Blog Search Results

Patristics.info has launched!

Hey everyone, so I’ve launched a new website called Patristics.info to be a new resource for all things early church related. I’ve added a few texts which I already had formatted from my book manuscript, plus other resources like timelines, maps, recommended books etc. I’ll be adding more soon in the coming days. I’ve also created a “topical index” page too which is auto-generated from the tags on the pages to aid with searching, plus I created a word highlighter on each page so you can search keywords in a text and have them highlighted if you’re looking for particular things. If anyone would like to be involved to contribute resources or blog...

The Coming of Jesus: Our Future Hope - What Now?

...soon the early church really expected things to happen! I find it hard to believe that with all this urgency, the early Christians were actually speaking of a “soon-but-not-soon-really-we-mean-two-thousand-years-or-so” and expected nothing to come of it. Let's dive in! Matthew 10:23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.   1 Corinthians 7:29-31 I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mou...

Lent: Day 5 - Ignatius to the Ephesians

...gy of the early church and the importance of unity amongst the believers. But there is also a lot of repetition and in places it seems quite hasty, but I suppose that's understandable considering the circumstances in which Ignatius wrote this!  ...

Armageddon Is Not A Battle Plan: What Revelation Actually Says — And Why It Matters Right Now

...ledged in early church scholarship that it barely requires argument. The mark of the beast, calculated through Hebrew gematria to 666 (or 616 in some early manuscripts), points directly to Nero Caesar (transliterated into Hebrew as נרון קסר, “nrwn qsr”) — the Emperor who became the archetype of anti-Christian persecution due to the levels of evilness he enacted. The second beast, which looks like a lamb but speaks for the dragon, performs signs to deceive, enforces the mark, and compels worship of the first beast (Rev. 13:11–17) functioning, in essence, as what we might today call a propaganda machine: the imperial cult apparatus of priests, t...

Raised in the Heavenlies!

...Easter is upon us once again! Lent is over, Good Friday has passed and now the time for mourning and fasting is complete. It's a time to feast, a time to remember and celebrate the resurrection of Christ as we look forward to our own final resurrection!But what really is the resurrection? How will we be resurrected, and what does it mean for us that Jesus rose again? Let’s explore what this means for us as Christians, and see what the Scriptures say. The resurrection is spiritual! That heading may cause some reading this to question me, but do read on – this is actually what the New Testament teaches us (though not only this type of resurrection). Many ti...

Nails, Theses, and Myth: The Truth About Luther's Famous Door

...As we commemorated the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation this year, the familiar image of Martin Luther striding up to the church door in Wittenberg — hammer in hand and fire in his eyes — has once again taken centre stage. It’s a compelling picture, etched into the imagination of many. But as is often the case with historical legends, closer scrutiny tells a far more nuanced and thought-provoking story. The Myth of the Door: Was the Hammer Ever Raised? Cambridge Reformation scholar Richard Rex is one among several historians who have challenged the romanticised narrative. “Strangely,” he observes, “there’s almost n...