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What book(s) do you recommend on church history with emphasis on the church fathers? Would prefer something which is not biassed toward a given denomination or church, but an objective overview of the important personalities and their influence on the christian faith and culture. This meaning that I am really interested in their main dogmatic views and theological contributions.

Even if this seems to be a very broad topic and field, could you recommend me the book(s) that were helpful for you and your understanding on this?

I have not studied church history so far, and have a very basic knowledge, but I am becoming more and more interested about it and would like to study it in more detail. I also think, that this is very important for my general knowledge and also my faith.

(In the community I have been raised, there was not so much accent on Church History in general).

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  • Sorry, but we don't really do book recommendations here. But one idea for you is to look up a bunch of the course descriptions from theological colleges and see what textbooks they say are recommended or required. – curiousdannii Feb 16 at 10:44
  • @curiousdannii oh, I didn't know that. Sorry, maybe I mistakenly overlooked the forum rules and suggestions, I only joined today. Thanks for the advice! – Neil Hanroobs Feb 16 at 13:00
  • amazon.com/… Check out Ken Johnson if you’re interested in simpler reading. – Autodidact Feb 17 at 4:44
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    This suggested reading list looks promising. I would start with the 2 books by Wilken and Chadwick by professional historian instead of "biased" theologians to provide the backbone for further study. – GratefulDisciple Feb 17 at 21:33
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    You can find the complete set of Philip Schaff's Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers online at CCEL or New Advent. You could start with Volume 1: The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Ireneus. Each section begins with a decent, fairly objective overview of the author (although the editors were prominent Protestants). The only caveat is that many of the writers included in the series were/are not recognized as true Church Fathers by everyone, but Vol 1 is fairly safe. – guest37 Mar 29 at 3:23

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