Reasons to believe in Jesus Christ
John Wycliffe is widely considered one of the medieval forerunners of the Protestant Reformation. His criticism of the practices and beliefs of the church foreshadowed those of later reformers. Wycliffe also directed a translation of the Bible into English. The need for church reform in the fourteenth century The fourteenth century was a very dark time…
Vladimir was the king who brought unity to the people of Russia. As the Prince of Novrogod, he was not expected to rule Russia. But after his brother is killed, the people make him king at the age of eighteen. After several years of pagan revelry and an assassination attempt by one of his wives…
Gottschalk was born in Saxony in the northern part of Germany. He joined the Benedictine Order as boy, a decision that troubled him later in life. Gottschalk became a controversial figure when his teaching on the Augustinian doctrine of predestination provoked sharp negative reaction. He was branded a heretic and forced to throw his books…
Boniface was a man who brought the Christian faith to Germany. As he evangelized pagans, he also brought needed reforms to the church. He was born as Winfrith at Crediton, in the little Saxon kingdom of Wessex. He traveled from England to Frisia and Germany in the seventh century to evangelize the mostly pagan tribes…
Peter Waldo was an early reformer who rejected church tradition. He was a wealthy French merchant, who underwent a religious conversion, and began to preach about voluntary poverty in the city of Lyon in southeast France. The more he studied Scripture, the more troubled he became over certain doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church….
A guilty priest brought Christianity to Scotland. Columba was an Irish abbot judged to be guilty over a quarrel that led to the breakout of war. In penance, he left his beloved Irish homeland to go to the island of Iona, where he established a monastery. From there, he sent out missionaries to bring the…
God called a runaway slave to save the Irish. St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity’s most widely known figures. At the age of 16, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family’s estate. He was sold into slavery and his slaveowner sent him…
Athanasius was a man who stood firm for the truth. He was exiled five times by four Roman emperors. He spent 17 years of his 45 years that he served as Bishop of Alexandria in exile, because he insisted that Arianism was in fact a heresy. Yet in the end, his theological enemies were defeated…
Justin suffered for the defense of his faith. By the middle of the second century, the church had a new concern: explaining itself to the world in convincing terms. Justin became one of the first Christian apologists, giving a reasoned defense of the Christian faith. He addressed his greatest work, the Apology, to the emperor…
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Bishop Polycarp was instructed by the apostles, and was brought into contact with many who had seen Christ. Though he was the greatly respected bishop of Smyrna, he was martyred by the Romans, and his death was influential, even among the pagans. Through an incredible persecution, Polycarp refused to deny his faith in Christ to…
