The One Year Christian History

by E. Michael Rusten, Sharon O. Rusten, Michael Rusten

What happened on this date in church history? From ancient Rome to the twenty-first century, from peasants to presidents, from missionaries to martyrs, this book shows how God does extraordinary things through ordinary people every day of the year. Each story appears on the day and month that it occurred and includes questions for reflection and a related Scripture verse.

Genres: History, Christian, Church History, Devotional, Nonfiction, Christianity, Christian Living

832 pages, Paperback

First published February 5, 2003

Reviews

[Kristal · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Truthfully I did miss around 2 months or so of entries, but I feel like I’ve read enough to classify this book as complete

I thought this book would be a lot more diverse in terms of teaching history. As others have mentioned, it’s biased and has an extremely narrow scope. It should be called The One Year Book of White Protestant Christianity. Each individual reading was nice, but on a few occasions when I looked up more info on someone that sparked my interest I found there was some details that seemed to be conveniently not mentioned. For example, there are at least 10 readings related to George Whitefield, but his pro slavery stance seemed to be skipped over. There are also several readings on prominent Confederate soldiers, while there is nothing mentioned in the index on say, MLK or Harriet Tubman which really concerns me. I was also disappointed that when discussing the gospel spreading to other countries like India or China that the focus was always on the white missionaries and not on the new converts. I would have loved to hear the perspective.

It seems to me the authors chose a few general topics/preachers and researched around those to make it as easy as possible. Many entries focus on bible times or early church history (500AD or earlier) or otherwise the Protestant reformation and American Christians. The authors seem to have their favorites (Billy Graham, the Wesley brothers, George Whitefield, Rev Judson, American presidents) and don’t go super far out beyond that scope.

Considering this is a book about CHRISTIAN HISTORY I would have liked to learn about Catholic Christians and Eastern Orthodox history, as that is indeed part of our history. You don’t need to agree on those doctrines to recognize the significance of those denominations. And as mentioned above, Christians aren’t always white and mostly male but you wouldn’t know it to read through this book.

Also, a couple errors I noticed in this book:

April 20th entry: the Rachel Scott/Cassie Bernal death at Columbine High School have proven not to be martyrdoms. Further reading includes Dave Cullen’s book which has a wealth of research done about this topic.

July 4: I found no reference to “The Wallamo Tribe” online other than in other Christian publications that copy this exact same story. The bibliography shows this is based off of a singular source. I believe this group is the Welayta people and I question the “devil worshipping” reference- do they know who satan is if they do not know anything about Christianity? I do not deny the spiritual battle that goes on in the world, but that seems like an ignorant thing a prejudiced missionary may have written down.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the obvious bias in historical perspective, The One Year Christian History is a great look at significant ways in which God has worked in and through his people throughout recorded human history. The book is a "this day in history" approach, but personally I found the skipping around from 5th Century B.C. to the year 2000 annoying. In the back of the book, I found a chronological list of the daily stories and decided to follow that approach to reading it instead. I liked the common themes I found in particularly periods of history as well as ways that God has seemed to work with people across the centuries. All in all, I enjoyed it. Thanks to my friend Jason Odom who gave me this book as a birthday present a year and a half ago.

[Greg Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this at the beginning of 2018 and kept up with it each day throughout the year. This is a great addition to my daily devotional.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to read each day of the year! It has information about Christian men and women that you have probably heard of, plus some that you probably haven't heard of. Some of the writings are about an event in history more than a person. Some of the daily readings are from ancient history and others are from more modern or current history.

It's obvious that the authors put a lot of effort and research into the daily writings, which also have a scripture verse at the end that is tied to the theme of the day's reading. I enjoyed reading it daily by myself, but the book could be used in a group setting because there are questions at the end of each day's reading to promote discussion.

[Holland Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I probably read most of the year. I kept this in my bathroom because I knew that was the only way I was going to read it. There were a few cool things, but the history feels like it would only be interesting for a seasoned saint who is a die hard republican and southern Baptist. I wish it contained more biblical history within it.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find that the older I get the more interested in history I become. This book was used as a daily reading, get your morning jump-started with an inspirational thought, kind of thing. It worked. Some great trivia along the way.

[Carla Calvert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of my daily "read"....I learn so much everyday from this little book!

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not read this as a daily devotional, as you're meant to, but I read it straight through. Nevertheless, I found it very well-organized and put together, and pretty well-balanced in most ways. There are a few things to be aware of: it is very deliberately Protestant, premillenial, and Calvinist. If you don't fit in that lane, it still has a lot of great stories, reflections, and tidbits of interesting Christian history, but you might be disappointed with not hearing about Thomas More, Mother Theresa, or Saint Anthony, to name a few off the top of my head. For some reason they were obsessed with the Scottish Covenanters: there were several dozen stories from them for some reason.
I thought including some of the Old Testament stories was a little odd, and didn't fit with the other stories, but that's a minor quibble. Overall, the breadth of stories from around the entire world was pretty good: Most were European-centric, true, but I feel like there were quite a few stories from Christians from China, Japan, Indonesia, India, Africa and others: there could've been more, but the authors were obviously trying to have some variety, and I appreciated it. So I felt that this book, while not perfect, did have a lot of really good stories about how God has worked throughout history in a huge variety of ways: through martyrs, missionaries, pastors, hymn-writers, and also regular ordinary people like you and me.

[Cal Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO GOOD..

I love history and you never learn about any of these stories in highschool nor in college (unless you take course specific classes that pertain). No wonder because the miracle of individual Christians and the Church at large throughout History is so remarkable and undeniable it would infuriate those who seek to suppress the truth.

I started marking the stories that I absolutely had to remember and I ended almost marking every page and every story. It is unbelievable how rich our story and our heritage is as Christians. I highly recommend this book.

We stand on the shoulders of those who have came before us who at many times died for the truth. Most of all Christ - who died as a ransom for us.

“The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church.'' - Tertullian

[George · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used this book as a devotional over the previous year. It was okay, but I can't really reccomend it. It is meant for lay Christians who don't have the best grasp of history. Every day involves some story from church history that is related to a Bible passage and some questions to answer. The format is good. I think what I didn't like as someone who is really into history is that it's sources weren't cited. I would like to believe all of the stories that were in here, but some are passed as hagiographies or other oral tradition like stuff. Which if you've been in Christian circles long enough you have heard plenty of, only to learn that it never occurred later. This one just had an Evangelical Protestant flair to it.

[Lester Flaquer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un vistazo durante todo el año a aquellos héroes de la fe, conocidos y aún no tan conocidos, que nos ayudan a seguir adelante corriendo la carrera de la fe. Una nota refrescante y aleccionadora para nuestras vidas, un estímulo y apoyo a seguir hasta que nos llame o Él vuelva.

[Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but not great. Some of the anecdotes seem to be a stretch in their applicability to both the date assigned and true Christianity. However, an interesting devotional read and useful reference for further study.

[Tom Greentree · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed many days of this book, and was introduced to many intriguing figures in Christian history, there is a distinct anti-Catholic bias as well as a pro-war stance that I often disagreed with.

[Becca]

1st November 2024

I got about halfway through this book but haven’t picked it up since I came back from holiday. I’m quite far behind on it and don’t want to put myself under pressure to catch up and finish it this year so I’m putting it down for now and will aim to finish it next year ☺️

[Kimmie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rich

[Raymond Hermes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A testament to God throughout history.

[Vaclav · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an encouraging and informative historical and biographical read.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read for a night devotional or an anytime devotional. Great events from history which strengthens one's faith.

[Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a history major in college, I appreciated the 1.5 page stories of people who were believers. Lots of research went into getting all the facts and chronology right in all the stories.
Fun to read, fun to fill in some of the gaps in my Christian history understanding

[RevRonR · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is truly a marvelous devotional. There is so much learning of Christian history and spiritual growth in learning about the experiences of saints of the past - some even of recent history. It’s also very worth having on your shelves ministers as a source of illustrative material in your teaching and/or sermons. I highly recommend it, and though I completed reading it, I will continue to use it as both a source of encouragement, spiritual growth, learning, and as teaching material.

[Jenny Karraker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read some more recently written books about Gettysburg, it was interesting reading this classic. I wonder if the differences come from newer findings and research or whether the differences reflect more of the times in which each book was written. This author was definitely harder on Lee, criticizing how he didn't supervise his generals closely enough and how he didn't create consensus among them about his plan. Other books stated that this was his usual method, choosing men he trusts, giving them the general plan, and letting them flex w whatever the situation calls for. This plan didn't work well bc these men were new to their commands and Lee didn't know them as well. also none seems to have had the intellectual flexibility and aggressive spirit that Stonewall Johnson was famous for. It was interesting how Meade operated in the exact opposite manner as Lee, meeting w his men frequently, giving more specific orders, and building consensus. It is interesting to note how both sides had opportunities to win this battle and perhaps end the war, yet opportunities were missed often bc of shortsightedness on the part of the leaders. However, it is easy to be an arm chair quarterback and pick apart their decisions and consequences after the fact. Personally, this book encouraged me to look for opportunities and to follow through on them, to push forward through tiredness, and to consult others and build a team atmosphere. I want to be always learning from the situations I find myself in and moving forward, even through failures.

[Nancy Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book offers many fine narratives of God's faithful work among people, I found a few elements a bit off-putting: most notably a clear bias against Catholicism (seems like 9 out of 10 references to Catholicism were deeply unflattering -- which I, as an ecumenical Protestant, find offensively unfair; Protestants have also perpetuated much ill will in the world but we don't highlight THOSE things here). My other disdain: the "certainty" of dates attributed to specific years Before Christ (as a made-up example: "On July 15, 787 BC"). My reaction was, "Really?! You can feel THAT CERTAIN of something that scholars can't pinpoint. Could we not have the humility to say even, 'approximately'?" That alone would have helped me tremendously. Instead, it caused me to question other elements stated with unwavering certainty because of the seeming lack of humility. Glad I read this book -- and also, admittedly, glad I'm done with it.

[Scott Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The One Year Christian History is not an exhaustive "greatest hits" of Christian History nor is it intended to be. What it is is a book that offers bite-sized glimpses into the people and events that make up the rich history of the Christian faith. Although I would not recommend this book for anyone looking for an in depth daily devotion, I would recommend it for anyone who wants an interesting book laid out in an easy to read format for daily reading.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the history though some was very American focused like Christmas Eve in WWII. Some of the other Euro history was really interesting and caused me to do some other research. It really lacked much non-Euro history except for missionaries. I would have loved to read about some of the African denominations historical figures ie Samuel Morris, Desmond Tutu, etc.

[Serge Pierro · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book, that I continue to read daily. Each day of the year is presented with a corresponding Christian related historical piece. Lots of interesting pieces throughout. Each piece is followed up with a relevant verse from the Bible.

[Jan Kramer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent daily devotional book based on the history of Christianity.

[Elaine Sturm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book very interesting. A little fluff here and there but I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Great historical facts on different mostly Christians.