Early Christianity

Ethiopia in Biblical History

Every time you see Ethiopia is still on the map, you’re seeing real-world proof of the faithfulness of God. Continue Reading »

18 Mar 2022

If retrieval becomes the be-all of theology, theology is in danger of being reduced to an antiquarian, archaeological enterprise. All theology is historical, but theology cannot be only historical. Continue Reading »

4 Feb 2022

The Decline of Nicene Orthodoxy

by Craig A. Carter

In June 2021, Dr. Ed Litton was narrowly elected the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention. His critics soon drew attention to doctrinal statements on his church’s website, including the following: God is One, the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He has eternally existed in . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jan 2022

St. Basil’s Guide to Cultural Appropriation

by James Hankins

The right pagan philosophers, above all the moral philosophers, can teach us how to escape from the prison of the body’s passions. Continue Reading »

7 Dec 2021

The First Sexual Revolution

by Kyle Harper

Epictetus was the sort of figure that only the Roman Empire could have produced. He was born in the Phrygian hills of Anatolia in the middle of the first century. Enslaved and brought to the capital, he served in the household of the freedman Epaphroditos. Epaphroditos, in turn, was in the direct . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jan 2018

The Quest for the Historical Mary

by Rachel Fulton Brown

Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotionby stephen j. shoemaker yale, 304 pages, $28 The Virgin Mary is a shibboleth. Whatever one thinks of Jesus, it is impossible to be neutral about her place in Christian doctrine and devotion. Either Mary is essential to the faith as the Mother of God, or . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jun 2017

Keep Christianity Weird

by Joshua Kinlaw

Christianity’s sheer familiarity has desensitized us to its radicalness. Larry Hurtado aims to show how the “odd” became “commonplace,” by surveying the first three centuries of the Jesus movement. Continue Reading »

30 May 2017

Tombs of the Apostles

by John V. Bennett

As Matthew Arnold feared, the “Sea of Faith” has retreated—but not evenly. While fashionable atheism, or nebulous spirituality, prevails among intellectuals, religiosity continues to abide among the vast majority of Americans. Dialogue between these two audiences is all too rare, as can be seen in a literary marketplace divided between maudlin dross like Heaven is for Real and vitriolic screeds like Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion.

2 Mar 2016

Finding the Body of Christ in All These Other Bodies

by Russell E. Saltzman

Justin, known also as “the martyr” for obvious reasons, undertook a defense of Christianity and published his Apology around AD 155-158. But his Apology isn’t an apology at all. It is a legal brief, possibly in reaction to the murder of Polycarp some short while before. Justin’s brief to . . . . Continue Reading »

23 Oct 2015

How to Read the Bible

by Robert Louis Wilken

Allegory fell on hard times in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Although the charm of beloved works of English literature such as Spenser’s Faerie Queene and Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress lies in the imaginative use of allegory, biblical scholars banished the term from their vocabulary. . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Mar 2008