F.F. Bruce 
Spreading Flame 
The Rise and Progress of Christianity from Its First Beginnings to Eighth-Century England

This story of the early Christian church – from its infancy to the conversion of the English in about A.D. 800 – pictures a church that is an unquenchable spiritual force organized for tribulation. Its spiritual resources are never stronger than in times of seeming disaster. The book is divided into three sections: "The Dawn of Christianity" deals with the church from its infancy to the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70; "The Growing Day" continues to the accession of Constantine in A.D. 313; and "Light in the West" covers Christianity in Rome and its spread to the British Isles. The Spreading Flame gives a concise and very readable account of the origins of the Christian Church, its chequered history, the heresies that challenged it, as well as the development of its worship, discipline and government. The way in which Bruce conveys the sweeping narrative of the New Testament and early church history is enthralling.