*Risen Hope: The Church Throughout History by Luke Davis

Risen Hope is an engagingly written church history resource from Christian Focus for middle grades and teens.

*Risen Hope: The Church Throughout History by Luke H. Davis. Christian Focus, 2024.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10 and up.

Recommended For: Middle Grades, age 10 and up (See below for considerations; this series ages up well for teen readers, too)

We’re fans of well-told church history here at Redeemed Reader. We spent several Octobers focusing primarily on new church history resources for children and teens, and we’ve continued to add to our list! But Risen Hope is a welcome, fresh resource.

Five volumes cover church history from the first century up until the 21st century; each volume begins with an “R” word and focuses on a portion of the history.

• Redemption: The Church in Ancient Times (3 BC–476 AD)
• Reign: The Church in the Middle Ages (476–1485)
• Reform:  The Church at the Birth of Protestantism (1485–1600)
• Renewal: The Church that Expands Outward (1600–1890)
• Resolve: The Church that Endures Onward (1890–2023)

Each volume in the series follows the same format: a selection of mini-biographies of notable Christian figures that lived during the indicated time period along with short essays (called “Fact Files”) explaining key Christian movements or events during that same time period. This series is firmly Protestant (as you might expect given that third volume’s title!); Fact Files in the third volume contain one on worship, one on literacy and its importance during the Protestant Reformation, and one on other Reformers in the background (compared with the well-known names of Luther and Calvin).

Figures covered in the volumes are predominantly male, but several women are included (including, in the last volume, Elisabeth Elliot). Early church history includes many Africans (such as Augustine); later volumes contain primarily Europeans, but there are a few non-white figures, such as the famous Black preacher Frances Grimkey.

Risen Hope Series vs. History Lives Series

Like the earlier series, History Lives, also from Christian Focus, Risen Hope chapters provide historical fiction vignettes more than straight-up biography. Each chapter showcases the subject in the midst of a story; chapters end with a factual/biographical paragraph explaining the person’s context and history. This means that the books are quite readable and will provide an excellent “hook” for young readers just learning about some of these earlier brothers and sisters in the faith.

Does this new series replace History Lives? The blurb on amazon makes this claim. I think not. History Lives is, sadly, out of print. The structure of the two series is identical, and certainly, there is much overlap in subjects. But the two series do cover different human subjects. Together, they provide broad coverage of church history. Risen Hope is more well-written, I think, but History Lives covered more non-Europeans, particularly in the final volume.

*indicates a starred review

Related Reading from Redeemed Reader

• A Book Review: Read more about the History Lives series.
• A Resource: We interviewed Tim Challies about church history resources once upon a time!
• A Resource: Browse our church history resources!

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Buy these books from Westminster Books (note: individual volumes are also available).

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