Use this tag for questions about the history of Christianity and the church.
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What is God's shape or form?
How do we describe God? Does He have a shape or form? Is He human-like, a light, or something else? Does He have a shape? What does Christianity say about it?
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3answers
1k views
What is significant about the swaddling clothes with which Jesus was wrapped as a baby?
Luke gives the account of Jesus' birth and mentions that Mary wrapped Him in "swaddling cloths".
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling
cloths and laid him in a ...
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3answers
165 views
Why was the New Testament Written in Greek?
New Testament was written in Greek. But Jesus lived in Israel and was supposed to be the next King of Israel. I think it is probably fair to assume that he and his twelve apostles spoke Hebrew. Then ...
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198 views
How did Luther view relics, like the 'preserved head of John the Baptist'?
According to wiki
Roman Catholic tradition holds that the head on display in San Silvestro in Capite in Rome is that of John the Baptist, discovered for the second time, as also maintained by ...
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1answer
91 views
Did Jesus consider OT events to be literal history?
Did Jesus consider the historic references in the OT to be literal in the sense that people and events where historical as recorded or did he view them as symbolic/figurative or did he pick and ...
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1answer
856 views
In what order were the books in the New Testament written?
I'm just curious as to the actual timeline and known dates of the New Testament books. I know the version fo the Bible I read had the letters from Paul ordered by their size, and not when they were ...
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105 views
What was the Christian response to death-loving practices of Ancient Roman society?
In Ancient Rome, gladiators would fight to the death for the amusement of the crowd. What did Christians do to stop this?
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1answer
219 views
Why and when did allegorical interpretations of Scripture lose their appeal?
Gregory of Nyssa's book The Life of Moses is, if nothing else, a very interesting read. He goes through Moses' account in Exodus and ascribes spiritual meanings to every little detail, although it is ...
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2answers
603 views
How many kinds of Catholics are there?
Until recently I was under the impression that Catholics are unanimous in their beliefs and don't have the kind of fragmentation that Protestants have.
But I’ve learned that there are several small ...
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1answer
116 views
When did Christians switch from an ‘immediate baptism’ to ‘after years of instruction and scrutiny’ baptism, such as in the Apostolic Tradition?
According to this article ‘Catechumen’ means one receives instruction from “a catechist in the principles of the Christian religion with a view to baptism”. I understand that some churches have this ...
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1answer
115 views
Who in the fourth century had milk instead of wine at communion?
While reading up on intinction I found a reference to an early practice of using milk instead of wine at communion. This was condemned in a decree of 340AD by Pope Saint Julius I:
For we have ...
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1answer
169 views
Why did the Commonwealth Parliament ban theatre?
I've known for a while that theatre was banned under Cromwell, because the Puritans disapproved of it. What was their objection?
Wikipedia adds this information:
Pastimes such as the theatre and ...
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2answers
115 views
John Wesley's influence by ancient fathers
I have been told that John Wesley read the pre-Schism fathers a lot, and was influenced by them.
Is this so, and if so, to what extent and how was his doctrine influenced by them?
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64 views
What biblical and historical support is there for the practice of child communion.
About seven years ago my wife and I (who are childless) left our old church and set out to find the best church we could in the area. We ended up in a church that practices paedo (child) communion. ...
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1answer
89 views
What happened to the two trees in the Garden of Eden?
In Genesis 2, we are told that there were two named trees in the Garden of Eden--the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life.
When Adam and Eve ate fruit from the Tree of the ...
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1answer
37 views
Status of the New Testament in the Church of the East in the ancient times
Which books from the current New Testament were used in the ancient Church of the East in, say, Mongolia in the days of Genghis Kahn?
The books in the New Testament were fixed after the Church of ...
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2answers
208 views
How should a Christian deal with destructive higher criticism of the Bible?
In recent times authorship of Biblical books has been called into question by modern scholars.
It is believed that Isaiah didn't write Isaiah, John didn't write John, Matthew didn't write Matthew, ...
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3answers
231 views
What does the Bible have to say about dinosaurs?
Archaeology has found many dinosaur fossils. Does the Bible have anything to say about the existence of dinosaurs?
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1answer
177 views
How do we know the events described in the bible are true? [closed]
Many Christians will quote passages from the bible as proof or evidence when needed. However, given that it is a story written, translated, interpreted, re-written, re-translated and re-interpreted by ...
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2answers
142 views
Were witches ever executed by the Eastern Orthodox Church?
If we don't count lynchings, were people ever executed for witchcraft be the Eastern Orthodox Church?
In western Christianity, the execution of witches was condemned until 1484, four centuries after ...
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1answer
985 views
Why Lot's daughters seduced their father?
According to the Bible, when Lot escaped out of Zoar, he went up to the mountains and settled in a cave. While in there, he was seduced by his daughters so that they could bear children and save ...
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2answers
81 views
What is the basis for ascribing any fiscal policy to Jesus?
In the United States, specifically on the Right, many Republican / Tea-Party, Evangelical Christians have very little problem in ascribing a moral motive for a tight fiscal policy which restricts ...
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2answers
481 views
Where did the religious symbol of the 'halo' come from?
I once read somewhere that the 'halo' was inherited by Christianity from ancient worshippers of the Sun. However, although this seems believable I never bothered to verify its historic credibility - ...
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3answers
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Protestant rejection of the Catholic implementation of confession
(Pardon the length - my original post was more concise, but wasn't clearly conveying my question.)
Background:
I am currently studying the Spiritual Disciplines at a Protestant seminary. For those ...
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4answers
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The “eye of the needle gate” today
There is a great set of answers that covers some of my question regarding the interpretation of this passage over on the Biblical Hermeneutics site, but it didn't answer all of my questions.
Today I ...
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2answers
255 views
From where did the Book of Abraham come and how did it become part of LDS Scripture?
According to the answers to this question, the Pearl of Great Price contains a work of antiquity called the Book of Abraham. Where exactly did the Book of Abraham come from and how did it become ...
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1answer
38 views
How did Luther view pilgramages?
From what I understand there are many people from vaious denominations who imagine certain places on the earth are 'holier' than other places and that it is good to travel long distances to visit ...
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60 views
How did Luther's view of Mary change after his new birth experience?
The question is as simple as the title. Did Luther have a minor alteration in his view of Mary, or a major one after being born again?
Note: By the way Luther did use the term 'born again' for some ...
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1answer
102 views
Was the Apostolic Tradition of rejecting soldiers from the church ‘permanent’, or was this ‘tradition' briefly enforced?
In the Bible Jesus encounters Roman soldiers but does not tell them to 'quit their day job'. Jesus encountered a centurion with 'great faith' as recorded in Matthew 8. Peter as well baptized a ...
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1answer
160 views
Does any church follow the Apostolic Tradition of Baptism ‘in the nude’, or was that never the tradition?
The Apostolic Tradition was the work of Hippolytus, written somewhere between 215 and 400 AD. Recent scholars seem to take the later date (source). The whole writing can be found here: Apostolic ...
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1answer
90 views
Was the mode of execution for Jesus required to be crucifixion?
Did Jesus need to die on a cross or were there alternative endings? Would being stabbed with a sword or if he died during the beatings have been good enough?
Specifically, are there prophecies held ...
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1answer
62 views
Does an understanding of how the Bible was written, play a strong role in any Christian sect?
There is sometimes a misunderstanding or differing opinion of who wrote what in the Bible. Is this issue relevant to any particular Christian sect? Does the topic play an important role?
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1answer
232 views
From where did the Pearl of Great Price come and how did it become recognized as Scripture in the LDS church?
The LDS church recognizes, among other writing, a book called The Pearl of Great Price. What is the origins of this work and how did it become accepted as Scripture by the LDS church? Also, do any ...
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99 views
Did the Emperor Constantine ever present explanations for putting off his baptism?
The Emperor Constantine who favored Christianity as early as 312, and convened the Council of Nicæa in 325, postponed baptism till 337. Did he provide any reasons for doing so?
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1answer
40 views
Did the American Constitution and independence from England usher in the first full separation of Church and state?
I have noticed that even among theologians that postulated full separation of church and state, like Luther, they did not force the subject so fully as our modern world understands. In fact there was ...
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2answers
115 views
Were the Waldensians like a Protestant church in the middle ages?
I do not know anything about the Waldensians. Specifically, do we actually know what their doctrine was and why the Catholic church opposed them?
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837 views
What is the relation between the First Baptist Church and the Baptist Church?
In my neighboorhood ther has been a Baptist Church for a while. I´m moderately aware of the history of Baptist Church in general.
Very recently a temple of The First Baptist Church has been built. ...
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50 views
What is the origin of the doctrine of perspecuity?
Fundamentally, Catholics and Protestants read Scripture differently.
Catholics believe that any private interpretation of Scripture is subject to the teachings of the church, whereas Protestants, ...
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1answer
188 views
Why did John Wycliffe oppose papal authority in the 14th century?
He's been called the "Eosphoros of the Reformation", but how did he come to realise that it was the Bible which spoke against papal authority above government authority?
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48 views
Why didn't Syriac Christianity keep Aramaic as their liturgical language?
Syriac Christianity (as well as with other oriental orthodoxy denominations) today use Arabic as their liturgical language. It is known that they have been using Arabic since the times of Muslim ...
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2answers
151 views
When did the church in the city of Rome first try to impose a tradition on other churches?
Just wondering in what year the first historical record of the Church in Rome, against the wishes of other churches, that she should impose her tradition on them?
Note: I am simply looked for the ...
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3answers
203 views
Exclusion of some people from Heaven
Will Jews, Buddhists, and all others who truly believe in God but not that Jesus is God, and who adhered to the Ten Commandments and who have done charitable acts throughout their lives,
be excluded ...
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1answer
2k views
How did the world get populated according to Bible?
Adam and Eve had only three sons (Cain, Abel, and Seth), but no daughters: how did the world get populated?
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305 views
For what human reason was Christ crucified?
I know that from God the Father's perspective, Christ had to die for the sins of the elect.
However, from a secular perspective, why was Christ crucified?
I know that the Jews were unhappy with ...
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3answers
231 views
Are there any tenets of Gnosticism that are still present in the church today?
Towards the end of the New Testament writing, the heresy of gnosticism was one of the chief "false teachings" against which Paul and the other writers were contesting. Could someone present some of ...
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1answer
83 views
Besides works versus grace and indulgences, what were the external practices of the Catholics that offended so many reformers?
My question is not focused on the doctrinal issue, but on the external practices which were contributing to the division. For example, I know there were many 'image breakers' similar to traditional ...
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2answers
130 views
What did Brigham Young teach regarding Blood Atonement, and is that doctrine still held today in the LDS/Mormon Church?
Brigham Young taught the doctrine of Blood Atonement that indicated the blood of Christ was insufficient to provide forgiveness for some sins. What are the specifics regarding the doctrine of Blood ...
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1answer
90 views
Did the city of Nazareth exist in the time of Jesus?
The question stems from this video. Additionally, I would like to know any books, articles and other credible sources that deals with this question for further reading*. Thank you for your time.
* ...
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1answer
265 views
Did Martin Luther know Hebrew or Greek?
I know that Martin Luther knew Latin and German, but did he know other languages? For example, did he know Greek or Hebrew (I mean those Greek and Hebrew that the Bible is written in)?
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1answer
69 views
Did John Bunyan really dream the dream, or was it equiv to “In a land far far away …”
Part 1
I'm referring to the story Pilgrim's Progress.
I believe it was written while John Bunyan was imprisoned.
The question is as follows:
Did he really literally dream this dream, and write it ...
