Church history
Pivotal events and figures — the Council of Nicaea, the Reformation, the Crusades, the Great Schism — that shaped Christianity.
13 topics
Arius
Arius's teachings stirred such controversy that they led to the first ecumenical council in Christian history, the Council of Nicaea, held in 325 AD. Arius, …
Babylonian Exile
The Babylonian Exile began not with a single conquest but with three deportations across nineteen years. In 605 BC, after Nebuchadnezzar defeated Egypt at th…
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church claims possession of one of the most storied relics of Judeo-Christian tradition: the Ark of the Covenant. According t…
Saint Charbel
Saint Charbel's body was found to be incorrupt decades after his death, drawing thousands of pilgrims annually to his tomb in Annaya, Lebanon. This phenomeno…
Second Temple Judaism
The discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls in the 20th century uncovered an aspect of Jewish history: during the Second Temple period, there were multiple Jewish …
The Council of Nicaea
The Council of Nicaea was convened not just to settle theological disputes but also to unify the Roman Empire under a single Christian doctrine. In 325 AD, R…
The Crusades
The so-called Children's Crusade of 1212 was not an official crusade sanctioned by the Church, and the notion that it involved a significant number of childr…
The Dead Sea Scrolls
The story of the Dead Sea Scrolls begins with a twist of fate. In 1947, as the world was recovering from the turmoil of World War II, a young Bedouin shepher…
The Didache
The Didache, one of the earliest Christian texts, was nearly included in the New Testament but was left out. Composed in the late first or early second centu…
The Great Schism
The Great Schism, the monumental division between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, arose partly from a disagreement over a single w…
The Inquisition
The Spanish Inquisition was not officially abolished until 1834, long after it had become largely inactive. Infamous for its severity, the institution had al…
The Papacy
The papacy was once so politically powerful that popes could excommunicate emperors and kings, effectively removing them from power. Belief in the pope as th…
The Reformation
The Reformation was not just a religious movement but also a catalyst for the development of modern nation-states. During the 16th century, Europe was reshap…