Can anyone recommend a good book about the early Christian Church?

Avoid Zealot it's written by a freaking Muslim

Try this:

Tried by Fire: The Story of Christianity's First Thousand Years by William J. Bennett

Lamb: gospel according to biff

quote:

---

Tried by Fire

---

Looks great; thanks.

Up vote for Tried by Fire

Or any of Paul's letters. He was our first true theologian.

quote:

---

Interesting. Is that book heavily slanted? I would love to read a more historical account of the religion, and not one with a bunch of magic in it.

---

No it's not slanted at all. It covers Israel during that time period and how it became controlled by the romans. It talks about where the term Zealot comes from. How Ponitus Pilate came to power. What the Temple did once Jesus was crucified, and why and how Saul/Paul went from murderer to "disciple."

Eusebius' "History of the Church" is considered the seminal work on the subject.

I enjoyed Zealot. Aslan is a Muslim but he is highly educated and did a great job portraying the atmosphere of first century Palestine.

Books like Zealot can't be taken as gospel, pun intended. What makes the topic of the Jesus movement so interesting to me is that there is room for different interpretations and theories. So there's nothing wrong with keeping an open mind and reading the various scholarly works and debating.

The Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 vols.

Product Description

The Ante-Nicene Fathers ranges from the Apostolic Fathers to various third and fourth century sources including the liturgies and ancient Syriac documents. It was intended to comprise translations into English of all the extant works of the Fathers (with the exception of the more bulky works of Origen) down to the date of the first General Council held at Nicaea in 325 A.D. This American edition by Arthur Cleveland Coxe is a revision of the original series edited by Alexander Roberts and Sir James Donaldson and published in Edinburgh. The revision involves a major rearrangement to conform to the historical sequence, the addition of brief introductions and notes indicating variances in readings, specifying references to scripture or literature, clarifying obscure passages, and noting corruptions or distortions of patristic testimony (as forged in the Decretals). The basic aim of the translations has been to strive for literary exactness, placing the English reader as nearly as possible on an equal footing with those who are able to read the original.
Volume Titles:
Volume 1: Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Volume 2: Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Volume 3: Tertullian
Volume 4: Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Volume 5: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Volume 6: Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Volume 7: Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, Homily, and Liturgies
Volume 8: Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Aprocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Volume 9: Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Testament of Abraham, Epistles of Clement, Origen and Miscellaneous Works
Volume 10: Bibliography, General Index, Annotated Index of Authors and Works