries after Christ, it's definately worth a look.
Nov 02, 2009
Joel
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Chadwick is a scholar of church history. I appreciate him more and more as I forge into other church history books. I just don't think this is my greatest interest point in the world of books. But if you're going to read about the Early Church, this is one of the books to read.
Jan 04, 2011
Joe
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A very good summary/history of the period. The narrative is fairly compelling early on but gets dry towards the end.
Aug 27, 2008
Chris
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Learned quite a lot, but it was a bit on the slow side. Had no idea how much diversity there was in the early years of the church, and how much the early christians really hated other christians who believed slightly different things than themselves.
Dec 16, 2009
Tom
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This is an excellent single-volume introduction to early Christian history. My only gripe is that it could be longer - Chadwick is an excellent writer as well as an engaging history, and I'd like to read a general work of his that goes into greater detail.
Oct 24, 2011
Daniel
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I thought it was good. Not one that I would normally read. For the most part it was pretty basic but sometimes it was hard to keep up with the direction of the story. It helped I had studied some of this stuff before.
Jun 13, 2008
Jake
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See all the ancient original names for the heretical beliefs that we all still have now at whatever church your buddy goes to. Observe how it ended badly back then and how our society is similar. Fun fun fun.
Jun 10, 2009
T
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This was a very intriguing overview of the events that shaped the early Christian church and eventually led to the schism between the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches.
Mar 05, 2011
Mike
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I feel Professor Chadwick did a remarkable job of cramming so much history into 290 pages. It is a book that needs to be read with pencil in hand.
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Feb 11, 2012
Feb 11, 2012
