Showing titles in History

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Pope and Mussolini tells the story of the bloody revolution that stripped the pope of political power and signaled the birth of modern Europe. “[David I.] Kertzer’s brilliant treatment of the crisis in the papacy between 1846 and 1850 reads like a...

G. K. Chesterton was a journalist, playwright, poet, biographer, novelist, essayist, literary commentator, editor, orator, artist, and theologian. Orthodoxy is his great apologia for the Christian faith, which was prompted by a serious attack in 1903 against Christianity by well-known newspaper editor Robert Blatchford.

What really happened back in the first century, in Jerusalem and around the Sea of Galilee, that changed the shape of world history? Who is this figure that emerges from history to have a profound impact on culture, ethics, politics, and philosophy? Join historian John Dickson on this journey...

A number of efforts were made in the US during the 19th century to create a single textbook of Roman Catholic Christian doctrine that might be used by all American Catholics. In 1885, a catechism was put together by the Order of the Third Council of Baltimore.

Many Christians today long to become reacquainted with their ancient ancestors in the faith. They see a deeper worship and devotion in the prayers and hymns of the early church. And they believe that the writings of the early church can shed new light on their understanding of Scripture. But where and how do we begin? Our first encounter with the writings of the church fathers may seem like visiting a far country where the language, assumptions, concerns, and conclusions are completely unfamiliar to us. Author Christopher Hall helps us through this cultural confusion.

Luther’s 95 Theses, written in Latin, were famously posted by Martin Luther on the door of the Castle Church, Wittenberg, on October 31, 1517, an event that came to be considered as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. The Theses focus on three main issues: selling forgiveness through indulgences, the pope’s claimed power of forgiveness, and the damage indulgences caused to sinners. The first thesis states, "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, "Repent," he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance."

Apocalyptic millennialism is one of the most powerful strands in evangelical Christianity. It is not a single belief, but across many powerful evangelical groups there is general adhesion to faith in the physical return of Jesus in the Second Coming, the affirmation of a Rapture heavenward of "saved" believers, a millennium of peace under the rule of Jesus and his saints and, eventually, a final judgement and entry into deep eternity. A key figure in this process was John Nelson Darby. 

Who was among the last at the cross and the first at the empty tomb? Mary Magdalene. Her role in Jesus's ministry as told in all four Gospels was pivotal in many ways. Yet her story is often overlooked, confused, or scandalized by the church. In The Mary We Forgot, award-winning church historian and theologian Jennifer Powell McNutt unpacks Scripture and church history to reveal the real Mary Magdalene as a model of discipleship for all Christians today—women and men alike.

¿Estuvo casado Jesús? ¿Es la Iglesia una organización nacida para ocultar la verdad sobre Cristo? ¿Son los evangelios una fabricación encargada por el emperador romano Constantino para obtener mayor poder? ¿Qué es el Priorato de Sión? ¿Y el culto a la diosa? Millones de personas han leído El Código da Vinci y han quedado capturados por el intenso ritmo y por los asombrosos datos que revela la novela. ¿Hasta dónde llega la ficción y dónde comienza la realidad?

Clarence Larkin was an important scholar of prophecy. In The Spirit World", published in 1921, he discusses the inhabitants of the spiritual world according to the Bible. Explaining the qualities of angels, he makes a distinction between the “fallen angels” and Satan’s demons and the realms which they inhabit. Larkin’s treatment of Satan and the Underworld, in the form of hell, Gehenna and Tartarus is thorough and vivid, and he explains issues like the state of the soul in death and the principles of resurrection.

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.

Orthodoxy is the dominant form of Christianity in Greece, Russia, parts of Eastern Europe, and the Balkans. Its practices are largely unfamiliar in the West and have remained essentially unchanged since the earliest days of the faith. This lucid introduction outlines the tenets, nature, and holy days of Orthodox belief with the Western listener in mind. It describes the physical church, especially icons, services, and common practices, and it offers advice to visitors on how to conduct themselves so that they are accepted and feel comfortable.

"Every attempt to help people must first begin with an effort to understand people," says Dr. Larry Crabb. "And the only fully reliable source of information on that topic is the Bible." In this Gold Medallion Award-winning classic, Dr. Crabb affirms the power of the Scriptures to address the...

Here is an unflinching look at the lives and sacrifices of those first Christians who were given the task of spreading the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Relying on the ancient documents, as well as latest archeological findings and scientific research, acclaimed author Mike Aquilina takes you on a journey through the Apostolic Age, bringing to life the ancient streets and crowded marketplaces through which Mary and the Apostles journeyed as they built a Church that lasts even to our day.

We have misunderstood Paul, badly. We have read his words through our own set of assumptions. We need to begin with Paul's world view, to see things the way he saw them. What if "original sin" was never part of Paul's thinking? What if the idea that we are saved by faith in Christ, as Luther argued, was based on a mistranslation of Paul's words and a misunderstanding of Paul's thinking?

Athanasius rightly knew that upon one’s view of Christ hung one’s eternal destiny. As he wrote to the bishops of Egypt in 356: “as therefore the struggle that is now set before us concerns all that we are, either to reject or to keep the faith, let us be zealous and resolve to guard what we have received, bearing in mind the confession that was written down at Nicaea.” And, by God’s grace, his victory in that struggle has been of enormous blessing to the church ever since.

What Really Happened During Jesus' Last Hours Before the Cross? Many have heard the story before — that Christ died, was buried, and rose again — but what about the days and hours leading up to His crucifixion? What happened in those critical moments, and why did it happen? Presenting Scripture as well as the writings of Early Church fathers, Rick documents the journey of Christ from the Garden to the Cross and beyond, revealing: Why hundreds of soldiers — not just a few — met Jesus to arrest Him. The details of "the Judas kiss" and Judas’ fatal flaw from the beginning.

In American Gospel (literally meaning the "good news about America"), New York Times bestselling author Jon Meacham sets the record straight on the history of religion in American public life. As Meacham shows, faith --meaning a belief in a higher power, and the sense that we are God's chosen...

This audacious, unprecedented, and polarizing work begins with an overview of the Orthodox Christian perspective on the Church, the State, and the Jews. The second half of the book then compares those standards to the writings, speeches, and actions of Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and Corneliu Codreanu. A Jewish convert to Christianity himself, Witcoff wrote the book he wished already existed: one that honestly and unapologetically dares to tread through the most controversial topics in the world.

What if American culture isn’t collapsing because of crusading secularists? What if it’s failing because many leading Christians identify more with secular elites than with their fellow believers? Those are the provocative questions posed by Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, which exposes how influential Christian leaders are siding with their anti-Christian cultural captors on everything from biblical authority and science to sex, race, and religious liberty.