Christian History Blog

May 20, Quotes about Religious Icons from Christian History

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:38:38 GMT

Quotes from early Christian history about religious icons. The Eastern Orthodox Churches claim that the veneration of icons is not idolatry. Do the early church fathers agree?

May 20, Quotes about Roman Catholicism from Christian History

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:38:38 GMT

Powerful or fascinating Christian quotes about Roman Catholicism from throughout history, addressing the papacy, apostolic succession, tradition and any other uniquely Catholic doctrine.

May 20, The Orthodox Church

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:38:38 GMT

A brief explanation of the Orthodox Church, what it is, and where it came from

May 19, Quotes about Non-Violence from Christian History

Sun, 19 May 2013 12:53:08 GMT

Powerful or fascinating quotes about non-violence from throughout Christian history.

May 18, Miscellaneous Christian Quotes by subject from Christian History

Sat, 18 May 2013 03:34:39 GMT

Miscellaneous Christian quotes from throughout Christian history.

May 17, Trinity Quotes from Christian History

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:31:16 GMT

Powerful or fascinating Trinity quotes from throughout Christian history.

Apr 10, Four Gospels

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 04:40:42 GMT

There is a lot of false information out on the source of the four Gospels. Here is verifiable information and sources.

Feb 20, A Brief Definition of the Trinity

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:17:45 GMT

A concise definition of the early Christian view of the Trinity.

Feb 20, The Protestant Reformation for Everyman

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:08:16 GMT

A history of the Protestant Reformation written for Everyman. Highlights and stories make an easy-to-read overview of one of the most dramatic turns in western world history.

Feb 18, Quotes about Pride from Christian History

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 01:08:50 GMT

Quotes about pride from throughout Christian history

Feb 17, Quotes about Authority and Obedience from Christian History

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 23:53:10 GMT

Quotes about authority and obedience from throughout Christian history

Feb 17, The Octavius: An Early Christian Debate

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 22:35:33 GMT

The Octavius is an early Christian debate with a Roman written in the late 2nd century. You'll be surprised and empowered by the Christian answers to Roman accusations.

Feb 17, Quotes about Honesty from Christian History

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:00:20 GMT

Quotes about honesty from throughout Christian history

Feb 3, Quotes about Divorce and Remarriage from Christian History

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 11:27:09 GMT

What is the historic Christian position on divorce and remarriage? Here are quotes from throughout Christian history on the subject.

Jan 18, Christian History Questions and Answers

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:09:19 GMT

The best of the hundreds of emails I have written in response to queries by readers of Christian History for Everyman.

Dec 6, Quotes about the Apostles from Christian History

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 09:45:12 GMT

Interesting and informative quotes about the apostles from throughout Christian history.

Nov 24, Angels of the Churches

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 14:13:29 GMT

Who are the angels of the churches in Revelation? A unique and historical perspective that finally makes sense.

Nov 24, Seraphim: Dragons in Heaven

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 14:05:55 GMT

According to the Bible, the seraphim are dragons in heaven. Why hasn't anyone told us?

Nov 21, Christian Podcasts

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:43:46 GMT

Christian podcasts based on Scripture and early Christian history. A unique, radical, and proven effective perspective calling for zeal, discipleship, and unity.

Sep 2, No Salvation Outside the Catholic Church?

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 05:44:01 GMT

Is There No Salvation Outside the Catholic Church? A discussion of the statements of the early Christians.

Aug 24, Video on the Council of Nicea

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 21:50:14 GMT

Jonathon Mclatchie made a very well done video on the Council of Nicea. It was interesting enough that both I and my wife sat through almost 10 minutes of video despite the fact that I wrote a book on the Council of Nicea (so the information was not new to me) and she would not normally be all that interested in the subject. The video is well done, and the content has only the most minor errors. You'll find those kind of errors even in very good church history books. Who do I think I am that I would suggest there are errors in Mclatchie's video and even in "good" church history books? Well, that's partly what my book is about. Besides telling the story of the Council of Nicea, hopefully in quite captivating form, I explain how history is done. Anyone can do it if they work hard enough, and I worked for months on Nicea. (And I'm sure I have some minor errors, too; it's really hard to avoid. I was editing the book all the way up to the final publishing date.) Mind you, historians don't always agree. History can be a messy business, a lot like detective work, but the basics of many historical events are often relatively certain. Most articles and videos that deal with the Council of Nicea are riddled with significant errors, even ones done by honest Christians. Mclatchie's has no significant errors, and as an added bonus, it's interesting! My book can be obtained from Lulu.com as an ebook for only $2.99, despite the fact that it's 460 pages and that a lot of the pertinent primary historical documents have been hunted down and included in the appendices. Anyway, I really recommend Mclatchie's video. You'll enjoy it.

Aug 16, Introduction to The Proof of the Apostolic Preaching by Irenaeus

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 19:48:16 GMT

Introduction to The Proof of the Apostolic Preaching by Irenaeus, perhaps the earliest and simplest comprehensive description of the apostolic faith in existence.

Aug 16, Proof of the Apostolic Preaching by Irenaeus

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 19:48:13 GMT

The Proof of the Apostolic Preaching by Irenaeus is the most straightforward and simple look at the apostolic faith available among the early Christian writings.

Aug 16, Early Christian Writings

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 19:36:33 GMT

A terrific, short collection of important early Christian writings in modern English. This is therefore a great, rapid introduction to the pre-Nicene church fathers for those that want a feel for the early apostolic churches.

Jul 21, Misused scripture...

Sat, 21 Jul 2012 04:22:37 GMT

You have misrepresented the story of Peter's conversion. Did Jesus tell Peter he was a sinful man? Did Jesus tell Peter to give up everything and follow

Jul 5, The Trinity: Is the Nicene Creed Heretical?

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 13:05:21 GMT

A wrong view of the Trinity will get you called a cult in the apologetics world today. Would the bishops of the Council of Nicea have been condemned as a cult?

Jun 5, The Apostles Creed

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 21:09:51 GMT

The Apostles Creed is very similar to the Nicene Creed. It's an simplified statement of faith that leaves out some of the details that were specific to the Arian controversy in the 4th century.

Jun 5, Sound Doctrine in the History of Christianity

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 21:09:48 GMT

Any modern Christian would be surprised at what sound doctrine was to the apostles and the early Church.

May 30, Baptism

Wed, 30 May 2012 11:35:04 GMT

I was taught baptism was necessary for salvation so I was confused when I encountered the argument that salvation was by faith alone and that baptism was

Apr 24, Secondary Sources and Papal Primacy

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:49:46 GMT

Why don't I use secondary sources in refuting papal primacy? Is it because no historian agrees with me?

Jan 13, Quotes about Being Born Again from Christian History

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:07:36 GMT

Quotes on being born again--the new birth--from throughout Christian history.

Dec 31, Calvinism

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 21:20:45 GMT

A discussion of the historical and biblical merits of TULIP, the 5 points of Calvinism

Dec 31, The Substitutionary Atonement of Jesus Christ on the Cross

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 21:18:33 GMT

Substitutionary atonement, or the paid penalty theory, has only been accepted doctrine for about 1000 years, and it has never been orthodox in the east.

Dec 24, Early Christian Meetings

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 20:42:44 GMT

I was asked about early Christian meetings in an email, and I thought that more of you would be interested in what the meetings of the early church were like. Here's where to find more on the early church meetings. I wrote a longer post on my Rest of the Old, Old Story blog that gives the passages from Justin and Tertullian that I mention. The earliest description of an early Christian meeting (or church service) is in Justin's First Apology, ch. 67. Tertullian describes an Agape (a love feast) and he calls it by that name (Agape). That's in his Apology, ch. 39. You can find it and most other pre-Nicene writings at http://www.ccel.org/fathers. Justin's is from c. A.D. 150, and Tertullian's is from c. A.D. 210. There's more liturgical descriptions of worship and church practices in Hippolytus' Apostolic Tradition (difficult to find and may need to be purchased) and the Apostolic Constitutions. Hippolytus wrote in the early third century, and the Apostolic Constitutions is a composite document, some of which is from the late third century, and the rest later. That's about it, which I suppose should stand out to us. The early churches did not emphasize the weekly meeting, though they surely considered it important. Their writings emphasize daily life, their commitment and care for one another, their honesty, their bravery in the face of adversity, etc. When they speak of theology, they emphasize that there is one God, that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, and that he is a Lord and Teacher worth following. The weekly meeting is not their emphasis at all. They are not looking for ways to improve it, and they don't spend much time even discussing it. It's primarily an opportunity to hear the Scriptures with some explanation, for none of them would have owned Bibles, and to eat the fellowship meal together.

Dec 18, Why I love SBI

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:26:14 GMT

My SBI sites get a half million visitors per year and every tool I use is free. You can do it, too.

Dec 14, Romans 8:1 and Bible Translations

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:03:51 GMT

I wrote an explanation of the difference between Romans 8:1 in the King James Version and in modern versions. Specifically, I point out the importance of realizing Paul has just explained "the law of sin and death." The blog post, on my Rest of the Old, Old Story blog, is here.

Dec 14, Why I Address Roman Catholicism

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 01:38:29 GMT

Why does Christian-history.org address Roman Catholicism directly, but not any other Christian faiths?

Dec 8, Roman Catholicism

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:32:13 GMT

The good and bad of Roman Catholicism. We Protestants can reject Roman Catholic tradition, but we need to learn from their original sources.

Dec 8, When Protestants Become Catholic

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:05:47 GMT

Many Protestants become Catholic after reading the early church fathers. Is this really where the early Christian writings lead?

Dec 7, The "Free Gift" of Salvation

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:34:58 GMT

Does the Bible say that salvation is a free gift, and if it does, what does that mean?

Dec 6, Reconstructing Christian History for Everyman

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:27:23 GMT

It's time for me to admit that taking on 2,000 years of church history is too big a task for a guy who was running a business and who is now going through chemotherapy treatments for leukemia. My area of expertise and my greatest area of interest has always been second century Christianity. I wanted to know what the apostles' churches believed and practiced. Even as a young Christian, I found it impossible to believe that the apostles' churches wandered completely away from apostolic teaching in only a century. Modern denominations don't lose their doctrines that quickly. Even if the apostolic churches had become more worldly, surely they knew things that would answer questions for us today. Having found out the extent of the writings available from the early churches, I now know that there was very little falling away in the first 150 years after the apostles. They did a remarkable job of building strong churches and getting them past their early troubles. Once I learned that, I tried to learn what happened. How did those powerful apostolic churches become the mostly watered-down churches of today? In the areas where we believe differently than they did, where did our doctrines come from, and why were they so readily adopted? Those questions were surprisingly easy to answer. They forced me to learn about the fourth century and the marriage of the church and the Roman government. Of course, I also had to spend time studying the Reformation and learning a bit about the doctrines of Martin Luther and John Calvin, which have influenced Protestant Christianity so heavily. Those sections of church history have been the areas that have interested me the most and have answered the questions that have troubled me the most. Those sections are my areas of expertise. They have always been the focus of this site, but now Christian History for Everyman will purposely focus on those areas of church history. Of course, I have also been plied on a regular basis with requests to submit myself to the pope and to the Roman Catholic Church. Also, the RCC claims that their "pope" has been the head of the church since the time of the apostles, a claim with absolutely no historical backing. I will soon consolidate the pages already written on Roman Catholicism into a new Roman Catholic section on this site. I hope you enjoy the new site. It is not a lot different, but it will be cleaner and more focused. I hope you can already see that in the new Navbar. I am confident it will make this site easier to navigate and the pages you like easier to find and return to. Thank you for visiting Christian History for Everyman.

Dec 5, The Two Ways: An Early Christian Tract--Light and Darkness or Life and Death

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:32:43 GMT

The tract of the two ways has made it into several early Christian writings, under the title of either _The Way of Light and Darkness_ or _The Way of Life and Death_.

Dec 3, Books by Paul Pavao

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 15:59:10 GMT

Books by Paul Pavao on the subjects of Christian history and radical discipleship.

Dec 2, Christian Teachings

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 02:17:45 GMT

Christian teachings based on Scripture and early Christian history. A unique, radical, and proven effective perspective calling for zeal, discipleship, and unity.

Dec 1, Quotes about the Rule of Faith in early Christian History

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:21:09 GMT

Before Nicea, when Caesarea's rule of faith was elevated to become the Nicene Creed, the rule of faith was the central tenets of Christianity memorized at baptism by all new Christians.

Dec 1, AT LAST!

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:06:21 GMT

I've been reading your site for the last four days. The more I read, the more I realize I need to keep reading. But today, on the Word of God page, I

Nov 18, The Master Storyteller

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 01:56:19 GMT

One of the more central events of Christian history, in my opinion, is the spearing of five missionaries in Ecuador in 1956 by a stone age tribe. Despite how recent it is, it has affected thousands, if not millions, of lives. I used my other blog to cover why that event is so important to God, and to give the assessment of Steve Saint, son of missionary pilot Nate Saint, one of the men killed on that sandbar in the Amazon jungle.

Nov 11, Sabbath defined by Scripture and early church

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:06:26 GMT

There are only two places that are valid in which to determine how God wants us to celebrate the Sabbath-Scripture and the early church. To determine

Nov 10, Quotes about Prayer from Christian History

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:31:10 GMT

Quotes on prayer from throughout Christian history

Nov 10, Quotes about The Church from Christian History

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:27:52 GMT

Powerful or fascinating quotes about the Church from throughout Christian history.