I'm always on the lookout for books that simplify thousands of years of complicated church history, because, well, my Bible study ladies aren't going to read a textbook on it.

This book is a great resource. Pulling seven key sentences from seven primary church documents, the author walks readers through a good deal of church history. In case the reader wants to dig further, it's full of additional resources as well.

This will be a helpful book!

I’ve been really interested in studying the Bible academically and delving more into the history of Christianity, and I think this book is a perfect introduction. It was simple in execution, with enough details and knowledge in each chapter to help me feel like I knew more about the time period and events after reading it. The writing style and tone were very engaging, and I really enjoyed the list of books at the end of each chapter that I could study if I wanted to. This book accomplished exactly what I hoped it would, and I am walking away with more knowledge of our history as the church.

I received this book from the publisher through Netgalley for review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
The author is the editor of Christian History magazine and an Episcopalian priest. Her focus is on seven historical documents from Christianity from Pentecost to the last council. She writes on several historical topics such as Monasticism, Mysticism, Catholicism, the Reformation, Nominalism and denominational differences to the modern Christian churches we know today. This is an overview, but well detailed. For more in depth study, she provides a list of book recommendations after each section. Interesting and good for basic understanding of Christian History and documents, councils and movements.

Tait wrote a true gem here. Packed with history and the words of ancient peoples, this book is highly recommended for anyone who desires to know the deeper factors and traditions that ground Christianity. Well done, especially in the recommended reading selections offered at the end of each chapter.

To be honest I unrealistically hoped that all the important events in Christian history would each be told in seven sentences! Ha! Maybe someone would attempt such a book in the future!

Still, I appreciated getting to know more about the progress of Christianity as a result of the seven pivotal moments covered in this book. There’s a lot to absorb especially since some of the names were not familiar to me. The part about the Vatican Council was a bit dry but still worth reading about, though I did wish that particular segment was written in seven sentences!

Books in this style are inherently hard to do well. You've got to condense and summarize complex ideas and historical developments, yet you can't condense things so much that your writing loses personality or over-simplifies things. Tait maintains her writing style, summarizing without sound like an impersonal textbook. She finds ways to integrate direct quotes and footnotes, making each chapter feel like more than a summary.
A great introduction to important developments in Christian history.