Someone recently contacted me to ask about good resources for doing further study in church history. There is, of course, an ocean of literature on the subject but I’ve found the following books particularly useful in my own study of church history, both for personal edification and preparing for courses that I have or presently teach.
Robert Louis Wilken, The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013).
_____ . The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003).
Wilken’s books are great overviews of the periods that they cover. I recommend these books to my church history students as helpful surveys. They are relatively brief given the amount of history they cover.
Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, 5 vols. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990).
Pelikan’s volumes is a much more detailed and in-depth look at the sweep of church history. These volumes are well-written but not for the faint of heart. They are a good replacement for the multi-volume work by Philip Schaff, though Schaff is well worth consulting if you have the time. Although Schaff’s work should be compared with the latest literature.
Philip Benedict, Christ’s Churches Purely Reformed: A Social History of Calvinism (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004).
Benedict’s work is excellent—it’s well-written, thoroughly documented, and accurate in its analysis. Benedict’s book is well worth your time if you want to understand the history of the Reformed tradition.
D. G. Hart, Calvinism: A History (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013).
Hart’s book covers a lot of the same ground as Benedict, but his work is from a higher altitude—less detailed and more of a survey, but well worth the read. Hart is always engaging and provocative in his analysis.
D. G. Hart and John R. Muether, Seeking a Better Country: 300 Years of American Presbyterianism (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2007).
Hart and Muether’s book is an excellent way to begin your study of American Presbyterian history. They write in an engaging manner and with careful analysis. Their book is not to be missed.