Period I – The Early and Medieval Church

1 – Eastern Religions

In order to more fully appreciate the origin and revolutionary nature of Christianity, we need to consider more than Western culture’s perspective on existence. We begin with the earliest recorded history of major religious and philosophical ideas that formed the foundation of other Eastern religions, Hinduism. …more

Hinduism

Buddhism

Sikhism

Taoism

Confucius

2 – Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion/philosophy of ancient Persia and is not typically associated with Eastern philosophy. …more

The Wise Lord and Life Force

Free Will

Creation

Judgement

3 – The Greco-Roman World

Judaism gave birth to Christianity in a Greco-Roman world where Christianity’s Jewish roots merged with the Roman imperial culture and Greek philosophical ideas to mold Christianity into the institution it became in the early Church and through the Middle-Ages. …more

Greco-Roman Culture

Roman Paganism

Middle Eastern Paganism

4 – Early Western Philosophy

The Hellenization of Christianity is a reality that few people are aware of. Many of our current Christian dogmas find their source in Greek philosophy and not directly in the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. In order to understand Christianity, it is essential to have a basic understanding of Greek philosophy. …more

Reason, Oracles and Mystery Cults

Stoicism

Plotinus and Neoplatonism’s Marriage with Christianity

5 – Judaism

In order to understand Christianity, it is essential to grasp the importance of the following concepts and history to the Jewish community at the time of Christ’s birth: …more

6 – Jesus and the Advent of Christianity

It is practically impossible to discuss religious, philosophical, and historical developments throughout the Western and the modern world without considering Christianity’s role in those changes. …more

Proclaimed his divinity and performed miracles

Jesus taught a gospel of faith, hope and love

Jesus organized a movement

Eyewitnesses claimed that Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead

The Gospels

7 – Early Christian Beliefs that Changed the World

What were the Christian beliefs that grabbed the attention of a diverse populace with such power that they changed the world? What was it about Christianity that allowed it to expand beyond its beginning as a small Jewish cult in a remote area of the world to become its largest religion? …more

Theosis: Human Deification

Redemption

Physical Resurrection and a Three-Tiered Heaven

Early Christians Believed in a Personal God with a Body, Parts, and Passions

8 – Christianity in the First and Second Century: 
Growth, Persecution and Transformation

Christianity was transformed from a small localized Jewish cult into a rapidly growing multicultural religion. …more

Early Jewish and Gentile Christianity

Heading Growth and Persecution

Diverse Forms of Christianity

9 – Constantine and Third-Century Christianity

Emperor Constantine changed Christianity. But it is as pointless to say that one person changed Christianity as it is to say one thread of an intricate tapestry defines it. …more

Third-Century Rome

Constantine

Third-Century Christianity

The North African Church

10 – The Donatist Controversy

Most bishops in North Africa required the lapsed Christians to be rebaptized as part of their public acts of penance, especially if they had joined a heretical spinoff religion. This expanded the dispute between the bishops of North Africa and the bishop of Rome regarding rebaptism. …more

11 – The Imperial Church and Monasticism

After the death of the apostles and prior to the Protestant Reformation, Constantine, Augustine, and monasticism have had the greatest impact on Christian theology. Interestingly, monasticism largely grew out of many devout Christians’ aversion to the changes Constantine brought to the church, and, to a great extent, Augustine was a product of monasticism. …more

The Imperial Church

Monasticism

12 – The Advent of Trinitarian Christianity

In the fourth century, the Nicene Creed replaced the dominant Logos-centered Christian theology that placed Jesus as an intermediary between humans and God and subordinated the Son to the Father. … more

The Arian Controversy

First Council of Nicaea

The Nicene Creede

The Mystery of the Trinity

13 – The Incarnation Controversy

During the early Christian era, the concept that each human soul existed as a premortal being was universally understood and believed by many, Christian and non-Christian alike. … more

Human Premortal Existence

Who and What is Christ?

The Incarnation of Christ

Ecumenical Councils

the After Effects

14 – Augustine’s Sin Paradigm

Augustine was a genius. Augustine has had greater impact on Western Christian theology, both Catholic and Protestant, than any other person since the apostles. … more

Conversion

Grace, the Foundation of Augustine’s Theology

Original Sin and Augustine’s Sin Paradigm

The Pelagius Controversy

Beatific Vision, the New Goal

15 – Boethius and Christian Philosophy

Constantine’s descendants were unable to keep the empire together. The fourth century was a period of decline marked by civil wars, economic upheaval and increasing pressure from invading Germanic tribes fleeing the Huns. … more

16 – The Advent and Development of the Papacy

Until the last part of the fourth century, Rome played only a minor role in the history of Christianity. Its ascension to prominence was primarily the result of imperial imposition and other political considerations. By far, the vast majority of popes have been sincere devout followers of Christ; however, once the bishops of Rome tasted the elixir of power, some were not satisfied until they claimed infallibility and ultimate authority over civil as well as ecclesiastical affairs. … more

Upon This Rock I Will Build My Church

The Rise of Caesaropapism

The Rise of the Papacy

The Demise of the Roman Empire

17 – Islam

Islam burst on the scene in the seventh century CE by distilling Western thought down to three simple concepts: 1) God is one, and He is great; 2) humans are forgetful and need to be reminded how great God is; and 3) Muhammad is God’s messenger. …more

The Advent of Islam

Muhammad and the Quran

The Five Pillars of Islam

Shiites and Sunnis

Islamic Mysticism: Sufism

Islam’s Golden Age

Islamist Extremeists

18 – Eastern Orthodox Theology, Iconoclasm and the Great Schism of 1054

The account of Jesus’s transfiguration on the mount is central to the Bible’s narrative of his life and central to Eastern Orthodox theology. …more

The Light of Tabor

The Eastern Orthodox Liturgy Is a Sensory Experience

The Great Iconoclasm

The Great Schism of 1054

The Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church

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Preliminary Overview

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Period II – The High Middle Ages and The Protestant Reformation

Additional Resources

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The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome

by Susan Wise Bauer

From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome: This is the first volume in a bold series that tells the stories of all peoples, connecting historical events from Europe to the Middle East to the far coast of China, while still giving weight to the characteristics of each country.