Believers today know so very little about the past, especially the Christian past. While secularists will only decry the injustices down by church and Christianity in the past - this is so much of a caricature of the actual facts. Yes, there were abuses and injustices and down right evil atrocities done (in contradiction to the teachings of Jesus) in the name of Christianity. But the truth of the matter is that more good has been done by the gospel of Jesus Christ than anything in history (See Christianity on Trial - Arguments Against anti-religious Bigotry by Carroll and Shiflett)
A few books you may want to check out on the church history side of things…very good reading
- I like Bruce Shelley’s Church History in Plain Language
- One that is a small volume is The 100 Most important events in Christian History by Curtis, Lang, and Peterson…
- The One Year Book of Christian History by E. Michael Rusten, Sharon O. Rusten is a fun book that has a reading form Church History every day.