I learned from this history and it also put events and people and thoughts in context for me. It is a daunting task to put this much chronology one book.

Just as the description states, this was a “quick and colorful guide to understanding the key events and people that every Christian should know.”

Great summary of church history and quick reference. The author's story telling approach makes learning history enjoyable.

Great overviiew for high school students or adults.

This is a good introduction to Church History for 8th grade to adult. It is designed to be used to teach a course, but is well suited to individual study. I think it is well done, with the caution that it is from a Protestant perspective and may not always be sensitive to a Catholic point of view. If you want a good book for lay reading on Church History, I prefer other books, but this has been very helpful in preparing to teach Mid-High Church History classes and it is a quick read--designed to get people into Church History who wouldn't normally read about it.

Actually, I would like to give this book 3.5 starts, but mainly because of a number of (mostly rather small) factual errors (which is never good in a history book) I could not conscientiously give it 4.

This book is attractively done, containing many sidebars, pictures, and introduction to Internet sites. It should serve its purpose well, that is, introducing Christian history to lay Christians and others who have not studied that history very much. But it is an interesting read (and review) even for those who do know quite a bit about the history of Christianity.

I plan to contact the author suggesting correction of the errors I found (as mentioned above), and I hope an updated and corrected edition can be published. There is too much good information presented in this book for it not to be used widely by church groups in the years ahead.

A very good introductory book on church history. I read the kindle version on my paperwhite initially and found myself occasionally reading on my ipad to look at the pictures in color. The book is written in a very approachable manner and ends each chapter with a "events", "names" and "terms" you should know as a review from the chapter. With frequent "in case you were confused" and other pointed topics offered in bite size chunks the book does allow for pretty casual reading. A very small criticism I would offer is the book frequently presents links to other outside information that I have found several are no longer active.

Very easy read. Def would suggest it to anyone interested in a fly over of church history.

This is an incredibly thorough yet simple and enjoyable book on Church History. I definitely recommend this one!

I cannot rave about this book enough. Do you ever feel like your knowledge of the Christian faith through history jumps from The Bible to you? Or maybe The Bible to you with a couple of authors sprinkled in?

I always felt mine jumped from The Bible to the reformation to me with a couple of authors sprinkled in.

This fills in the gaps so beautifully. It’s beautiful, easy to understand and entertaining. It deals with the triumphs and failures of the church through out a complete timeline all the way from the Bible to us.

Despite the frustrations and follies of sinful mankind in the church and their constant divisions- this book is so inspiring. It’s inspiring to look all the way back through history, every step of the way, and see the saints before you. To see all the people who have kept the faith and lived and loved for Christ, devoting their lives to him.
I have been putting off finishing it because I don’t want it to end.
One of the best books I’ve ever read.

3.5 Overall, it was a nice overview. Definitely could use an updated edition. I appreciated that Jones made a definite effort to include women heroines throughout all of church history (because they obviously existed) and while I did learn many new names, the names I did already know of (Hildegard of Bingen, for example) seemed really downplayed, which I thought was odd. Still worth a read if you're not sure where to begin, but I most certainly wouldn't use this as my only church history text.

Easy read, user friendly, no where near a complete history but a good start. I actually enjoyed this a lot more than the Gonzalez book I had to read in seminary, and no it was not because of all the pictures! Recommended!