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)[…]
This is part 2 of the Kingdom Seminar, based on the book Kingdom Journey. What is heaven? Although it is not the place where the dead go when they die, it is, still, a real place. Today we’ll survey different ways in which the Bible talks about heaven, including the sky, God’s throne, the storehouse, Read more about 563 Kingdom Seminar 2: Defining Heaven[…]
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)[…]
Let’s face it the New Testament probably calls Jesus God (or god) a couple of times and so do early Christian authors in the second century. However, no one offers much of an explanation for what they mean by the title. Did early Christians think Jesus was God because he represented Yahweh? Did they think Read more about 521 The Deity of Christ from a Greco-Roman Perspective (Sean Finnegan)[…]
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[…]
This is part 9 of the Early Church History class. How did Christians organize themselves in the first few centuries? We’re taking a break from theology and switching to focus on practical matters of church offices, church governance, church discipline, conversion, and charity. As it turns out we have a surprising amount of information about Read more about 489 Early Church History 9: Early Church Orders[…]
This is part 6 of the Early Church History class. In the latter half of the second century, two kinds of Christians arose to defend the faith. On the one hand, apologists wrote defenses of Christianity directed at the Roman government. They responded to rumors, arguing that Christians were decent people who should be shown Read more about 486 Early Church History 6: Apologists & Heresy Hunters[…]
This is part 2 of the Early Church History class. Before the great revolution of 66 in which the Jewish nation declared independence from the Roman empire, no fewer than five micro-revolution occurred between 4 BC and 58 AD. In the years that led up to the first Jewish-Roman war (66-73), incompetent Roman governors repeatedly Read more about 482 Early Church History 2: The Jewish-Roman War and Jewish-Christian Relations[…]
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)[…]
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[…]
What is heaven? Throughout the bible we find different layers of meaning, including (1) heaven as sky, (2) heaven as God’s throne, and (3) heaven as God’s realm or dimension. Although heaven is a reality, it is not where we go when we die. Rather the bible teaches that the dead are asleep until the Read more about 149 Heaven’s for the Birds (Sean Finnegan)[…]
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 best chapter on resurrection in the bible is 1 Corinthians 15. In it, the Apostle Paul masterfully lays out the Christian position on resurrection while overcoming common objections in the culture. As it turns out, people living in Corinth thought the idea of resurrection seemed real bizarre. Looking at tombstone inscriptions, Plato’s Phaedo, and Read more about Podcast 80: Resurrection People (Sean Finnegan)[…]
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)[…]
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[…]