Questions tagged [history]
For questions related to history generally. Use the [church-history] tag for the history of the post-NT church.
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The matter of Pope Benedictus XVI and Nazism?
I am here trying to find sources about Pope Benedictus XVI and his history with Nazism. I don't really have a question, but I thought this would be a great place to find resources on this subject from ...
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When is the phrase "Word of God" first used to refer to the Scriptures?
The phrase "Word of God" or "Word of the Lord" and variants are commonly used (at least among evangelicals) to refer to the Bible - i.e. the written words of the prophets and ...
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How did the western Church arrive at such a state of corruption by the sixteenth century?
I want to know what went wrong in the Church for it to end up corrupt by the 16th century.
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Did Charles Dickens play any role in renewing the spirit of Christmas in modern times?
I just finished watching the movie: The man who invented Christmas. This got me asking the question: Did Charles Dickens played any real role in renewing (reviving) the spirit of Christmas (in the ...
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Why are there astrological signs in some churches and abbeys?
There are Christian churches and abbeys including very old ones in Hungary where we can find frescos about astrological signs. These frescos are relative new, probably a few hundred years old. As far ...
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What did pastors in the 1800s in the United States teach their congregations about interacting with Native Americans?
Background
During the 1800s, Americans expanded farther west into the territory of Native Americans, which led to many interactions between settlers and Native Americans. From my limited but ...
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Is there any historical evidence that Paul's letters may have been tampered with?
First question here, but thankfully I'm relatively familiar with Stack Exchange so hopefully this question should be a good fit for the site.
There are multiple passages in the letters of Paul that ...
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Why would the priests bribe guards to lie when given clear evidence that Jesus was immortal? (Mt. 28:11-12) [closed]
Logic speaks to me that, no matter HOW much I hated someone, if given clear testimony from the best of the Roman guard that the guy fulfilled his own prediction and was raised from the dead by ...
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Is there any extra-biblical evidence that shows the apostles were martyred?
Church tradition tells us that most of the 12 apostles were martyred, with the apostle John being the only one considered to die an old death.
Is there any extra-biblical evidence that shows the ...
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What is the role of faith presuppositions related to whether the Gospel of Mark was embellished after the close of the apostolic era?
Over at the History Exchange site there is an interesting discussion on the topic of "Why can't the gospel of Mark be as late as 110 CE."
A related question has been asked on this site in ...
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Are there video recordings of humans said to be possessed by demons?
Are there video recordings of humans said to be possessed by demons? Has a claimed demon possession ever been recorded on camera? I'm open to answers from any Christian groups/denominations.
Related ...
user50422
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Do we know anything about the source material for the Old Testament?
The historical books especially fit so cleanly together that it would seem like possibly a whole bunch of historical records, traditions, and books were collected and form the source material. ...
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Has an angel or a demon ever been recorded on camera?
Simple question: has an angel or a demon ever been recorded on camera? I'm open to answers from any Christian groups/denominations.
Related questions:
Has a healing miracle ever been recorded on ...
user50422
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History of the formation of the Biblical canon. Searching for accessible bibliographical references
I am interested in finding bibliographical references narrating the formation of the Biblical canon in the first 5 centuries of the Christian era that are:
Academic books or articles written by ...
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Extra-biblical evidence of "Joshua's long day" and "Hezekiah’s sign"?
Joshua 10:12–14 describes that
the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down the space of one day.
Victor Warkulwiz, Universe without Space and Time, ch. 2 claims
Joshua’s ...
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According to Protestant NT scholars/historians did Gamaliel get the chronology & history wrong in Acts 5?
I was listening on (audio) to Wayne Grudem’s systematic theology and in the chapter on biblical inerrancy.. he mentioned some people dispute Gamaliel's historical accuracy on certain uprisings, and ...
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Did the early church believe in self defence?
Does any of the early church fathers teach that we as Christians are allowed to defend ourselves if our life is in severe danger and if so what church fathers taught this?
user51922
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When (and by whom) did the term 'substitionary atonement' become widely used?
I was very surprised when I entered the words 'substitutionary atonement' into the Google Ngram Viewer and produced the graph below.
The graph shows usage in literature from 1600 to 2019.
This reports ...
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How many hand written Vulgate manuscripts were accessible?
To understand the history of the Christian church, the accessibility of Vulgate manuscripts during the middle ages is of interest. What is known? Is there a date from which we may assume that all, or ...
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Did the Jews in Our Lord’s time or earlier believe in a form of purgatory?
Purgatory is most often dismissed as being nothing more than a Roman Catholic belief, but does Judaism have a form of purgatory? (ie a place where our remaining sins are purged) or to quote from the ...
user51922
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Was there a time before the East-West schism where heretics outnumbered Catholics?
I am curious whether there was any one heresy that commanded a large enough following that the orthodox Catholics were outnumbered?
The scope of this question is worldwide
The point of view is the ...
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The priest/preacher's prayer before the sermon/homily -- what is it and why do the ECLA (and others) do it?
Tried to put the gist of this in the subject.
Often in my tradition (ELCA), the preacher will say a quick prayer before preaching; often it's the "May the words of my mouth.." prayer, or ...
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Did the early church believe that St. Peter was the first pope?
Roman Catholics believe that St. Peter was the first Pope, had primacy over the church and was given a pastoral role by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, we know the scripture argument for the papacy, ...
user51922
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Did the early church believe in the Papacy? [duplicate]
Roman Catholics believe that St. Peter was the first Pope, had primacy over the church and was given a pastoral role by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, we know the scripture argument for the papacy, ...
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Has anyone ever published a list comparing the amount of historically verified events from the Bible vs. the Book of Mormon?
Thus far, answers to this question, indicate that traditional Christian faith would suffer greatly if people, locations, and events recorded in the Bible could not be historically verified while ...
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How important is the historical verification of Biblical events to traditional Christian faith?
Two answers to a question regarding the Book of Mormon contain the following:
Without the Book of Mormon, nothing at all remains. If the Book of
Mormon is true, Joseph is a prophet and everything ...
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What is a brief history of the term "reformed" as in Reformed churches and Reformed theology?
Why do theologies and churches based on the teaching of Calvin consistently self-identify using the term "Reformed" even down to the 21st century, such as the 2019 Reformed Systematic ...
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How long had John the Baptist been preaching before Jesus started his public ministry?
I am wondering how long John the Baptist had been preaching before Jesus started his public ministry.
Had John been preaching for a few weeks, a few months, or for a few years before Jesus came to see ...
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How do believers in post-mortal consciousness respond to objections by the Jewish Encyclopedia article on the immortality of the soul?
I'm specifically referring to this article: https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8092-immortality-of-the-soul
--
Some quotes
IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL (late Hebrew, "hasharat ha-nefesh"...
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Is it odd that there is only one sentence about the death of David?
I read in 2nd Samuel from the time that David was anointed with oil to the beginning of Judges to Davids death and burial. Davids life is described in much detail, great detail. Both good and bad are ...
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Non-Christian scholars who believe in the attributed authorship of the Gospels
Modern scholarship tends to reject the attributed authorship of the gospels. But are there non-Christian scholars who believe in the attributed authorship?
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According to believers in the deity of Christ, is the historical evidence for this belief as strong as the historial evidence for the Biblical canon?
I ask this question as a follow-up to For Christians who are skeptical of the writings of the Apostolic & Ante-Nicene Fathers, what is their epistemological basis for trusting a canon?. I highly ...
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How did the author Daniel copy Babylonian literature?
This is an apologetics question involving history and archeology to which I’m looking for a christian’s answer.
Below is a quote from theologian Joyce G. Baldwin on her essay (pg.97) regarding the ...
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Who was the first Christian to list the books of the Old Testament in the Lutheran bible?
Who was the first Christian (not necessarily Lutheran) to list the books of the Old Testament in the Lutheran bible, without additions or subtractions, and without later changing his mind?
This source ...
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Has any monk or nun ever left a monastery to be married to a king or queen?
Has any monk or nun in Church history ever left a monastery to be married to a king or queen?
St. Margaret of Hungary, according to Short Lives of the Dominican Saints p. 16, almost did:
Her parents ...
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Was Mt. Sinai a volcano?
Just watched this glorious video. In watching it, the similarity of the imagery to the description of God's presence as fire and smoke in the wilderness of Exodus and especially on Mt. Sinai was ...
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Are there instances in scripture of technical or scientific expressions pre-dating their discovery by other sources?
I am interested to see if there are any reliable references in (peer-reviewed) scientific literature or learned articles which indicate that some expressions in scripture pre-date scientific or ...
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Why doesn't hallucination, common burial, legend, and gullibility explain the rise of Christianity (rather than the Resurrection)? How is this wrong?
What scholarship refutes the following view of history? How do we know this alternative to the Gospel is incorrect?
Jesus is executed by the Roman empire after preaching a loving humanism based on ...
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What evidence can be used to show the historicity of Jesus?
In a debate about the historicity of Jesus, what/whom can I reference to show that Jesus was an historical figure?
It seems the “Jesus as a Myth” crowd is still with us.
Note:
(1) I already am ...
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What are scholarly books for and against the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus?
In order to have a well-rounded understanding of the arguments for and against a historical resurrection of Jesus, what would be a comprehensive list of must-read scholarly books defending its ...
user50422
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If Joseph Smith "inaccurately" translated Egyptian hieroglyphs in his Book of Abraham, does this cast doubt on his translation, the Book of Mormon?
In 1842, Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) acquired writings in Egyptian hieroglyphics.These writings were genuine hieroglyphs and were the bases for ...
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Do we know more details about the act of Jesus' birth beyond Luke 2?
Luke's Gospel tells us simply that Jesus was born to Mary and placed in a manger. It doesn't say if it was an easy or difficult birth, who helped deliver the baby, and so on.
I want to write a ...
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Did the Catholic Church make a conscious effort in re-naming the seven days of the week?
We see the Church having had great influence on many aspects of the development of human kind, including education, culinary habits etc. The very division of history by the term Before Christ and ...
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Can Catholics morally object to sharia law?
Christians often criticize sharia law because the death penalty is applied for crimes like adultery, apostasy, fornication, etc. Sharia is often compared to the legal laws given in the O.T, but it is ...
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Are there biblical examples that justify fantasy-scare?
By fantasy-scare, I mean the scare surrounding things like Dungeons & Dragons (a tabletop roleplaying game), Harry Potter or other media that depicts magic as narrative element and neutral part of ...
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Are there instances of miracles that are officially recognized by non-Catholic denominations?
The Catholic Church is well-known for its strictness in evaluating before officially accepting concrete instances of miracles. According to Wikipedia:
The Catholic Church believes miracles are works ...
user50422
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Are there any remains/fossils after Noah's flood?
As its considered that the flood happened on a global scale at Noah's time and its occurrence; are there any human (considerable account) & animal fossils/remains (apart from the ship) that ...
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Bloodletting and Protestantism?
After a bit of googling I've found that the Catholic Church prohibited bloodletting at the Council of Tours in 1163.
Bloodletting
But nothing about Protestant opinions...
Some Protestant author wrote ...
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Is there a consensus among Christian scholars or apologists as to which Biblical prophecies have been fulfilled?
Questions such as Biblical Prophecy and Fulfillment and Which prophecies have definitely been fulfilled? have already been asked in the past, but they have been closed due to their wording that ...
user50422
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Empirical evidence of historically mentioned locations/people/ things in the bible
I was arguing with a friend on religion and they mentioned that other religions' have more historical validity than bible. An example he cited for Islam was the instance of Mecca which is a physical ...
user54218