Tim Dowley (Ph.D. in church history, University of Manchester) has been at the forefront of writing and editing for a new generation of resources on biblical studies and church history.
Useful, broad overview, reaching as far back as is historically possible to give a complete picture of the history of Christian music. What it lacks is any substantive commentary on the history, with only little inferences drawn here and there from critiques on especially modern Christian music styles and contributions. Sometimes feels a little stultified for its bent towards facts, dates and names; but it remains a useful reference book nonetheless, and certainly a testament to the extraordinary breadth of music produced by the church from the time of its birth – eye-opening enough for any layperson who hasn’t fully grasped the magnitude of what has gone before.