30 Days to Understanding Church History

by Max E. Anders, Judith A. Lunsford

"Discover Your Spiritual Roots - You'll develop a sense of belonging to a great community of believers which spans 2000 years. Avoid Mistakes - You'll better understand our world today and avoid the mistakes of yesterday. Maintain Doctrinal Purity - You'll be able to spot imbalance and wrong direction more easily, as you recognize that we face the same problems that the church faced 1500 years ago." "You will All the important people, All the major events, All the significant locations, The development of doctrine, traditions, and denominations."

311 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1991

About the author

Max Anders (Th.M. Dallas Theological Seminary, D.Min Western Seminary) is the author of over 20 books and the creator and general editor of the 32 volume Holman Bible Commentary. Dr. Anders has taught on the college and seminary level, is one of the original team members with Walk Thru the Bible Ministries, and has pastored for over 20 years. He is the founder and president of 7 Marks, Inc., a ministry specializing in support for local churches.

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't remember where I got this, but I had it on the shelf and thought I'd read through it. It was pretty surface-level, doesn't go very in-depth. It includes a lot of filler, such as humorous anecdotes and random facts, I think to make it more accessible and engaging. I didn't really need all of that, but I can see that it makes it more palatable than a bunch of dates and names to most readers. I'm sure with any such books everyone will have their own personal nitpicks about what they wish had been included or better emphasized, and I have a few of my own (more non-European Christianity, better explanation of church councils and major theological debates), but overall I felt it was a reasonably balanced, even-handed approach to a very broad and complicated topic.

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved 30 Days to Understanding the Bible so when I saw this volume I was anticipating some of the same benefits. It was not to be. Church history is so varied and vast compared to the Bible. The Bible concentrates on the people of God from Genesis 12 until the Gospels. That allows for a fairly direct approach. The geography also is pretty simple. But with church history, after the early church, there is a lot to cover, like the whole world, for instance. It was a fascinating book but hard to get a good grasp of Church history without a lot of work.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

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[Starry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never read a book written in this style-- organized for quickly acquiring the basics in a visual style of learning. Interesting and would be easy to do in 30 days (as the title promises), but I'm fine just reading a book straight through too.

A good reference as I prepare Sunday school curriculum on church history for my 4th grade class. I start here to review the basics and structure, then move on to more detailed references to pick and chose where to dig deeper

[Thomas Freeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good simple overview. I like the chunks they broke history into. These were helpful to sort info in my head. I used their overall system as the background for my "Missions in Church History" course. Found it very helpful.

If you are looking for in depth study of church history I would look elsewhere. If you are looking for a good summary - I recommend this book.