Customer Reviews

The Founding of Christendom: A History of Christendom (vol. 1)

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First of all, it is worth note that Carroll admits his bias right from the beginning, and thus honestly admits to what would have been obvious from the first few pages of his work. Among the "objective historians", the lack of bias is paramount, and is established by attacking, diminishing, and demeaning whatever subject they approach. Carroll, by way of contrast, admits a pre-existing bias, and is thus free to explore, explain, and defend his subject matter.

The Founding of Christendom accomplishes three great ends. First, it provides a succinct and riveting chronological study of the "History of the World." I admit I was quite shocked to discover that Carroll picks up his work not from AD0, but from the moment of Creation itself. Audacious! And yet his historical approach provides a new view of Genesis.

Secondly, Carroll's portrait of the evolution of Judaism, through the birth of Christ gives a compelling view of the necessity of the Old Testament as a precondition to the New.

Finally, the extent to which "Foundation" establishes chronological context is particularly impressive. Without so much as a "Meanwhile, in Greece..." Carroll manages to firmly establish the temporal relationship of Biblical events within the broader context of world history. It is one thing to look at a wall chart displaying events in different civilizations at different times, and quite another to understand the relationship between Philistine domination of the Israelites and the Homeric legends of ancient Greece. Certainly other works have hinted at the similarities between the Phillistines, Goliath and the Grecian demi-gods, but Carroll's was the first work that made it click so clearly.

Finally, this is the best of the four comparably excellent volumes for one primary reason: this volume has the least number of references to "August, the ancient dying time of Rome," the phrase of resort that may be Carroll's one true weakness.

I labored through several other church history books until I came across this gem of a series (four of six completed). Dr. Carroll has done thorough research and comes across with a balanced view -- and from an unashamedly Catholic perspective -- in very readable prose. Now that Dr. Carroll has retired, perhaps he will make time for book five in the series. I cannot wait!

In this age of scathing biblical criticism and rigorous historical objectivity it is definately a relief to find someone writing history from a theocentric point-of-view. Warren H. Carroll makes way for Christ and His Church through a general overview of history starting with man's earliest encounters with God all the way to the establishment of Christendom by Constantine the Great. A thorough account of the life of Christ is given along with a clear, detailed narrative defining the Apostles' missions at home and abroad, the steadfast character of Christianity under persecution, and the pride of the Roman Empire giving way to the conquering humility and ethics of Christianity. An eloquent summation of both the New and Old Testaments are treated with strong and convincing answers to modern criticism - Carroll's colorful storyline mixed with brilliant Christian apologetics makes this an excessively convincing read...there are four books in this series currently in print, two more presently in the making.

Warren Carroll is one of the most amazing historians I have ever read. Unashamedly and unapoligetically Catholic, he also has an incredible amount of learning under his belt, without ever sounding pedantic. For example, his bibliography has a short summary note under each & every book entry. He is also incredibly opinionated, sometimes in opposition to all other scholarly writers. Sometimes right, sometimes ridiculous, always interesting. I can't recommend anything by this author highly enough, and I have read about everything he has published.

This series is the best church history I have ever read. Not only is it well researched, it reads like a good novel. I'm in the middle of volume 2 right now

What a delight to read a history from a Christocentric viewpoint! These volumes must be read with two bookmarks -- one for the main text and one for the end-of-chapter footnotes. Highly recommended! It's a dream of mine to see a twenty-hour filmed version of this series.

Warren Carroll's "History of Christendom" series presents history as viewed from a Christian perspective, with Christ as the focal point of history. Some might argue that this perspective results in a biased view of history, and I would agree that this is true. But as Dr. Carroll points out in the introduction to the first book, every historian's work is shaped by his particular world-view, whether consciously or not. Thus all written histories are to some extent biased. And in my opinion, Dr. Carroll's approach provides a good counter-balance to the more secularized version of history that many of us are familiar with. (Please note that when I say that Dr. Carroll's or anyone else's version of history is biased, I don't mean that the facts are wrong, but only that the facts are given a different emphasis or are viewed from a different perspective.)

This first book in the series covers the early history of Christianity and pre-Christian civilization, starting with the ancient Jewish, Greek, and Roman civilizations, and proceeding up to 324 A.D. It is excellently written and is very well researched and documented (100+ footnotes per chapter, and several hundred sources total). In my opinion this first book is the best in the series. The three chapters on the life of Christ are especially good.

This book shows how Christian history is mesmerizingly interesting: Carroll is hugely erudite, and in the processing of unfolding this most extraordinary of stories, he tells the story elegantly and poetically!

I have all three volumes in this series so far, and I check Amazon every week hoping to see that Volume 4 has appeared (not yet, it seems)...

May Warren Carroll live long enough to complete the series! There has never been anything like it in 2000 years.

At last! After literally years of reading and perusing dreary histories of the Christianity evidently written by nonbelievers, I finally found this set.

As far as I know, the History of Christendom is the only competent history in English that is written from the perspective of an actual Christian ("Triumph" was well meaning, but not very good history, and I was unable to finish it.) The astounding truth and significance of the incarnation gives meaning and excitement to every word of the text, which is packed with good reliable information, including wonderful footnotes.

This is the set you must have for yourself and your children.

This book gives the reader a perspective on history that is refreshing! Not only is this series well researched, it is well written. The author does a marvelous job in helping the reader see Divine Providence throughout history. I never thought a book on history would be so hard to put down! But...that is what Truth does!