Church History

by Simonetta Carr

From before the creation of our world, God intended to have a people to love forever, enjoying their company as they enjoyed His. Jesus told his disciples that he would build this church, and nothing could destroy it (Matthew 16:18). God has kept his promise. For two thousand years, Christ has continued to preserve His church even when destruction looked likely.

Part 1 [12 pages]
The Early Church (30-312)

Part 2 [26 pages]
The Church in Late Antiquity (312-622)

Part 3 [14 pages]
The Early Middle Ages (622-1000)

Part 4 [26 pages]
The High Middle Ages (1000-1517)

Part 5 [20 pages]
The Protestant Reformation (1517-1600)

Part 6 [22 pages]
A Troubled Century (1600-1700)

Part 7 [20 pages]
A Time of Revivals (1700-1789)

Part 8 [56 pages]
A Changing World (1789-1914)

Part 9 [51 pages]
The Modern World (1914-2000)

Genres: History, Church History, Christian, Childrens, Nonfiction, Faith, Religion

272 pages, Hardcover

Published September 30, 2022

About the author

Simonetta Carr was born in Italy and has lived and worked in different cultures. A former elementary school teacher, she has home-schooled her eight children for many years. She has written for newspapers and magazines around the world and has translated the works of several authors into Italian. Presently, she lives in San Diego with her husband Thomas and family. She is a member and Sunday School teacher at Christ United Reformed Church.
Awards - First prize (Best Biography) in the 2014 San Diego Book Awards Association (see book Anselm of Canterbury)
First Prize Athanatos Ministries - Best children's book (see book Anselm of Canterbury)

Reviews

[the_storied_life (Joyce Santiago) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This is an excellent overview of church history. Very clear, concise, and accessible. I’m so excited to be reading through this book again with my teens this coming school year.

[Parker Goforth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible resource. Faithful, concise, and filled with helpful discussion questions. Great option for families with older children or someone who wants to get a helpful overview of Church History.

[Steve Hemmeke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a GREAT book. Geared as a textbook for roughly 7th-12th graders, Carr does an excellent job simplifying complex issues for students without dumbing things down. I used this as a homeschool text for a semester, and it was marvelous.

Carr is known for her shorter biographies of figures around the reformation, and applies her historical research more broadly, here.

Covering all of church history from 30AD to the present, worldwide, is quite a task, and some selectivity is needed. Here are some weaknesses, and then strengths of the book in this area.

Weaknesses:
The coverage is quite uneven. 30-1517AD is covered in 80 pages. Reformation to the present gets 170 pages. This is expected from a book published by “Reformation Heritage Books,” but still disappointing. Alfred the Great gets 2 sentences. Alcuin gets 3.

So many figures of history are given a little box with 2-3 sentences that I got ADD. It became just random facts, instead of a cohesive story.

The “Think about It” questions are helpful to engage students (and provide homework!), but they are often leading to a specific answer, rather than helping to think critically about a subject.

Strengths:
The visuals and high quality paper and binding are VERY well done. The book is beautiful and appealing, including many original portraits and pictures of historical figures, documents and assemblies.

The coverage of the Reformation through Westminster is thorough and excellent.

The coverage of history from 1900 on is the best I’ve seen anywhere, giving much detail and key figures I’d never heard of, worldwide from South Korea to Nigeria.


I don’t know if this is a strength or weakness, but the book is obviously from a Reformed Presbyterian perspective. It “takes sides” on the Arminius controversy and Dordt. Carr also is obviously keen to show that not only Baptists but Presbyterians sent out many missionaries in the 1800s. This makes her selective in modern history, focusing on Machen, Packer and Sproul, while Mohler’s historic reformation to orthodoxy of a major institution is absent.


Reformed homeschoolers should definitely get this book. Classical schools should consider it for their curriculum. We all need to know our history better, and this book provides a path to dip into history for as much time as you have. Either 5 minutes as a family devotion, or a semester as a high school course, Carr’s accomplishment brings you more understanding and spiritual edification from our Church family history.

[Andrew Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

This flyover of church history is a phenomenal start for someone who's a layman in this area of Christianity. The history of the Christian church is so vast, and it still is being written today until Jesus' return.

Getting into church history can feel extremely overwhelming, there's a seemingly infinite amount of material to read. Simonetta Carr does a good job of covering many big events and people that played a huge role in shaping the church without getting too caught up in every last detail. Not everything or everyone is covered, of course.

There are other books that zero in on certain events and people in greater detail, but this is certainly a great first book for someone interested in church history without knowing where to begin. I also think that this is the goal of this book anyways, an introduction. Most people / events are given about a page each, which may seem very light for some readers, but when you're covering over 2,000 years of church history in one volume, I don't think it's a bad thing.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Church History, Simonetta Carr presents the important people, places, and events of church history.


Learn and Discover

In just over 250 glossy pages with high-resolution, color photos – this book is an excellent way to learn and discover about the spread of Christianity. Written for ages 9 and up, young readers will be educated and older saints will be edified. All will be encouraged to see God’s work around the world.

9 chapters cover the early church (30-312) all the way through the modern world (1914-2000). I was most pleased to read about the Reformation, as well as seeing some of my own heroes including R. C. Sproul, J. Gresham Machen, Herman Bavinck, and George Whitefield. Quotes are included throughout the book, along with biography boxes, important questions and answers, maps, and timelines.


A Greater Perspective

I was most moved to learn about Christian missionaries and martyrs, especially those of the 20th century Korean and Chinese church – such as Esther Ahn Kim, Sohn Yang-Won, Jeanette Li, and Watchman Nee. Hearing about their persecution but also their persevering faith, and seeing them included with other heroes of the faith, deeply encouraged me.

This book will give you a greater perspective. It is a testimony to the faithfulness of God’s people to his work and his mission. Even more, it is a testimony of God’s faithfulness to his people and preserving them with grace.


I received a media copy of Church History and this is my honest review.

[Peter Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I like this as an introduction to church history. It is pretty basic. But visually it is appealing with sidebars, etc. that make it fun to read. If your understanding of church history is minimal, this isn't a bad place to start.

But it is plagued by the same thing so many shorter reformed church histories are: A neglect of the first 1,000 years of church history. Carr's book has 245 pages of text. The first 1,000 years are covered in the first 53 pages. She devotes almost 4 times as much space to the last 1,000 years. I dislike this quite a bit and wish the work of the Spirit in the life of the Church from the ascension of Christ and Paul to First Crusade (1095) would be covered as thoroughly as the rest of church history is.

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good survey of Church History, the author notes the various stages of history, the key events and key characters throughout, while not sugar coating the good, the bad, and the ugly of the history of the church. Advertised as a book for youth, I found it to be a book that can be read and helpful for youth and adults. Sometimes it is easy to forget that it is a big world and God has been and is currently at work all across the globe, not just in our own backyard. I was encouraged by the content and was reminded that history is God's story for mankind, and specifically in this book, God's story for His people. And no force can stop Christ from building His church.

[Dianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A walk through history of the Christian church; geared toward student, but informative and engaging for an adult. This was a gleaning over many events covering close to 2,000 years...an admirable project! It points the way for the reader to explore more deeply the people and events encountered along the way.

The many snapshots of Faithful believers that were scattered throughout the book help remind the reader of the unchangeable nature of God's Word, and its power to transform lives across time and geography.

I recommend this book for a family read aloud!

[Allison Anderson Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed studying this textbook throughout the history of Christianity. While it would be impossible to cover every single aspect of Christian doctrines and characters from all different cultures, Carr does a worthy job of discovering lesser known aspects & figures of Christianity throughout the centuries.

[Ebookwormy1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

For many years, I’ve been searching for an excellent history of the Christian Church for all ages. In Simonetta Carr’s Church History (2022), I finally found it!

I now recommend it for everyone wanting to learn more about the history of the Christian Church and specifically for those looking to educate at home. Not only does Carr provide an effective timeline of events, Church History presents the material in an engaging way that encourages engagement.

Strengths of the book include it’s success in documenting the geographic panorama that expands from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in Israel during the Roman Empire to the year 2000. Carr covers both the structures of the church (such as liturgy, buildings and leadership accountability) and ministries of the church (such as pastoral and mission endeavors, institutional establishments -universities, hospitals, etc, and compassionate public assistance). Prompts throughout the book challenge readers to transformational application of theology to life.

From beginning to end, Simonetta Carr’s Church History presents a biography of the Christian Church in such a way as to encourage thoughtful study. Opening with A Note to the Reader and the Introduction, Carr references the helpful Glossary and thorough Index to invite her guests to begin to not just read, but ponder the analysis presented. In addition to the opening sections and ending reference material, the book also closes with a summary, More Than Conquerers, and Acknowledgements.

Carr’s work is presented in 9 parts with thematic titles for each period, a Map of the geography focus, and a Timeline of key events discussed. I thought prospective readers would want to see how the information is outlined. Each section is not uniform in length. While this is clearly a content driven discussion, when working through the book cover to cover, it does mess with a reader’s expectations. In addition, while there are a couple instances the timeline breaks around world events (such as World War I forming the break between Sections 8 and 9), for the most part, these chapters are framed by key events in the life of the Christian Church. Can you identify what those events are? If not (or even if so!) Carr’s book will be an aid to you!

Part 1 [12 pages]
The Early Church (30-312)

Part 2 [26 pages]
The Church in Late Antiquity (312-622)

Part 3 [14 pages]
The Early Middle Ages (622-1000)

Part 4 [26 pages]
The High Middle Ages (1000-1517)

Part 5 [20 pages]
The Protestant Reformation (1517-1600)

Part 6 [22 pages]
A Troubled Century (1600-1700)

Part 7 [20 pages]
A Time of Revivals (1700-1789)

Part 8 [56 pages]
A Changing World (1789-1914)

Part 9 [51 pages]
The Modern World (1914-2000)

The entire tour of Christian History is accomplished in 266 pages of a coffee table large format book. Throughout these sections, Church History uses various formats to organize, highlight and supplement the chronology. Red Quote Boxes highlight primary source material. Red text describes photographic images. Great Questions of the Church discusses clarification of Christian theology by scholars and ministry leaders. Paragraph length mini-biographies of missionaries, poets, writers, martyrs and apologists are featured in the Some Men and Women of the [section]… The Think About It segments prompt written or oral examination of practical quandaries faced by practicing Christians. At times, particularly starting out with learning the format, I found the layout a bit clunky, unable to decide whether it is a text book or a coffee table book, but at the same time, these image and textual additions enrich the narrative.

My only disappointment was that while Carr has chosen to focus on internal development, conflicts, and even failings of the Christian Church, I thought the coverage of external conflicts between the church and other powers – particularly other religions such as Islam, with governmental conflict receiving a bit more attention – was unsatisfying. However, there is plenty of information here from which to jump into deeper exploration.

Prior to publishing Church History in 2022, Simonetta Carr was already the successful author of the outstanding Christian Biographies for Young Readers series. I’m thankful the title of this work wasn’t limiting, as “…for All Ages” would have been more accurate than “…for Young Readers.” I highly recommend that series, which has over 20 titles. But the comprehensive approach of Church History may be a better place to start your reading of Simonetta Carr’s work – though I wouldn’t stop there!

I’ve been literally waiting for this book since I started homeschooling in 2009! I’m happy to highly recommend it now that it’s here!

Chronologically, the first title in Christian Biographies for Young Readers is:
Irenaeus of Lyon (Christian Biographies for Young Readers), Carr, 2017
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

For another excellent Church History resource that focus' on the early Church, see
Getting to Know the Church Fathers, Liftin, 2007
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[David King · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview of church history. Concise and written to be accessible to teens. Clear and thorough enough to be valuable to most adults.

[Donald Owens II · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simply church history. I plan to use it for my school children.

[Richard Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carr’s Church History is a well-written, engaging, and informative introduction to the history of the church.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read for young readers who’d like to be introduced to church history. It gives the reader a little taste of God‘s work through history.

[Meagan | The Chapter House · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book that pulls together so much information (and pictures yaaaay) about church history. An invaluable resource perfect for all ages.

[Daniel Patton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I’m feeling truly inspired by such devotion, love, and confidence in Christ. A book worthy of the time it takes to read.