You can learn a huge amount by downloading lecture courses and listening to them while doing other bits and pieces. Specifically, over the space of several years, I’ve listened to three (double) courses in church history, which have been fascinating and really enjoyable. They were…
- David Calhoun (Covenant Theological Seminary, St Louis, Missouri): Ancient & Medieval Church History and Reformation & Modern Church History. A comprehensive sampling of the whole of church history, with an emphasis on the Reformation, and with a devotional edge to the course.
- Donald Fortson (Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina): History of Christianity I and History of Christianity II. Also very comprehensive, with a Reformation emphasis. Very helpful in understanding the roots of modern American evangelicalism.
- Gerald Bray (Beeson Divinity School, Birmingham, Alabama). Church History I and Church History II. The lectures in these courses are less methodical than in the other courses, and don’t cover as many different subjects. Sometimes Bray goes off on tangents, and sometimes the whole thing degenerates in fits of laughter. But there were many, many ‘Ah!’ moments when listening to these lectures. Bray manages to describe the events in such a way that it all makes so much sense.
Enjoy!