Have you heard of Hippolytus’s Refutation of All Heresies? Written not long after 222 A.D. this book works through dozens of heresies–beliefs that the author disagreed with. Some scholars have argued against Hippolytus as the author, preferring to call him pseudo-Hippolytus. But regardless of who wrote the tome, the fact is that this huge book Read more about 579 Christologies in the 2nd and 3rd Centuries (Dale Tuggy)[…]
Has anyone ever said to you, “Oh, you believe Jesus is just a mere man.” How do you respond when someone says that? Do you just go along with it and say, “Yep, that’s what I believe–Jesus is just another guy”? I hope not. Jesus is not just another guy. He’s the virginally-conceived son of Read more about 577 Nothing Mere about a Man Made in the Image of God (Anna Brown)[…]
Christians have approached the first chapter of Genesis differently over the centuries. There are those who hold to young earth creationism, day-age theory, gap theory, and progressive creationism, just to name a few. Oftentimes defenders of a particular view will provide biblical, scientific, and historical evidence for their position. Our focus today is on the Read more about 556 Recruiting Ancients for the Creation Debate (Andrew Brown)[…]
I’ve been putting out podcast episodes on Restitutio since 2015. I’ve interviewed many authors in that time. However, I’ve never been interviewed as an author. That changed a couple of days ago when Sam Tideman of Transfigured had me on his show to talk about my new book, Kingdom Journey. We discussed the biblical idea Read more about 535 Kingdom Journey Interview (Sam Tideman)[…]
Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Today my guest is Thomas Gaston who’s book is called Dynamic Monarchianism: the Earliest Christology? Dr. Gaston earned his Ph. D. from Oxford University and this book one of the fruits of that labor. In this interview we talk about the earliest Dynamic Monarchians, including Ebionites Read more about 528 Dynamic Monarchianism: The Earliest Christology (Thomas Gaston)[…]
What do you think happens during communion? In my interview today, Dr. Steven Nemes provides a biblical, historical, and theological defense for memorialism–the idea that the eucharist memorializes what Christ has done (and will do) for us rather than actually becoming Christ in some metaphysical sense. Thus, the bread and wine signify or represent Christ’s Read more about 506 Eating Christ’s Flesh – 1 (Steven Nemes)[…]
This is part 17 of the Early Church History class. Throughout the first five hundred years of Christian history, a significant shift occurred in what we believed about our ultimate destiny. The New Testament and the early church fathers repeatedly expressed belief in God’s kingdom coming to earth. Over time, however, this idea gave way Read more about 499 Early Church History 17: The Kingdom of God in Early Christianity[…]
This is part 11 of the Early Church History class. Have you heard of the Roman emperor Constantine? He had a massive impact on Christianity. Not only did he end the brutal persecutions of his predecessors, but he also used the Roman government to actively support the Church. However, his involvement also resulted in significant Read more about 493 Early Church History 11: The Constantinian Shift[…]
Last time in our series on sin, we focused our attention solely on guilt. Is Adam’s guilt imputed to all humanity such that at birth we are condemned? This time we will turn our attention to corruption. Are babies born corrupted? If so, how vitiated are we? We’ll consider three main positions on this question Read more about Are we born with a morally corrupt nature? (Sin 2)[…]
Why did Jesus die? Why couldn’t God just forgive all our sins? How did Jesus’ death pay for sin? How can someone else die for my sins? Questions like these are what atonement theories strive to answer. Throughout the history of Christianity a half dozen prominent theories have vied for adherents. In what follows I Read more about 427 Why Did Jesus Die? Exploring Atonement Theories (Sean Finnegan)[…]
This is part 13 of the One God Over All class. What happened in the fourth century? You’ve probably heard all kinds of rumors about Arius of Alexandria and his newfangled heresy. But, was Arius really a sinful outsider who tried to corrupt Christianity? Was his idea of a Son with a beginning even new? Read more about 423 One God 13: The Fourth Century[…]
This is part 12 of the One God Over All class. If the entire bible clearly and repeatedly teaches that there is one supreme God who is over all and that Jesus is his subordinate son, then surely we should find evidence of this idea in the historical writings of Christians after the New Testament Read more about 422 One God 12: Early Church History[…]
Restitutio exists to restore authentic Christianity and live it out today. As a restorationist, it really does matter to me how the earliest Christians practiced their faith. A question I ask myself is if I jumped in a time machine and went back to the late first century and attended a house church meeting, would Read more about 375 Gifts of the Spirit Are Available Today (John Truitt)[…]
Last time we looked at the major categories the scriptures use to answer the question, “Why did Jesus die?” This time, we’ll take a journey through church history, making stops along the way to see how our forebearers have made sense of the crucifixion of our Lord. You’ll learn about these seven theories: Ransom Christus Read more about Theology 18 — Atonement Theories[…]
Did the earliest Christians of the first three hundred years believe in the Trinity? This presentation works through the most quoted texts to show that they should not be used as proof of teaching the Trinity before a.d 325. Scroll down to see my conference paper. For more podcasts and videos challenging the Trinity see: Read more about The Trinity before Nicea[…]
Is war ever justified? If so, can Christians participate in killing? In this episode we delve into a sensitive and controversial subject to figure out what the bible has to teach us about how we should treat our enemies. Our aim here is not be provocative, but faithful to what our lord taught us. Here Read more about Off Script 38: Killing in War: A Christian View of Violence[…]
Who has believed in the kingdom over the history of Christianity? In this lecture, you’ll find out who defended the kingdom belief in the first four centuries, before it faded out of the mainstream and got replaced with going to heaven instead. In order to put you in contact with the primary sources, we read Read more about 101 Historical Kingdom Advocates (Kingdom of God 10)[…]
The history of Christianity can sometimes be really depressing, especially when we look at the “heresy hunters.” From Justin Martyr and Irenaues in the second century to Athanasius and Epiphanius of the fourth century, as Christians we progressively came to define ourselves on the basis of what we don’t believe. As a result, so much Read more about Podcast 75: Heretic! 4 Approaches to Dropping H-Bombs (Dale Tuggy)[…]
Why Did Jesus Die? Exploring the Multifaceted Biblical Doctrine of the Atonement from a Biblical Unitarian Perspective Presented at Restoration Fellowship’s 25th Theological Conference in Hampton, GA on April 29, 2016 by Sean Finnegan (restitutio.org) Here is the PDF Abstract In part one, I categorize and summarize what the New Testament documents say about the Read more about Why Did Jesus Die? (Paper for 2016 Theological Conference)[…]
Here’s the original paper in pdf form. I presented this talk at the 18th Theological Conference held near Atlanta, GA. In it I present a case for the radical practice of loving our enemies. Whether you believe Christians can and should use violence to defend themselves or others or if you think more along the Read more about Podcast 15: A Theology of Nonviolence (Sean Finnegan)[…]
by Sean Finnegan According to the Hebrew prophets, one day the God of heaven will set up a kingdom on this world, restoring it back to its original glory. Instead of shucking off the body like a husk so the soul can ascend, the biblical teaching about humanity’s destiny is rather fleshy. God designed humans Read more about Rejecting the Kingdom 2: Too Hedonistic[…]
Presented at the 2013 Theological Conference Sponsored by Restoration Fellowship by Sean Finnegan From the earliest days of Jesus’ Jewish apocalypticism to Augustine’s authoritative City of God, early Christians have held a variety of views about the final home of God’s people. Already in middle of the second century, Justin Martyr reports Christians held opposing Read more about Rejecting the Kingdom 1: Too Crude[…]