Christian history I find very valuable for bridging the cultural and linguistic gaps between us and the apostles. A friend of mine has made available a primer on early church history. Intended for young readers, Early Church Fathers is divided into 26 short lessons, each followed by questions for application. Most...
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Recently I was invited to contribute my thoughts on what Christians today can learn from patristic theology for a new book entitled The Contemporary Church and the Early Church edited by Paul Hartog and published by Wipf and Stock. My chapter, “Learning from Patristic Christology,” focuses on early Christianity’s articulation of the doctrine of the...
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Hippolytus was a presbyter in the church at Rome about 200 AD. It is he who started the genre of literature we know as biblical commentaries, being the first to write a running commentary on one book of the Bible. The book he chose was the prophet Daniel. Hippolytus’ church was...
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In the mid-ninth century, a wandering monk named Gottschalk of Orbais (d. 868) sparked a controversy over divine predestination that shook both church and state in central Europe. But was Gottschalk the maverick that he is often made out to be? What did the church teach about grace and divine predestination in...
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Fulgentius was born in the year 468 and educated in Vandal North Africa. After a short career in finance he joined a monastery. He later was elevated to an abbot and in the year 508 became bishop of Ruspe, a coastal town in modern Tunisia. Fulgentius defended the doctrine of the...
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There is a lot of chatter about the year 2012 as the year when the world will end. It has something to do with the Mayan calendar. In fact, the Barnes and Noble near my house had a whole display of books about this supposedly fateful year. Frequently I am asked...
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