A History of Christian Theology

To begin this week's podcast, Chad begins with a synopsis of the relationship between Origen's thought and Reformed theology. Chad apologizes on the part of the whole AHOCT team. It is never the intention of the podcasters to belittle or demean perspectives that they do not hold. The introduction will be posted on our blog at www.ahistoryofchristiantheology.com. Please post a comment there or on Facebook.com/ahistoryofchristiantheology. Thanks for all the interaction! It is great to hear from the listeners.

Continuing in Origen of Alexandria, we discuss On First Principles, the first systematic theology, particularly Book 3. In this book, Origen has a long discussion of free will, the temptation of the Devil, and the question of universal salvation. Hope you enjoy it.

This week, we work our way through Book 2 of On First Principles with our guest Ben Brandon. Hope you enjoy it!

Moving back to Eastern Christianity, we will look this week at Origen's On First Principles Book 1. Did he believe in universalism? What was his view of Scripture? These and more on this week's episode.

In this episode, Tom, Trevor and I discuss a text from Rome just after Tertullian. It is a dialogue written in the style of Cicero that contains a debate about the truth of Christianity vs. Roman Paganism. Hope you enjoy!

This is our final week in Tertullian. We will look at how he defines the "rule of faith," or regula fidei. Tom and I have a bit of a heated discussion at the end on the importance of the rule of faith to the early theologians whom we have studied. Hope you enjoy it. Check us out at: Facebook.com/ahistoryofchristiantheology.

In this week's episode, we discuss the late 2nd, early 3rd century theologian, Tertullian of Carthage. We look at what he calls the "absurd" position that God became man. We also note the uniqueness of his position amongst theologians of his period. Thanks for listening.

This is our live broadcast from The District Coffeehouse in Boise, ID. Sorry that the audio is a bit quiet, but I think it should still be listenable. We do a discussion of Against Praxeas for 45 minutes and then a Q/A for 45 minutes. Thanks for listening.

Here is a rundown of what we discuss in today's episode. Tertullian De Spectaculis 3 - 11 (minutes) - Montanist Background of Tertullian11 - 24: arguments against going to “shows” - pagan origin 20 24 - 33: passions as the problem with going to the shows33 - 40: I spliced together two recordings because of poor audio quality.40 - End: Discussion of movies - American Sniper and what Tertullian would say about it

We have finally finished with Clement of Alexandria and our moving across the Mediterranean to Carthage in North Africa. We have a special guest, Caleb Friz on this week to assess Tertullian's defense of the Christian faith. Our topics will range from what religion looked like in the pagan world, to how Tertullian sounds like a contemporary atheist, to whether or not he is a trustworthy source and finally discuss his attempts at form of Pascal's wager. I hope you enjoy this podcast. Check out our page at http://www.Facebook.com/AHistoryofChristianTheology

Its just Tom and Chad for this shorter episode on the last two Stromata for our study. Here is a quick break down of themes and times if you would like to skip ahead:2 minutes - Preparation for the Gospel in diverse cultures9 minutes - Notion of Justice in Clement's writings16 minutes - The Concept of Social Justice in popular speech and mercy23 minutes - Habits of Virtue32 minutes - John Wesley and Clement of Alexandria on Perfection

In this episode, we cover topics ranging from the problem of evil and divine foreknowledge (at about minute 17) to Clement's view of women (about minute 27) and finish with a discussion of perfection and heaven (at about minute 48). Sorry this is late in coming.

Greetings listeners. In this special issue podcast, Tom, Trevor, and Chad talk with Caleb Friz about the Syrian refugee crisis and Chad Kim's piece on Conciliar Post: http://www.conciliarpost.com/politics-current-affairs/citizenship-in-heaven/Please check back with us on Tuesday when we will return to Clement of Alexandria's Stromata.

We are happy to welcome Benjamin Brandon to this week's episode. We will discuss the Christian Platonist, Clement of Alexandria and his Stromata (or miscellanies). Please visit our website at http://www.ahistoryofchristiantheology.com where we have a map of the philosophical schools of Athens and other great content.

Sorry about the shortness of this episode. We will be back with a full length episode next week.

With Tom back on the show, we turn to Clement of Alexandria, one of the greatest thinkers of the Christian tradition, but largely neglected due to the complexity of his thought. We will look at the relationship between humans and the divine in both pagan and Christian thought.

Trever and Chad discuss two early theologians from the great centers of Early Christianity, Antioch and Alexandria. Please go to our website at ahistoryofchristiantheology.com where we will be updating a map showing where are theologians are located in the ancient world. It will give you a sense of where we are talking about when going through our history. Thanks for listening.

In this somewhat short episode, we look at Athenagoras. A little known theologian writing in the 2nd century, as an apologist, somewhat like Justin Martyr, only better.

Changing things up a bit, we are not discussing a theologian, but the Apostles' Creed. We discuss what it means to have faith and whether or not there is a conflict between faith and reason, as well as other important ideas. Thanks for listening.

Finishing up Irenaeus of Lyons, Tom, Trevor and Chad work their way through Apostolic succession, "doing history," the Eucharist, justification, and much more. Please let us know what kind of questions you have from what we are discussing at Facebook.com/ahistoryofchristiantheology or www.ahistoryofchristiantheology.com.

Starting this week, we will begin 2 hour long episodes on the great 2nd century theologian Irenaeus. Irenaeus is one of the first to explain what Gnosticism truly taught and how it was different from comes to be known as Orthodox Christianity. He is a wealth of information, and should be read, in his own right, for his clever thought. Please check out our blog at www.ahistoryofchristiantheology.com and tell us what you think.

We continue our conversation on Dialogue with Trypho. Please check us out at Facebook.com/ahistoryofchristiantheology. Let us know what you think about the length and if you would like it if we went to an hour.

Continuing our time in Justin, Tom, Trevor and I (Chad) discuss Justin's "hermeneutic" of reading Scripture, his early Trinitarian theology and why this matters before the Council of Nicaea. Check out our blog for more thoughts on hermeneutics at www.ahistoryofchristiantheology.com.

We dig deep in this 2nd episode on Justin Martyr's Second Apology, into the ancient world of philosophy, contemporary conversations on morality and why heaven matters. Hope you enjoy it. Check out our blog at www.ahistoryofchristiantheology.com. Thanks!

Moving on to the 2nd great work from Justin, we look at the Martyr's 2nd, and smaller apology. Tom, Trevor and I will continue to work in the Divine Philosophy of Justin Martyr. We discuss the language of the empire, demonology, and heaven and hell in Justin's thought.

We welcome back Caleb Friz in this second installment of our discussion over Justin Martyr's First Apology. Much of the conversation will center around how convincing are Justin's arguments and what is the nature of apologetics.

We welcome Caleb Friz to stand up for the true atheists in this first podcast on Justin Martyr's First Apology. We discuss who the letter was written to, what persecution looked like in the ancient world, and what Justin knew about the age of various Mediterranean religions. Check out our blog at ahistoryofchristiantheology.com and like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/ahistoryofchristiantheology.

In this podcast, Tom, Trevor and Chad try and ferret out the various theological issues and assumptions of the Gospel of Thomas. We also take a stab at trying to figure out if it is fair to call this a Gnostic Text.