For For readers wanting the story of the first Christian generation told simply; most will read it now as part of The Spreading Flame.
Should I read this?
For the general reader
3 of 5worth your time
For the researcher
2 of 5useful
Difficulty
2 of 5moderate
The first part of his popular history of the early church (1950), later absorbed into The Spreading Flame.
How it proceeds
Philosophic0 of 5
Scriptural3 of 5
Experiential0 of 5
Sociological3 of 5
Historical5 of 5
Independent intensities, 0–5 — what the work is made of, not how good it is.
The first of three short volumes of church history Bruce wrote for Paternoster Press, published in London in 1950 (191 pages). It tells the rise of Christianity from its beginnings in Judaea through the apostolic age. With The Growing Day (1951) and Light in the West (1952) it was brought together in 1953 as The Spreading Flame, the one-volume history by which the three are now known.
