This is a coffee table book - of the Readers Digest variety. Hence, I wasn't expecting much of it. In fact, I had not even entered it in LibraryThing. It was "in the garage," which meant I had identified it as a giveaway book, intending eventually to pass it along to Friends of the Library, I suppose. Then my wife and I chose some "garage" books to donate to a silent auction in connection with her family reunion. I picked it up, just to browse in it, just to see whether it was appropriate or not. And I was hooked.

Now let me be clear at the beginning. I don't think this book was ever meant to be read. It's too large, heavy, and awkwardly shaped for a reader to hold; yet it is hardly attractive enough or of sufficient general interest to grace a coffee table. Regrettably it's a bit bookish in its style; and the content (as well as the writing style) would likely not appeal to either the serious student of church history or a general reader; its content is too detailed for a general reader and too skimpy and poorly documented for a specialist. But I've been a Christian all my life; I have read fairly extensively in Christian thought and biblical exposition; and I've even dabbled a bit in church history, primarily from the origin of Protestantism on; in other words starting with the Reformation - Martin Luther and that very different "reformer," Henry VIII. So, as it turns out, this was just the book for me.

In nine chapters, it focuses on the first 600 years or so of church development. Its method is somewhat encyclopedic: brief (usually one-page) entries on famous topics: incidents, figures, texts, and movements. I enjoyed reading just a few pages at a time, then looking up more information on major figures mentioned. These included church fathers, church historians of the period, and world leaders with a particular interest in Christianity. Sometimes they were persecutors; sometimes converts themselves.

Listed below are some of the subjects you should expect to find covered throughout the book:

1. the history of the Roman empire from Caesar Augustus to Justinian and Pope Gregory the Great, the latter of whom was instrumental in saving Rome from utter destruction when various Gothic armies threatened all of the empire. Various emperors decreed persecutions of Christians, led in the conversion of the nation (or parts of it), and sometimes played an active role in convening church councils to deal with doctrinal differences. In a sense, what you will be reading is a history of Rome.

2. Of course, the book catalogs basic facts about significant church history: Christian leaders and movements, creeds, scriptural canons, the development of bishoprics and the papacy, doctrines, church councils, and early buildings. I could wish for more detail and a fuller chronology, for example, on the elevation of the Bishop of Rome to be the catholic (or universal) Pope. Furthermore, I would have liked more detail on the development of the New Testament canon, especially criteria and historical processes used in the selection and rejection of other documents and the most significant church fathers involved.

3. What is emphasized throughout, however, are persecutions, all the way up to the point when Christians were persecuting one another, and successive heresies, their perpetrators and advocates as well as opponents.

4. Finally, there are frequent but brief references (actually parenthetical expressions) to what survived in later church history and even in modern times. This naturally includes themes, rites, edifices, and the lasting heritage fostered by church leaders. I had forgotten, for instance. how many sites of early churches were in what is now Turkey, more actually it would seem than in Palestine, Italy, or Greece.

But that is to concentrate on the content of the text. But this, after all, is a coffee-table book, and a reader is always - on every single page - aware of the design and illustrations. Every double-page spread of text is rife with pictures (all with captions) and sidebars; and in every chapter there are two-page spreads of art work and copious cross-referencing. The illustrations prominent in every chapter consist of reproductions of art works (paintings, sculpture, and the like) from the period under consideration or art works from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and later (though not modern) eras, depicting events from the period under discussion. There are also numerous photographs of surviving artifacts, buildings, and landscapes.

Original art commissioned especially for this book (frontispieces to each chapter, for instance) are arguably a bit amateurish compared to the historical works. Nine separate artists are given credit for these illustrations, but you would be hard pressed to see the differences among them; they all seem to share the same vision and techniques.

The sidebars provide more information about the period under consideration. They are in boxes of varying sizes throughout the text, with black print against pastel color backgrounds. For example, the sixth chapter, on the era of Constantine, has side-bars on "The First Saints" (from the language of Paul to the 1234 AD Roman Catholic criteria for sainthood), "Two Favorite Saints" (St. Nicholas and St. Valentine), "Devotion to Mithras" (a pagan sun-god), and "Ancient 'Christograms' " (especially the Greek Chi-Rho for Christ).

The double-page spreads are galleries of the kinds of art work mentioned above. The first three chapters, on early church history from AD 30 to AD 100. have two-page galleries on the following topics: "I will pour out my Spirit" (a stained glass window showing the day of Pentecost; and paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries of the Last Supper and the Crucifixion), "An Age of Miracles," and "Apocalyptic Visions."

All of these features of the design are meant to make the volume appealing to the eye and provide information drawn from the text or imposed upon the text. As colorful and appealing as they are, they also render the text less readable. For one thing, to examine the illustrations, take in the captions, or read the side-bars interrupts one's reading. Sometimes they may take up less than a quarter of a page, or extend a full page or more. This challenges one's ability to keep one's place or follow the order of the narration.

Even with all these imperfections, I still give my heartiest recommendation that you read the book if you are one of the 357 LibraryThing members who already own the book, especially if you have more than a passing interest in the history of Christianity but are not already knowledgeable about the early centuries in question.

One more simple warning: the text is obviously the work of a committee. The Library of Congress lists no author, but nine writers are listed in small print in addition to numerous editors, researchers, etc. Four professors are given credit as consultants (from Yale, Oxford, Union Theological Seminary, and the Catholic University of America): two in history, two in biblical studies or church history. A result is that information is sometimes repeated in different contexts, and the chronology sometimes skips back and forth. None of this is too distracting, but I recommend that you read short selections at a time, keep your encyclopedia (or Wikipedia) handy, and keep your thumb or a book marker at the chronological chart (pp.10-11).

When you finish, I'd love to read your review.

I am not sure I understand the title, but the book itself is a great resource for researching the early Christian church. The book spans AD 30-600, from Christ's death through the Middle Ages. Tons of photos of historical artifacts and art of the era. Interesting reading about the Roman emperors, differing viewpoints of Christianity, Paganism and Christianity, and Medieval Christianity. ( )