Christian history is rich and complex. Volumes have been written on the early church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformation, and alternative forms of Christianity. Here are three fascinating titles you may not have tackled.
The Jesus Sutras
The Jesus Sutras: Rediscovering the Lost Scrolls of Taoist Christianity (by Martin Palmer, Wellspring/Ballantine, 2001, ISBN 0-34543-424-2) explores the discovery of a Chinese Christian monastery and a cache of writings that prove Christianity was introduced to China as early as the 5th century. These works drew upon the vocabulary of Taoism and Buddhism and adopted cultural idioms in order to communicate the gospel to the Chinese in a way they could understand. Some of the content of these "Jesus Sutras" is very noncontroversial; other components, such as references to reincarnation, may cause some Orthodox Christians to regard the Taoist Christianity as an heretical form of the religion. The book is fascinating not only for revealing documents produced by early Christian missionaries, but because it provides a good historical overview of the Eastern Church, which often receives very little exposure in Christian histories. The work would have been improved by a better organization of the material, which would also have avoided redundancy. Overall, however, it is an engaging and highly readable book.
A History of Christianity
A History of Christianity (by Paul Johsnon, Touchstone, 1979, ISBN 0-68481-503-6) offers a one volume survey of Christianity from the New Testament through the 20th century. Despite being a Catholic himself, Paul Johnson does not seem the least bit ashamed of depicting all of the dark, sinful actions of the institutional church. He approaches Christianity as a historian, and as a Christian he pursues the truth, unafraid of where it will lead him. His opinions infiltrate the work, but they are often interesting and entertaining, even if you don't always agree with them. It would have been useful if the author had delved more into the historical origin of the many American sects; he focuses primarily on Catholicism (which, granted, was the history of Christianity for many centuries), but his book seems to speed up when it reaches Protestantism. Nevertheless, it is one of the most entertaining tomes to survey the whole of Christian history.
A History of the Jews
Paul Johnson also authored A History of the Jews (Perennial, 1998, ISBN 0060915331). This almost 600 page volume covers the major events, movements, and cultural aspects of Jewish history, from Noah (the first biblical character, according to Johnson, for whom we have historical corroboration) to Israel in the 1980's. Johnson wrote this book because he wanted to learn more about the roots of his own faith, Christianity. Johnson makes some interesting speculations that help elucidate certain aspects of the gospels. He argues, for instance, that Christ was probably closest, of all the Jewish sects, to the Pharisees, and that he was trained by Hillel. (This might help to explain why, despite His many claims to divinity, the Pharisees actually tolerated Him as long as they did.) A final note: the Christian or Jew who leans toward a literal, inerrant interpretation of the Bible may be offended by Johnson's more liberal historical approach to the text and his very occasional unsubstantiated assertions about certain characters.