This new edition of Mark Noll’s classic introduction to church history isolates fourteen key moments that provide a framework for understanding the history of Christianity. This version includes a new preface, updates throughout the book, revised further readings for each chapter, and two new chapters. Study questions are included.

Praise for previous editions

“This highly recommended work provides a thoughtful yet comprehensive framework for the history of Christianity.”
—George Westerlund, Library Journal

“Noll’s treatment of the material is evenhanded, engaging, and illuminating. This will be a useful text for readers seeking a historical framework within which to understand their Christian faith.”
—Publishers Weekly

“An informative and inspiring survey of the history of Christianity designed for the general reader. . . . A thoughtful introduction to the two millennia of Christian history.”
—Richard V. Pierard, Church History

“Noll’s emphasis on historical significance allows him to range well beyond the institutional and doctrinal matters that dominate traditional church history surveys. . . . A valuable text for church study groups and college-level, one-semester surveys of church history.”
—James A. Patterson, Journal of Church and State

“Noll has pulled off a historical tour de force, giving his readers a sense of the overall story of Christianity while neither getting bogged down in the details, nor resorting to oversimplification. . . . [This book is] very helpful in introducing beginning students to the broad sweep of historical events. More knowledgeable students will enjoy it as well, as they ponder the reasons for Noll’s choices and his assessment of the events he describes.”
—Donald L. Huber, Trinity Seminary Review

“Mark Noll’s survey of key movements in the two millennia of Christianity is well written and judiciously selected. The book is designed for the relative newcomer to church history and would be an interesting read for the oft cited ‘educated person in the pew.’. . . A fair and interesting historical survey, attempting to do right by all brands of Christians.”
—Tim Bradshaw, Themelios

Mark A. Noll (PhD, Vanderbilt University) is the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. He is one of the nation’s most distinguished practitioners of American religious history and is the author of dozens of books in this field, including America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln and The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind.