Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent overview
Review: Mr. Shelley's Church History In Plain Language stands up to its title. Mr. Shelley does an excellent job over viewing the major historical events and conceptual changes found through out the history of Christianity. Above all his easy reading style is wonderful. This book made me feel like I was in a personal conversation with my favorite college professor. Mr. Shelley goes out of his way to make the reading experience enjoyable and enlightening. My reservation with the book is found in its weak approach to the Eastern Church. From 1200 AD forward the Eastern Christians are mostly forgotten. There was also an over detailed focus of the trends in Christianity over the last 50 years. I found the last seven chapters to be too detailed and disconnected from the clear style of the earlier chapters, but the book as a whole is an excellent read for anyone interested in Christian history.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfect Primer for Plain Folks!
Review: Okay, so I used too much alliteration in the above headline...but if you're interested in Church History, and have never read any, this IS the book for you! Shelley has done a tremendous job in about 500 pages. Anecdotes and simple explanations of complex ideas are appreciated by the non-expert. "Plain Language" DOESN'T have to be read straight-through, either. Shelley GENERALLY follows "Topical" subjects in each of his 10-12 page chapters. For instance: interested in John Wesley? Read the chapter on Wesley and Methodism. Interested in how the Creeds or Canon were formulated? There's a chapter on each of those, too. What about Eastern Orthodoxy? Yep...well, you get the idea. AND Shelley doesn't stop there--IF the student is particularly interested in a subject, EACH CHAPTER has a bibliography to point him/her in the right direction. "Church History In Plain Language" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Rating:
Summary: Very compact and clear. Excellent organization of the text.
Review: Shelley's book is indeed easy to read and very clear most of the time. The writer doesn't seem biased, so readers don't have to worry about being lead to ideas that don't really reflect what happened. The book mentions people and their motivations, and covers history from the time of Jesus until relatively modern days. Sometimes it's not so easy to follow the timeline, as Shelley often jumps back and forth in time, but that lack of linearity seems to better necessary to explain some events. The subjects covered are also very dense and such brief explanation might sometimes raise more questions than those it answers. That's the price to pay for trying to cover so many years of history in around 500 pages focusing on clarity. Eventually, you might want to check other sources for a more detailed coverage. The author provides some of the major titles on each chapter, so that will be a start. I fully disagree with the reader from Oklahoma who thinks "the book's format screams "boring," with page after page of bare text, no text boxes, too few paragraph breaks", The second edition has nothing to point regarding that, there are many paragraphs and breaks, several sub-topics inside each chapter. You seldom read more than 2 pages without reaching some break or topic change. In fact, that's an area where Shelley did a really good job, the text separation is superb. (I wonder what the Oklahoma reader would think about G.K.Chesterton's (brilliant) "The Everlasting Man", now THAT is having NO breaks) :-) Regarding content, I'll mention a few of the main topics of each chapter: The book starts with the Jesus movement, the apostles, and proceeds to the age of Catholic Christianity (Persecution, Rise of orthodoxy, the formation of the bible, the power of the bishops, etc). From there, the age of Christian Roman Empire (Conversion, doctrine of the Trinity, Augustine, The beginning of the papacy, eastern orthodoxy, etc). And we reach the Middle Ages (Gregory the great, Charlemagne and Christendom, the papacy, Scholasticism, The apostolic life-style, decline of the papacy, Wyclif and Hus,etc). In the Age of Reformation Shelly tells us about Martin Luther and Protestantism, The Anabaptists, John Calvin, the Church of England, The Catholic Reformation, America and Asia's situation, Puritanism and denominations. Next come the days of Reason and Revival (Cult of reason, Pascal and the Pietists, Wesley and Methodism and the Great Awakening). In the more recent times the book covers Catholicism in the Age of progress, 19 th century England, protestant missions, Christian America, protestant liberalism, the social crisis, 20 th century ideologies, American evangelicals, the ecumenical movement, roman Catholicism (Vatican II), Christianity in the 3 rd world and Christianity on the world scene. The book also has a list of popes from Leo I to present (John Paul II) and decent indexes (organized by people, movements and events). The only thing I missed was perhaps a short summary of each age's central events and ideologies at the end of each chapter. (Shelley has some timeline charts, but they are not as useful). Very well organized, very compact (sometimes too much) and perfect for the layman wanting to know more about church history. This is one of the titles that come to my mind when people start asking what's truly the difference between Protestants and Catholics, for instance. Well worth checking out.
Rating:
Summary: Great overview of Church History
Review: Shelley's book manages to provide great details while still being very readable. It keeps a good flow. A must read for Church History students -- and I don't mean just seminary students -- this book is good and important for all of us.
Rating:
Summary: Great overview of Church History
Review: Shelley's book manages to provide great details while still being very readable. It keeps a good flow. A must read for Church History students -- and I don't mean just seminary students -- this book is good and important for all of us.
Rating: 
Summary: Terribly misinforming...
Review: The author fails to realize that the history of the Christian Church begins and ends with Orthodoxy. Don't get this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book, boring format
Review: The content of this book is excellent. Shelley blends anecdotes, theology, and secular history with church history to provide a solid introduction to the subject. However, the book's format screams "boring," with page after page of bare text, no text boxes, too few paragraph breaks. _Christian History Made Easy_ from Rose Publishing covers the same ground in a format that is much more appealing, with hundreds of pictures and text boxes to break up the text.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing and Highly Subjected
Review: The title of this book is enticing; however, readers should be aware that a more accurate title is "A Protestant view of Church History in Plain Language." While Dr. Shelley is true to his word in providing a short and highly readable history of the Church, it fails in many ways. The author often attempts half hearted efforts to provide both sides of the story regarding complex disagreements regarding mostly Catholic versus Protestant church doctrine. Unfortunately, the result of these efforts is providing a one line argument which he promptly refutes by jumping to his predestined conclusion, his Protestant view. The author's unscholarly approach on one hand should be commended as the potentially boring issue of church history becomes readable. On the other hand it becomes a highly biased medium subject to the author's own personal beliefs. In the process it misses its objective. If you are Catholic the book forgone conclusions are demeaning. If you are Protestant you may find the book decidedly misleading.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, readable overview of church history!
Review: This book delivers exactly what the title promises: a readable history of the Christian church. While it is not all-encompassing, the book covers a vast amount of material in an understandable way in about 500 pages. At times, I wished for more depth on particular topics, but the book is well-referenced, making it easy to get more information if you wish. One thing the author does particularly well is to show the work of God in church conflicts through the centuries. Often Christian historians treat church history like all other history and leave God out of it. This is not the case in Shelley's book. Most of all, it reads like a novel. I found myself staying up late to keep reading.
Rating:
Summary: broad, thought-provoking overview
Review: This book does a great job at pointing out major themes and ideas running though church history and helps the reader to see their impact on Christianity today. This book is thus useful for those who know nothing about church history or those who want help in seeing the continuity and ideas that pull the history of Christianity together.
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