Christian History Institute

The Bible’s story is our story

IT WAS THE YEAR 240. At the church in Jerusalem, the reader stood up to read the Sunday lesson from the Septuagint, the early church’s Greek translation of the Old Testament. Starting where he had stopped the week before, he read through four episodes from the story of Saul and David (our 1 Samuel 25–28, though they had neither chapter nor verse numbers). The story ended with Saul’s visit to a necromancer—a woman inspired by a demon.  

how can this be explained?

The ending of the reading puzzled the congregation. Did a necromancer actually...

From Abba Salama to King Lalibela

WHEN WESTERNERS ENTER a worship service among the Ethiopian Orthodox—as one Westerner has said—they enter an experience of “delighted disorientation . . . the opulent vestments, the sumptuous processional ‘parasols,’ the grand elaborate liturgies, the ornate gold crosses, the vivid icons, the drums and sistrums and ritual dance and mesmerizing pentatonic [five-note] chant.” This spellbinding worship experience expresses a very ancient faith, practiced today as it has been for centuries in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church. (The word...

The hunger games and the love feast

ON MARCH 7, 203, the Roman colony of Carthage celebrated the birthday of Geta Caesar, 14-year-old son of Emperor Septimius Severus. Severus was an African—an ambitious provincial from the lesser aristocracy who had fought his way to power in a civil war 10 years earlier. Just the previous year, he had waged a successful campaign in Africa. Roman power had been vindicated, the barbarians had been driven back, and peace had been confirmed.  

RULING ROMANS

Roman Carthage was founded in conquest, literally built on the ruins of Rome’s greatest...

Become Completely as Fire

A MONASTIC ASKED AN ELDER, “What good work is there that I should do?” And he said to him, “Are not all works equal? Scripture says that Abraham was hospitable, and God was with him. And Elijah loved contemplative silence, and God was with him. And David was humble, and God was with him. So whatever you see your soul desire in accordance with God, do that, and maintain interior watchfulness.”  (Early monastic story)  

While early Christians from Syria, Palestine, and Cappadocia (in modern Turkey) made significant contributions to the...

A tour of ancient Africa

IT IS THE MORNING of November 30 in the small town of Aksum, nestled in the high mountains of northern Ethiopia not far from the Eritrean border. In the past few days Aksum has been overrun by pilgrims making their way from all corners of the Ethiopian highlands and from Ethiopian communities overseas. They have come to celebrate the Feast of Maryam Zion.  

SITTING IN THE ANCIENT SEAT

Last night the devout thronged round the eucalyptus-shrouded compound of the Old Cathedral of St. Mary of Zion, which, at a distance, looks rather like a...

See how these Christians love one another

IN ANTIQUITY “North Africa” was a province of the Roman Empire where today we find Tunisia . Its capital was Carthage . We may think of Rome as the center of the Roman Empire. But while many roads of culture and society met in Rome, many also ran through Carthage as a major center of imperial trade. Destroyed but then rebuilt by the Romans, Carthage was called “the granary of the empire.” Carthaginians made beautiful pottery and traded figs, grapes, olive oil, and beans with the interior of the African continent and much of the rest of the...