Irenaeus was born somewhere around AD 130 and grew up in Smyrna in Asia Minor, where the then bishop, Polycarp, became his mentor and passed on his memories of the apostle John and others.
Articles on History
400 results found
You’re Romantic Whether You Know It or Not
Some marks of the Romantic movement seem quite alien to us today. Others, by contrast, seem thoroughly natural to us, to the extent that we do not even notice them.
Just as much as we Christians take seriously the call to disciple how we think, so we should also take seriously the call to disciple how we imagine.
We can’t really understand Puritanism at all—that movement so concerned with genuinely loving God in their communities, churches, and families,—without understanding the part played by Puritan women.
Why You Should Teach Your Kids about the Reformation
The Reformers so clearly point us back to Christ, and point us to Scripture.
Why You Should Read Augustine's Confessions
I believe that Augustine's masterpiece is a largely unread book because people approach it with the wrong expectations, quickly become frustrated, and leave the book unfinished.
Why Were Gold, Incense, and Myrrh Appropriate Gifts for Jesus?
James Montgomery Boice focuses and reflects on the gifts the wise men brought to Jesus.
Spiritual warfare made the Puritans what they were. They accepted conflict as their calling, seeing themselves as their Lord’s soldier-pilgrims.
Why We Need Reformation Anglicanism
The two greatest issues facing Christianity in the West are (1) the Bible’s growing lack of authority in the Church, and (2) the lack of transformed lives among those who attend.
Why We Can’t Lament without Listening
When it comes to loaded subjects like racism or ethnic tension, too often believers fall into the familiar ditches of denial or despair.
Why the Reformation Isn't Over
We need to be constantly searching in God's word to see how further reformation needs to work itself out in our lives.
Why the Mission of the Church Is Spiritual and Not Political
The church is a spiritual institution, and its core of agreement builds upon truths that transcend the more ephemeral matters that concern politics.
Why Study the Books of 1–2 Thessalonians?
The same encouragement, hope, and exhortation that the Thessalonians of 2,000 years ago needed, we need today.
Why Should Christians Care about Church History?
For the Christian community, history is the stage on which the drama of redemption is being displayed—at the beginning is the Fall, at the end is the Last Judgment. In between, the most crucial event of all.
Why Pastors (and All of Us) Should Read the Puritans
Reading the Puritans can contribute to our growth, holiness, and conviction of the need to stay close to the Lord.
Why Modern Christians Should Stay Hitched to Church History
Theological retrieval is a way to draw attention to things that you were assuming that you didn’t even know that you assumed.
Why Martin Luther's Preaching Was So Offensive
As soon as the Reformation began in 1517, Martin Luther became the most famous man in Europe.
Why John Owen and Richard Baxter Didn’t Like Each Other
When we see other people, we do so through a filter that operates on the basis of the only evidence we have: what we see them do and hear them say. It’s easy to get that wrong.
The reason God became man was to die. As God pure and simple, he could not die for sinners. But as man he could. His aim was to die.
Why I Wrote a Book about the Marrow Controversy
What is Jesus really like, truly like—deep down, through and through?
What’s to love about George Whitefield?
Why Higher Education Needs to Know Its History
The richness of the Christian tradition can provide guidance for the complex challenges facing Christian higher education at this time.
Why Elisabeth Elliot Changed Her Beliefs about Finding God’s Will
Elliot had left Ecuador with a changing understanding of God’s will. Circumstances had forced her to look long and hard at her beliefs about God’s guidance.
Why Death Is the Final Stage of Salvation
Death often brings reality to light. When individuals are thrown onto their last resources, they show where their true hopes lay.
Why C. S. Lewis Was Wrong about Psalm 23
It may surprise you to hear that Lewis was unable to reconcile the beauty of verses 1–4 of Psalm 23 with what he regarded as a spirit of hatred in verse 5, a spirit “almost comic in its naivety.”
Why C. S. Lewis Wasn't a Pacifist
C. S. Lewis was horrified by England’s declaration of war on Germany [in 1939], but he had no doubt of its rightness.
Why Are There So Many Versions of the Bible?
Go into any Christian bookstore, and you can find an entire shelf—sometimes an entire section!—of different Bible translations.
Why Archaeology Can’t Prove the Bible (and Doesn’t Need To)
David W. Chapman, John D. Currid
In this video with Drs. David Chapman and John Currid, editors of the ESV Archaeology Study Bible hear why archaeology isn't needed to prove the Bible true.
Who Were the Magi, and Why Did They Worship Jesus? (Matthew 2)
Popular Christian images of the magi clash with Matthew’s account. The magi were counselors, not kings, and while they bore three gifts, their number (unstated) was large enough to cause a stir in Jerusalem.
Who Was Herman Bavinck, and Why Is He Worth Reading Today?
Herman Bavinck is someone who people have become really interested in and aware of in recent years through the translations of some of his theological works. He was a really important thinker.