Chuch history

2159 AD

by Eddie 17.08.2010

2159 AD: A History of Christianity by Craig Borlase is a fascinating little book. It is a church history which purports to be written in the year 2159 (hence the title) and which covers the next 150 years of history as well as the last 2,000. It is witty, well written and fun to read [...]

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Christianity Didn’t Die

by Eddie 12.03.2010

In AD 70, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and scattered the population. The centre of the young Christian church was caught in the crossfire; the leadership scattered and the mother church was no more… So, within a few decades of its birth, the Christian church no longer has its centre of authority. You might have expected [...]

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Some Thoughts on Antioch (Acts 11)

by Eddie 04.03.2010

At first glance, it seems as though Antioch marks just another step in the process of the Jesus movement becoming more open, but in fact, Antioch marks a paradigm shift: a complete break with the past. In this short passage we see two very significant things happening. The first is that the Greek believers who [...]

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Bible Translation and the Early Church

by Eddie 04.03.2010

Lawson Stone has just published four superb, short essays on the hows and whys of Bible translation in the early days of the Christian era. The style is informative and also very entertaining: So as the world increasingly spoke Latin, the Greek versions of the Bible that had become sacrosanct for most Christians became as [...]

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Is Christianity African?

by Eddie 24.02.2010

William at Onesimus Online has come up with another brilliant blog post: There is a persistent myth among both Christians and Muslims and others that Christianity is a Western religion that is foreign to Africa. And yes, it is true that Western versions of Christianity, such as Roman Catholicism and all forms of Protestantism are [...]

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Mission and the Early Church

by Eddie 29.12.2008

Why then did early Christianity spread? Because early Christians believed that what they had found to be true was true for the whole world. The impetus to mission sprang from the very heart of early Christian conviction. If we know anything about early Christian praxis, at a non- or sub-literary level, it is that the [...]

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What on Earth is God Doing?

by Eddie 21.11.2008

This looks like it might be worth attending: >The Bible promises that the earth would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea: yet we are living in an age in which church attendance seems to be falling dramatically, and respect for the Christian faith and [...]

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Academic and Religious Freedom

by Eddie 19.01.2008

One large evangelical seminary has made a stupendous bid for academic and religious freedom by shaking off the habit of students wearing robes and mortar boards at graduation (because they have Roman Catholic roots). This glorious bid for freedom involves the wearing of…  no you have to read it for yourselves. Make sure you read [...]

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The Church In Madagascar

by Eddie 22.09.2007

As Sue starts to think about packing for her next trip, I thought this quote from The Penguin History of the Church: History of Christian Missions by Stephen Neil might interest you: When a reckoning was made it was found that the Christians were four times as many as they had been at the beginning [...]

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Early Church History: An Interview with Rodney Stark

by Eddie 05.05.2007

There is a fascinating interview with the sociologist Rodney Stark on Al Hirsch’s blog, Forgotten Ways. Stark wrote one of the best books I’ve read in last few years, The Rise of Christianity, which gives fascinating insights into the way the early church grew and developed. You get a good flavour of the book by [...]

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Spurgeon

by Eddie 22.03.2007

I’ve just come across a great resource for anyone interested in the work of C. H. Spurgeon. There are lots of good things here including a listing of Spurgeon’s sermons (with some examples to read), some other articles by Spurgeon and some writing about him. Well worth a look.

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