The Catholic Brothers

A Superstition? Funerary society? Guild? A philosophical school? What the heck is this “Christian” thing? In this episode, we complete our discussion of the vitality of Roman Religion and then analyze various ways in which Roman writers politically and culturally tried to classify the novel Christian movement throughout the second century. How Christians were politically classified by various Roman authorities have serious implications. It would determine whether or not they were free to debate in the public square or merely destined for ostracization and execution. This is a fascinating topic that you don’t want to miss!

In Part One of this episode, we flip the table a bit and try to understand Rome’s relationship to her gods *from the inside out* so that we can paint a fuller picture of the religious landscape of Christianity’s rise in Late Antiquity. Heretofore, many scholars have argued that early Christianity was able to spread so rapidly because the religion(s) of the Roman Empire had increasingly lost vitality and failed to fulfill emerging soteriological hopes of Late Antique peoples. But, is any of this true? Is this merely the residue of centuries of anti-pagan bias and propaganda? What was Roman religion *really* like; how captivating was it; and why did the fledgling Christian movement cause such concern for some of the brightest Roman minds of the second century?

In this episode we address the topic of exorcism in the early church, particularly from the lens of Hebrew cosmology and Christian mission to a pagan world from the second century onward. Connecting the dots between research on exorcism in Late Antiquity and Divine Council Scholarship, we explain why Christian exorcism became a major force for the conversion of the Roman Empire.

In this episode on Liturgy in the second century, we resume our journey of reconstructing and envisioning early Christian worship.

In this episode on Liturgy in the second century, we resume our journey of reconstructing and envisioning early Christian worship. In Part 1, we focus on change and continuity with regard to the (1) location, (2) timing, and the (3) “shape” that the Eucharistic gathering is taking in this post apostolic era. You won’t want to miss this one!

In this second part of our episode on women in early Christian communities we address the question of whether or not females served as presbyters. A timely topic, to be sure, as modern events like the Synod on Synodality continue to see this question bubble up to the top of the debates.  But putting aside modern preoccupations and concerns, as historians, let’s really take a good look at the evidence, context, and preoccupations of the second century Christians.

Here we offer our response to Dr. Gavin Ortlund’s recent video in which he argues against the decisions of the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, asserting that the veneration of images/icons is not a proper development of doctrine, but instead represents an illegitimate accretion which contradicts the unanimous consent of the Church Fathers and the commandments in Scripture.   Leave us your comments, and be sure to tune into our channel for our regular, First 500 Years series!

Our personal evaluation of Pope Benedict XVI, especially with regard to his impact on culture, the Church, and our own journey from Protestantism to Catholicism.

Did the early Christian movement have women in prominent leadership roles? What sorts of functions did women perform within the communities? Who are some influential women of the first and second centuries? These questions and more are tackled in part 1 of our episode on women in the early church.

Join us for a quick discussion about how early stories of martyrdom reveal what the first Christians believed about the Eucharist. Are the seeds of later Catholic theology to be found here?