Peril and Peace

From SPARK

One-sentence summary

Historical biography of the early Christian Church, for children.

Description

These stories will teach children the history of the first six hundred years of the Christian church. They will learn how the early church influence Christian life today.

Children will learn how early Christians lived in a hostile world. Some children live in those same conditions today. They will be encouraged to learn that others in different countries and cultures, and times have contined to believe in Jesus.

Biographical stories tell the mistakes, errors, strengths, and talents of early Christian leaders.

The 22 chapters vary in length. Short factual chapters introduce the longer biographical ones. The book contains the following chapters:

• Ancient Church Timeline.
• What was the ancient church?
• Paul: A servant of the true God
• Terrible Trials and Persecutions
• Polycarp: Ground like wheat in the lion's teeth
• Justin: “A flame was kindled in my soul.”
• Worship in the Ancient Church
• Origin: “God planted in us this unspeakable longing to know Him.”
• Cyprian: “This body is my sacrifice.”
• Constantine: “With this you will conquer.”
• Early Creeds and Councils
• Athanasius: “Do martyrs die for a mere man?”
• The Great Cappadocians
• Ambrose: “A bishop cannot give up the temple of the Lord.”
• Augustine: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
• John Chrysostom: Vanity of vanities
• How did we get the Bible?
• Jerome: “Love the Holy Scriptures, and wisdom will love you.”
• Patrick: “Come walk among us.”
• Benedict: “Renounce yourself and follow Christ.”
• Other early Christians
• Where we got our information (written by the authors)
• Map of the ancient Mediterranian world showing the cities where the stories took place

Considerations

• Best for children ages 9-14 years old.
• The book has 224 pages and 21 chapters. The last four pages list sources of information and show a map of locations of the stories.
• These stories are about early Christian believers, some of whom yielded to sin.
• These stories are about church history and people God used to complete His plans.
• This book allows children to see the difficulties and dangers of following Jesus in the early days of the church. It will encourage children who live in areas that face persecution today.
• This book could be used in colleges and seminaries to help train national workers.

Limitations

• Although the biographical stories are based on extensive historical research and include quotes from the characters' actual writings, they are fictionalized. In some cultures it may be difficult for children to separate fact from fiction.
• Because many names are introduced in the stories, children will need to be able to follow sometimes complicated story lines.

Guidelines for Use

• As an audio book.
• As a Christian radio program.
• Use in schools and Sunday Schools as church history curriculum.

Where to Obtain

Link to Producer or Source Organization

Christian Focus Publications Ltd

Cost

3.99 (GBP) as of June 2008

Producer/Owners

Author/Artist/Producer

Mindy and Brandon Withrow

Current copyright owner

Mindy and Brandon Withrow, 2005

Other Information

If you are interested in translating this book into a minority language, you will need to contact Christian Focus Publications Ltd. Together with them you will need to work out a Creative Commons License agreement.

Reviewed by

Vida, VMS

Date

June 19, 2008