Church-history-opedia

Odds and ends

1. Biography of Jesus
2. How can you say that Jesus was born in 4 B.C.?
3. The story of the Old Testament
4. Who were the Samaritans and why the animosity between them and the Jews?
5. Why do Catholics and Orthodox have more books in their OT?
6. Origin of the idea of a "God-shaped Hole" in everyone
7. Why is "LORD" capitalized over 6000 times in the OT?
8. The Temples and development of the synagogues
9. Did Methuselah die in the flood?
10. The origin of the fish symbol in Christianity
11. Was God evil by telling the Jews to kill people in the Promised Land?
12. 8 commonly misunderstood words in Christianity
13. How the practice of Lent happened
14. Why so many denominations when there is one Bible?
15. Why do most Christians attend church on Sunday?
16. Why do we have Ash Wednesday?
17. Non-biblical references to Jesus
18. James & Jude: Half- or Step-brothers of Jesus?
19. Why was Pilate in charge?
20. Why did Judas betray Jesus?
21. A history of Jerusalem
22. Mary and Panthera: a made-up story about Jesus' father
23. Different methods of Communion
24. When were the chapters and verses added to the New Testament?
25. What is the oldest piece of OT scripture that has been discovered?
26. Who wrote the Pentateuch?
27. What was the first New Testament book to be written?
28. What happened to Isreal in the 450 years in between the Old Testament and New Testament?

Early Church History

29. Why did Herod try to kill the baby Jesus?
30. How fast did Christianity grow in its first year?
31. Was Mark's house the site of the Last Supper?
32. Mark's (John Mark's) biography
33. An eyewitness, physical description of Paul
34. The Apostle Thomas in India
35. What happened to the Apostles?
36. Polycarp: A link to the Apostles
37. P52: The earliest piece of the New Testament that has been discovered
38. Marcion: Since you won't decide the New Testament books, I will
39. Peter's house became a church
40. Priscilla and Aquilla: the first persecution of the Christians by the Roman Empire
41. Slavery in the New Testament
42. Apostolic Fathers
43. Docetism: Because some people didn't like the incarnation
44. A listing of the bishops of Rome in the 100 years after Jesus
45. Another letter to the Corithians: I Clement
46. Why does Easter move around the calendar?
47. Trinity: The idea was in the Bible, but the word came later
48. Tertullian: An Early Defense of Christianity Which Explains Their Worship
49. Perpetua: A young, female martyr: be glad we live when we do
50. Sinaiticus: One of the earliest Bibles discovered
51. The First Church Building
52. Early (lesser-known) Heresies
53. Arius & the Council of Nicaea: Who exactly was Jesus?
54. 40 Martyrs: The standard of dedication
55. Stylites: So you think you are dedicated?
56. Ambrose: A bishop who confronted an emperor
57. How we got the New Testament: New Testament canonization

Medieval Church History

1. St Patrick: Who was he?
2. Pope Gregory I: Reluctant but the Greatest of the Greats
3. Why is the headquarters of the Church of England not in London?
4. Charlemagne: A funny thing happened one Christmas Day
5. Cluny & Citeaux: Reactions against Mediocrity
6. St. Bernard: The man and not the dogs
7. 1054: Christianity split into Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy
8. The Crusades
9. The Ontological Argument for God
10. Francis of Assisi in a Crusade
11. Francis of Assisi and the Second Nativity Scene
12. 1 pope then 2 popes then 3 popes and back to 1 pope
13. Who started the Easter Sunrise Service?

The Protestant Reformation and later European movements

1. Overview of the Protestant Reformation
2. A listing of relics available in the 1500's
3. William Tyndale: The Overlooked Reformer (who coined the word "Passover" plus well-known phrases)
4. Luther's hymn
5. Luther's table talk
6. Luther's last days and words
7. The Colloquy of Marburg: Luther and Zwingli: So close and yet so far
8. The first Anabaptists
9. Why are there 5 points of Calvinism, and what are they? (Hint: Thanks Arminius!)
10. Francis Xavier's 10-year mission trip
11. Origin of the King James Version of the Bible
12. The beginnings of Pietism (You might be a Pietist but don't know it)
13. Where did John Bunyan write Pilgrim's Progress? (You will be amazed)
14. The beginnings of the Amish

American Church History

1. Christopher Columbus: Christian hero?
2. The first Christian martyr in present-day USA
3. How the vast amount of land in America produced so many denominations
4. Puritans and Pilgrims
5. The Halfway Covenant: A unique solution to one of the first problems in American Christianity
6. Jonathan Edwards' Sinners in the hands of an angry God
7. Jonathan Edwards and the beginnings of Evangelicalism
8. George Whitefield: The First American Celebrity
9. Charles Wesley "proves" Jesus will return in 1793
10. Behind the name: Episcopalian
11. The Origin of the Separation of Church and State
12. The Origin of Sunday Schools
13. The AME Church: Watching the birth of a denomination
14. Map of 1809 Camp Meeting
15. Charles Finney's New Measures
16. William Miller: Jesus to return in 1843
17. Utopian groups of the 1800's
18. Armorbearers in the church (probably not if you are white)
19. How did Pentecostalism begin?
20. Fundamentalism: The origin of the name
21. Billy Graham's First Greatest Revival
22. History of the United Methodist Church
23. Origin of Contemporary Christian Music
24. I know what you are trying to do: Niebuhr's Christ and Culture
25. 4 Different Leadership Models of Churches

World Christianity

Flotsam

1. Eastern Catholic Churches: What? There are 23 of them?

Brazil

1. Why do Brazilians speak Portuguese? Ask the pope of 1493.

Great Britain

1. Origin of the term "Methodist"

India

1. The Apostle Thomas: He traveled to India
2. Francis Xavier: An amazing 10 years
3. William Carey: The First Modern Mission

Israel

1. The History of Jerusalem

Jamaica

1. George Liele: A man of many firsts