Christian History Blog

This Christian History Blog contains the newest pages from Christian History for Everyman in a blog format so that you can have them in any reader.

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A lot of work goes into these pages to give you history that's accurate and interesting.

Christian history is, by definition, the most exciting stories and interesting facts of the last 2,000 years. It's terrible that it's ever got a reputation for being boring. We're rescuing those stories and facts from the dry and dusty halls of academia and giving them back to you … Everyman!

Jan 13, 2012

Quotes about Being Born Again from Christian History

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

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Dec 31, 2011

Calvinism

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

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Dec 31, 2011

The Substitutionary Atonement of Jesus Christ on the Cross

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.

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Dec 24, 2011

Early Christian Meetings

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, 2011

Why I love SBI

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

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Dec 14, 2011

Romans 8:1 and Bible Translations

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, 2011