Many Christians throughout the world who worship in historic branches of the Church participate in a special liturgical season during the forty days leading up to Easter. This forty-day period is known as the season of Lent. Since Easter is… Read More ›
Historical Theology
What Does “Sacrament” Mean?
Some call them sacraments, while others prefer to say ordinances. In this week’s new video, I attempt to clear up confusion as to why different Christians use different terminology when referring to holy rites like Baptism and Communion, and briefly… Read More ›
Irenaeus’s Against Heresies, but Just the Best Parts!
Against Heresies is one of the most important extensive works of ancient Christian theology. But it’s also incredibly hard to read. Here’s a handy guide to all the sections you should skip to.
Early Church Fathers Profile: Saint Irenaeus of Lyons
Probably my favorite theologian of the early church, Irenaeus was a thinker captivated by the pursuit of truth about God. Here’s a quick rundown of his life and legacy, as well as the elements of his theology that most stand out to me.
The Earliest Church Fathers on Election and Predestination (Part Two: Apostolic Fathers)
Christians have long wrestled with the subject of how God’s plans and actions in salvation interact with human responsibility and choice. And it is common for proponents of any theological system to appeal to the writings of theologians from the… Read More ›
The Earliest Church Fathers’ Views on Election and Predestination (Part One: Clement of Rome)
One topic that’s of perennial interest to Christians is the question of how God’s role in saving people intersects with human choice. How does God’s sovereignty (or, more accurately, his providence) relate to human responsibility? The question arises because the… Read More ›
The Apocryphal Book of Sirach and its Influence on Early Christianity
One of the apocryphal books I think is particularly interesting is the book called “The Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach.” It has also gone by a couple of other names, such as simply Sirach, Ben Sira, or Ecclesiasticus. It is… Read More ›
The Apocrypha in a Nutshell
Recently I’ve been working my way through the Apocrypha. If you aren’t familiar with these, they are a collection of Jewish writings composed during the time between the Old and New Testaments (400 BC to the first century AD). The… Read More ›
What Did Worship Look Like in the Early Church?
In my recent deep-dive back into church history, one of the things I’ve been most interested in is learning more about what early Christian worship looked like. There’s certainly a lot we can learn simply from reading the New Testament…. Read More ›
The Earliest Church Handbook: The Didache
In this new video post, I’m giving a quick introduction to what is likely the oldest church handbook in history, The Didache (aka the “Teaching” or “Instruction”). This short, ancient text gives us a fascinating window into the everyday practices… Read More ›