Church Fathers
One of the most important events in church history was the Council of Nicaea. But what happened there? This video will give a quick overview of what happened.
Episodes and Posts
Apostle Paul
It has been common from time to time to suggest a strong conflict between James and Paul in the early church. This was especially true during the time of Adolf von Harnack, who relying Hegelian philosophy, saw Judaism as the thesis (represented by James) and Hellenism as the antithesis (represented by Paul), resulting in a … Read More “Were Paul and James Enemies?” »
Byzantium
What is the role of images? What exactly were icons? Such questions played a major role in church history. Some icons as an important part of worship and others saw it as a breaking of commandments. This short video gives a nice summary of icon controversy of the church.
Christianity emerged out of Judaism. We have already looked at the Jewish background of Christianity. While there are many ways for us to learn about Judaism, one important way is to look at Jewish texts. Certain texts of Jewish origin were very influential on either Judaism or Christianity. In this episode we look at Tanak, … Read More “Episode 26 – Jewish Texts You Need to Know About” »
This is the final episode of the series on the Synoptic Gospels based on my lectures from Tyndale University College. Although there were more lectures given for the course, this is the last one that will be posted here. In the episode we ask the question, Did Jesus exist? Those who hold to the Jesus … Read More “Episode 25 – Synoptic Gospels (Did Jesus Exist?)” »
We take a short break from our regular scheduled episodes to bring you a special announcement. I have decided to start a new podcast on World War Two. It is called the Second World Podcast and you can find it here. If you are interested in military history or just history in general, I hope … Read More “Special Announcement” »
Historical Jesus
When it comes to studies of the historical Jesus, many historians end their inquiry at the crucifixion and burial. It is argued that the resurrection of Jesus is the topic for theologians and not historians. Studying the resurrection of Jesus is outside the expertise and responsibility of historians. Is this true? I wrote an article … Read More “Can Historians Even Talk About the Resurrection?” »
We take a break from our series on the Synoptic Gospels for a short Christmas episode. In this episode we look at how Dec. 25 came to be the date of Christmas. One of the things that I discovered in this episode was that the fixing of the date actually took place during the life … Read More “Episode 24 – Happy Birthday Jesus!” »
In this lecture from the course Jesus and the Synoptic Gospels taught at Tyndale University College, we look at the Gospel of Luke. We look at some of the specific interests of Luke, including women, Samaritans, the poor and the marginalized in general. We also look at some of the popular parables unique to Luke, … Read More “Episode 23 – Synoptic Gospels (Luke)” »
General History
I recently had a comment from listener who was disappointed in the podcast. The heart of the complaint was that the podcast was more about Christian apologetics than about history. He felt I wasn’t completely honest about the nature of the podcast. His concern deserves to be addressed. My intent is that this podcast be … Read More “Is This Podcast About History or Christian Apologetics?” »