Showing titles in History

Is Christianity really a white man's religion? Is it any good for Black people? Can a faith once used to enslave also empower Black lives? In The Gospel and My Black Skin, Dr. JP Foster boldly tackles the complex, often unspoken questions many Black people are asking today. As Christian...

As we all know, and as many of our well-established textbooks have argued for decades, the Inquisition was one of the most frightening and bloody chapters in Western history, Pope Pius XII was anti-Semitic and rightfully called "Hitler's Pope", the Dark Ages were a stunting of the progress of knowledge to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment, and the religious Crusades were an early example of the rapacious Western thirst for riches and power. But what if these long-held beliefs were all wrong?

If you have ever wondered exactly how we got from the Christian society of the early centuries, united in its faithfulness to apostolic tradition, to the fragmented and secular state of the West today, The Age of Division will answer all your questions and more. In this second of a four-volume cultural history of Christendom, author John Strickland applies insights from the Orthodox Church to trace the decline and disintegration of both East and West after the momentous but often neglected Great Schism.

Jesus was a real person, right? You might be surprised at what data science has to say. Christ Before Jesus presents a first-of-its-kind analysis using proven, peer-reviewed mathematics and software which reveals a second-century origin for the books of the New Testament.

What was the early Church like? Contrary to popular belief, Rod Bennett shows there is a reliable way to know. Four ancient Christian writers - four witnesses to early Christianity - left us an extensive body of documentation on this vital subject, and this book brings their fascinating testimony to life for modern believers. With all the power and drama of a gripping novel, this book is a journey of discovery of ancient and beautiful truths through the lives of four great saints of the early Church Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus of Lyons.

In this manual, the author takes readers on an exploratory journey into the teachings of the Early Church on spiritual warfare. This book, which was written for the authors daughters, reveals age-old teachings from early Orthodox Church theologians, mystics and saints who essentially pioneered human psychology in the deserts, caves and monasteries of the Eastern Byzantine Empire at the dawn of Christianity. With a foundation in Scripture, the author dives deep into the seemingly bottomless well of wisdom that is the vast library of writings that these experienced practitioners left behind.

The Bible warns that Christians will face persecution, and for many, that has meant imprisonment, torture, and even death. In this abridged recording of Foxe's Christian Martyrs of the World, you'll be challenged by the powerful witness of early church leaders who paid the ultimate price for their Lord.

In the appealing conversational tone that has won him millions of devoted readers, Hahn presents the basic tenets of Church teachings, clears up common misconceptions about specific rituals and traditions, and responds thoughtfully to the objections raised about them. Each chapter concludes with...

“Crusade” means a war for the sake of the Cross, a war to protect Christian people from persecution and death on account of their faith in Jesus Christ. Everyone has heard of the crusades of the Middle Ages. But few know of the crusade fought for this same purpose in Spain during the early twentieth century. This is the story of that crusade, now honored in no other book in the English language. Most people who know of the Spanish Civil war do not understand why it was fought or how it was really won. This book will tell you. There is no story like it in the history of the twentieth century.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER The definitive biography of Pope John Paul II that explores how influential he was on the world stage and in some of the most historic events of the twentieth century that can still be felt today. "Fascinating. . . sheds light on the history of the twentieth century for...

Hilaire Belloc examines the five most destructive heretical movements to have affected Christian civilization: Arianism, Mohammedanism (Islam), Albigensianism (Cathar), the Reformation (Protestant), and the modern phase. Belloc describes how these movements began, how they spread, and how they continued to influence the world up until the time of his writing (1936).

For all that bewilders and bedevils us, the desert mothers and fathers can help us. In The Way of the Desert Elders, Lisa Colón DeLay asks: What if desert elders from more than a millennium ago could walk beside us and nourish our spirits? Starting in the fourth century, half a million Christians fled the villages and cities of the Roman Empire. Leaving behind comforts, they battled what Evagrius called "afflicting thoughts," which still unsettle us today. 

This book presents the life, thought, and work of Marcion in its historical, theological, ethical, and liturgical contexts. It distinguishes itself from its competitors by employing a new method: rigorously critiquing heresy reports by means of the testimony of Marcion's own scriptures. It devotes attention to the reliable reconstruction of those scriptures, arguing for the chronological priority of Marcion's Gospel over what is now known as canonical Luke.

This isn't the Christian history you think you know. Forget the familiar narratives of crusades, European reformation, and colonial missions. This audiobook is a journey into the forgotten landscapes of Christian history, revealing the stories of diverse communities that shaped the faith in extraordinary ways. Discover the hidden chapters that lie beyond the Roman Empire, in places like ancient India, the deserts of Egypt and Syria, and the Celtic lands.

In this provocative book one of the most brilliant scholars of religion today dismantles distorted religious "histories" offered up by Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and other contemporary critics of religion and advocates of atheism. David Bentley Hart provides a bold correction of the New Atheists’s misrepresentations of the Christian past, countering their polemics with a brilliant account of Christianity and its message of human charity as the most revolutionary movement in all of Western history.

Towards the 17th century, the Puritan-raised George Fox became increasingly discouraged by the worsening moral conditions of society. George was unable to fill the spiritual void inside of him, until one day, he discovered his inner "Light". Next came the godly visions. George began to preach about the "true" Word of God, and soon, amassed a following - the Religious Society of Friends, later known as the "Quakers".

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is American’s greatest theologian and philosopher. One of the key figures in the ‘Great Awakening,’ he entered Yale at twelve and was Head Tutor at twenty-one. Edwards pastored congregations for over 30 years and earned a reputation as a consummate rhetorician...

The Council of Nicea was not clerics in a dark and ornate hall. It was brawls in churchyards; it was emperors and governors fighting to save the empire; it was political intrigue as the governments of church and state blended into a volatile stew. It was the way a fringe group of peace-loving communal worshipers of a crucified Palestinian prophet conquered the Roman Empire.

The Apostolic Fathers is an important collection of writings revered by early Christians but not included in the final canon of the New Testament. Here a leading expert on these texts offers an authoritative contemporary translation, in the tradition of the magisterial Lightfoot version but thoroughly up-to-date.

THE VATICAN SECRET: Beyond the Labyrinth of Faith. What if the foundations of your reality were built on a selective truth? Beneath the Holy City lies a cognitive bifurcation—a hidden parallel history guarded by 85 kilometers of secret shelving. This investigation pulls back the veil on the most protected knowledge in human history, designed to bridge the gap between what you’ve been told and what is actually being hidden.