Church History for Chumps

Jan 28 2025 56 ep. 45 mins 28
Church History for Chumps Podcast artwork

We're not your grandfather's church history podcast. But we'd also really appreciate it if your grandfather still listened to us. 

IG: @churchhistory4chumps

  Religion & Spirituality  History  Society & Culture
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Justin Martyr: The First Christian Philosopher

Jan 28 2025 62 mins  
Send us a textHave you ever heard someone say that Christianity is anti-intellectual? Well, you should send them this episode. And have them 'like' and 'subscribe' too, that would help us a lot. But anyways. Justin Martyr was a 2nd-century Greek man with a love for philosophy, who found the fullness of all love of wisdom in Christ. We think he's a pretty cool guy. And today we're j

The Birth of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Jan 21 2025 32 mins  
Send us a textAs you guys know, we love presenting church history as a beautiful anthology of the story of God's people. Sometimes it's easy to lose sight of the vastness of that story when we don't venture out of our own contexts.So today, we're going to peer to the far outside branches of our Christian family tree, and discuss the origin of one of the most longstanding Christian

Second Century Persecution: Romans Just Don't Understand

Jan 13 2025 38 mins  
Send us a text"Why are you booing me? I'm right!"- the early church, probably The first century was a funky time to be a Christian, but persecution as we know it was pretty scattered and sporadic. In the second century though, things are starting to ramp up. Join us for another episode from our "The Early Church Gets the Worm" series, and listen to us forget to edit out some fun mi

Perpetua and Felicity: Sisters of Suffering Sainthood

Jan 07 2025 46 mins  
Send us a textIn our newest piece in our series of Early Church lore, we discuss another tale of martyrdom, that of Perpetua and Felicity. The early third Century was not an easy time for Christians in Northern Africa. But as so many tales of martyrs go, their story was one of both tragedy and triumph, as they took up the cross of Christ in the truest way. Thanks for tuning in! Buy

First Century Persecution: From Zero to Nero

Jan 01 2025 47 mins  
Send us a text"It's hard out here for a pimp." -the early church, probably As we continue our aptly named series, "The Early Church Gets the Worm," we discuss one of the most pressing topics for early Christians: persecution in the Roman Empire. Happy New Year, friends. Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/chumphistory

Sergius and Bacchus: Best Bros in Life and Martyrdom

Dec 24 2024 58 mins  
Send us a textGUESS WHO'S BACKMan, it's been a minute you guys. I don't know if you missed us, but we definitely missed you. This kicks off our new season, "The Early Church Gets the Worm." We'll be focusing on, you guessed it, stories from the early church era. The story of Sergius and Bacchus is a tale of brotherhood, friendship, and the lasting legacy of their 5th century martyr

The Troubles: Religious (well, kinda religious) Turmoil in Northern Ireland

May 31 2024 71 mins  
Send us a textIn many parts of the world, the question of whether you're a Catholic or Protestant means a lot more than if you submit to the Pope, or how you feel about Martin Luther. One such place is Northern Ireland. For generations, the people of Ireland and the United Kingdom have been steeped in a conflict about religious freedom, civil rights, and discrimination. Tragically,

Thomas Bramwell Welch: Why Do Some Churches Use Grape Juice?

May 24 2024 41 mins  
Send us a textHave you ever wondered why some churches use grape juice for communion, while others insist on using wine instead?The answer is more complicated than you think. Or it might be less complicated, I don't know, I feel like you're probably pretty smart. Either way, join us as we discuss Thomas Welch, the Prohibition Era, and the impact still felt by churches today. IG: @c

Saint Dymphna & the Town that Welcomes Outsiders

May 17 2024 28 mins  
Send us a textChurch history isn't always as, well, historically reliable as we wish it was. Sometimes the stories of saints and heroes tend to blur the lines between fact and fiction. That would be the case of Saint Dymphna, an Irish-Catholic runaway who sought refuge from her violent father in a small town in Belgium. What's interesting though, is that whether or not her story is

The Magdeburg Confession: Defending the Church from Tyranny

May 10 2024 57 mins  
Send us a textIt's 1550. A generation has passed since the Reformation swept across Europe like a wildfire. The Catholic Church has launched the Counter-Reformation, a multi-layered initiative to restore the continent to its former Roman glory. One step of this plan in Germany is to recognize the cities that have fallen into the clutches of Lutheranism and coerce their return to th