Tag: history

The Christian doctrine of creation ‘ex nihilo’ teaches that God created all things out of nothing (‘ex nihilo’ is just a Latin phrase meaning ‘out of nothing’). We find the belief very clearly stated by the early Christian theologian Tertullian, writing less than two centuries after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension. What we don’t always

One of the saddest things one encounters when reading the 2nd-/3rd-century Christian writer Tertullian — and the reason he never became ‘St. Tertullian’ in Christian tradition — is his embrace in later life of the Christian overexuberance known as Montanism, or the ‘New Prophecy.’ The New Prophecy was a movement which came out of the

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[>] Guest writer Grace Dalton continues her four-part series of posts on BBC Radio 4’s The Secret History of Science and Religion, broadcast last year. (Continued from Part 2) The influential late 18th-century thinker Thomas Payne is described as somebody who consistently linked the fight for freedom from monarchy with that against religion. The French

[>] Guest writer Grace Dalton continues her four-part series of posts on BBC Radio 4’s The Secret History of Science and Religion, broadcast last year. (Continued from Part 1) Contrasting Christianity with pagan faiths, McLeish cites the Venerable Bede, who, we’re told, argued that believers should possess a familiarity with what we would now call

[Part 1]    [Part 2]    [Part 3]    [Part 4]    [Next >>] In a four-part series of posts, guest writer Grace Dalton shares her thoughts on BBC Radio 4’s The Secret History of Science and Religion, broadcast last year. In June, BBC Radio 4 aired The Secret History of Science and Religion: three half-hour episodes narrated by Nick Spencer, who wants

One of the most intriguing parables Jesus ever told was the parable of ‘the Rich Man and Lazarus,’ recorded only for us in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 16. I have often wondered, and have even disagreed with somebody sharply, over how ‘literally’ Jesus’ parable here is a description of the afterlife prior to the bodily resurrection.

The North African Christian theologian Tertullian’s treatise On the Resurrection of the Flesh is rewarding reading. In its sixteenth chapter we have an early testimony to the Judaeo-Christian belief that life begins at conception. On the Resurrection of the Flesh, written around A.D. 208, was written to counter the position of the various schools of

The argument is often put forward by atheists that “religion is the cause of all wars.” On at least two occasions I’ve had this very thing said to me. But is it really true? Come, let us reason together. Firstly, let us consider the assertion itself. “Religion is the cause of all wars.” As aphorisms

The North African Christian theologian Tertullian (c. 145—220 A.D.) was a prolific writer, and one of our key witnesses to the condition and beliefs of Christianity at the end of the second century. His work ‘On the Resurrection of the Flesh’ was written to defend orthodox Christianity against the many heresies, then current, which taught