Lance Ralston

In his monumental work on Church History, Philip Schaff wrote, “The Christianizing of the State amounted in great measure to the paganizing and secularizing of the Church.”

His preaching was so good, they called him "Golden-mouth."

By his mid-30’s, Jerome was probably the greatest Christian scholar of his time. He’s one of the greatest figures in the history of Bible translation, spending three decades producing a Latin version that would be the standard for a thousand years.

The ever-swinging pendulum of history foretells that the forced-upon faith of Emperor Constantius would provoke a pagan reaction. That reaction came immediately after Constantius during the reign of his cousin, Julian the Apostate.

As the Church grew with more congregations being formed, the need for some organization became apparent. So for administrative purposes, the church-world was divided into provinces with centers at Rome in the West & in the East, four headquarters; Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem & Constantinople.

When the Church was being hammered by persecution prior to Constantine, Christians had a more imminent threat to deal with. But now that persecution was lifted, secondary issues moved to the foreground.

Luke’s account in the Books of Acts recounts a time span of about 30 yrs & roughly narrates the spread of the Faith from Jerusalem to Rome. The next narrative doesn’t come till the writings of the Christian historian Eusebius in the 4th C. What…

One of the things modern Christians want to know is how close their church is to the primitive church of the 1st & 2nd Cs. Congregations and entire movements claim their particular expression of the Faith is closest to the original. So, what were early…

Some Christians, under the threat of death, capitulated to the pressure, burned the required pinch of incense and spoke fealty to Caesar. They took the libelli and went about their business. Once persecution eased, these capitulators repented their weakness and applied for readmission to the…