Throughout the history of Christianity, followers of Jesus have consistently stated what they believe. This makes sense given that Christianity isn’t a vague religion with undefined doctrine. There are specific truth claims and particular doctrinal beliefs that mark Christianity off as distinct from other world religions. Where are these truth claims found? In the Bible,…
*Click on the link at the bottom of the post to read the entire review. William R. Estep, Jr., The Anabaptist Story, 3rd Edition (Eerdmans, 1995). William R. Estep (1920–2000) was a historian who served as a distinguished professor of church history at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) from 1954–1990, though he continued to teach…
Brown, Peter. Augustine of Hippo: A Biography. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2013. 568 pages. $29.95 Biographical Sketch of the Author Writing a biography of a monumental figure such as Augustine is no small task. Augustine stands atop the mountain of…
Augustine’s influence is profound, his depth of insight stunning, and his literary output insane. Isidore of Seville (AD 560-636) once said that if anyone claimed to have read all Augustine wrote, they were lying. The progress I’ve made in Augustine is minimal and I’m far from an authority on his writing and theology. However, after…
The Eastward Expansion of the Church In AD 66, the Jews rebelled against the occupying Romans, with the Romans putting an end to the rebellion in AD 70 (read more here). During this time, Jewish Christians fled for safety east of the Jordan River to a town named Pella. Bryan Litfin writes, “From there the…
Official persecution was lifted and being a Christian — at least in name — became popular and prudent. Constantine left Rome and built a “new Rome” in the East as the new imperial capital of the empire. He chose the city of Byzantium (today’s Istanbul in Turkey) and renamed it after himself: Constantinople. The most…
Theology Along the Way 