General Church History

  • A History of Christianity by Kenneth Scott LaTourette (dated but still excellent) 

  • The Story of Christianity by Justo L. Gonzalez (Up to date, but he really screws up Chalcedon)

  • The Path of Christianity: The First Thousand Years by John Anthony McGuckin   (McGuckin is a Romanian Orthodox Priest, but he has done his homework)

Century Studies

  • The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition, (100-600) by Jaroslav Pelikan (A standard work, volume I of a series)

  • The Fall of Jerusalem and the Christian Church, Second Edition by S.G.F Brandon  (A study of the impact of the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, and its impact on Christianity.  Caution: Brandon is not committed to inerrancy.)

  • How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church by Michael Kruger  

  • The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787) by Leo Donald Davis, S.J. (Good study by a Roman Catholic priest)

  • From Nicaea to Chalcedon by Frances Young 

Personal Favorites

  • Destroyer of the Gods by Larry Hurtado (Addresses how Christianity challenged ancient cultures)

  • Warriors of God:  The Great Religious Orders and Their Founders by Walter Nigg (a spiritual study of monasticism)

  • Descent of the Dove by Charles  Williams  (Williams was a novelist, an Inkling with C.S.Lewis)