Peace and Peril: Chronicles of the Early Church

Description of Book / Brief Plot Summary:
This book provides an overview of the first 600 years of church history since Christ. It tells the story of prominent early Christians through fictionalised narratives that are based on the true historical events and quotes from the writings of the characters covered (who include: Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Athanasius, Augustine and Jerome). Interspersed with the narratives are short factual chapters covering things like early church worship, persecution and creeds. The narratives are engaging and fast paced and provide an accessible introduction to important historical characters and events.

From the cover: Let history come to life – just the way it should be. Read the stories of Paul, Polycarp, Justin, Origen, Cyprian, Constantine, Athanasius, Ambrose, Augustine, John Chrysostom, Jerome, Patrick, and Benedict. People from the early and ancient church and discover the roots of Christianity. From the apostle Paul to Benedict you can discover how those in the early church still influence church today. In their lives you will see the young and developing church struggling and growing in a hostile and difficult world. Watch in amazement as a varied selection of people from different countries, cultures and times merge together to form the Christian church. Learn from their mistakes and errors but more importantly learn from their amazing strengths and gifts. Marvel at the incredible things accomplished by God in such a short space of time. Written in a modern and relaxed style this is a book that will introduce you to history without the tears and with all the wonder. There are longer chapters interspersed with short factual chapters. Extra features throughout this book look deeper into issues such as persecution; worship; creeds and councils and the formation of the Bible as well as a timeline

Language – Does the book contain any offensive or blasphemous language?
None.

Religious Content – Does the book contain any religious content, Christian or other?
The book is about Christian church history.

Moral Content – Good and Bad. Does the book contain any positive moral content? Does the book contain any questionable themes?
The book of necessity covers topics such as persecution and martyrdom. It is an overtly Christian book. It has no immoral themes.

Other Comments:
This Volume 1 in the History Lives series. There are 6 volumes in total covering the whole span of church history. Whilst it is written from a generally reformed evangelical perspective, the selection of characters covered in the book is broad and some would perhaps be considered slightly less orthodox than others.

The book was first published in 2005. The reviewed copy was printed in 2014.