
Church History for Chumps
We're not your grandfather's church history podcast. But we'd also really appreciate it if he still listened.
Saints, heretics, councils...and the occasional crazy stuff. We have fun.
IG: @churchhistory4chumps
Episodes
84 episodes
The Adventures of the Apostles: Gone Fishin' with Andrew
The lore surrounding the lives of the Apostles never ceases to amaze. People getting boiled alive (and surviving). Dudes getting thrown off the top of the Temple. Crazy stuff. But what if most of these crazy things are actually fals...
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Season 3
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Episode 32
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58:22

The Roman Colosseum and Circus Maximus: The Christian's Crucible
When you think of the persecution of the Christians in the early church, it doesn't take long for the mind to naturally think of the Colosseum. But how involved was the Roman Colosseum in the practice of executing Christians in the ...
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Season 3
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Episode 31
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1:05:47

The Adventures of the Apostles: A Tale of Three Jameses!
James the Greater. James the Lesser. James the brother of Jesus. Three stories. Three mysteries. Three Jameses. Join Jay, Tay, and Tray as we uncover more of the apostolic legacies after the biblical narrative. ...
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Season 3
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Episode 30
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1:03:44

CHUMP TALK: Who wants to be a Chump-ionaire?!
Church history this, church history that. Blah blah blah. Let's get ready for some TRIVIA. Join us for a fun time of Chump Talk, where Taylor and Thomas will go head to head over some church history trivia. L...
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Season 3
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Episode 29
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33:18

The Adventures of the Apostles: Matthew and Simon the Zealot
We all know how the story of the Apostles went down. They all went on missions to different regions of the world, and everyone but John was martyred. Right?...Right?MAYBE NOT! Join us as we dive into a mini-series with...
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Season 3
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Episode 29
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1:02:39

BATTLE ROYALE: Was Origen's Legacy Treated Unfairly??
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PREPARE YOUR BALLOTS.Few church fathers have a legacy as controversial as Origen of Alexandria. From rumors of self-mutilation, heresy, and crooked bishops, the story of Origen somehow only got more complicat...
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Season 3
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Episode 28
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1:04:47

Ignatius of Antioch: The Death March to the Colosseum
"Hey! I'm walkin here!" St. Ignatius, probablyNot much is known of the 1st Century early church father known as Ignatius of Antioch. His early life, conversion, and place of origin are steeped in mystery. What we ...
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Season 3
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Episode 27
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1:03:49

Clement of Rome: The Apostle Peter's Bestest Pal
"F is for friends who do stuff together"-St. Peter, about Clement, probablyYou know what we love about the early church? That with a couple of history books and a number 2 pencil, you can sketch a nice, neat line right...
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Season 3
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Episode 26
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1:06:51

Origen: The Forgotten Church Father
Imagine if you were a really cool guy. Like, a really cool guy. You helped all your friends know Jesus better. Wrote all these interesting theological ideas. Came up with all these fun words in Greek. Everybody li...
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Season 3
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Episode 25
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54:19

CHUMP TALK: How Mission Trips Can Save the World...Maybe
Imagine going to a country with one of the oldest expressions of Christian faith...as a BAPTIST?!?!?Just kidding. But really, Taylor just got back from a week-long mission trip in Ethiopia, eastern Africa's historic den of Christianity.&...
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Season 3
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Episode 24
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1:08:04

The Reign of Constantine: "You Get a Church, and You Get a Church!"
"Nice pagan temple. Be a shame if someone...Christianized it."-Constantine, probablyThe conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity was one of the most groundbreaking events to occur in the history of Rome. The single most i...
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Season 3
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Episode 23
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1:10:17

The Scandal of the African American Church (with Dr. Walter Strickland)
The scandal of Christianity is that the Church is seldom greatest amongst the rich and powerful. Often, those rich in spirit are poor in worldly treasure. The "abundant life" promised in the Gospels is nearest to those who share in Christ's suf...
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Season 3
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Episode 22
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54:30

Tertullian: The Church's OG Battle Rapper
Tertullian always had a dragon's tongue. After his conversion and baptism, he would unleash his fiery rhetoric on heretics, pagan emperors, and persecuting powers. In the process, he would pen some of the finest Latin theology of th...
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Season 3
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Episode 21
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1:03:45

The Silly Circumcellions: What Makes a Martyr?
Imagine you're a 4th century Roman soldier on assignment in North Africa. Among the theological tension of this region, strange rumors begin to circulate. That within the region of Carthage, there are a peculiarly zealous sect of yo...
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Season 3
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Episode 20
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56:48

The Council of Constantinople: Wait, Arianism is Still a Thing?
Every story needs a good villain. Thanos. The Joker. Tom Brady. In the late 4th Century, the Church had a villain by the name of Arianism. After the Council of Nicaea, the post-persecution church had united u...
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Season 3
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Episode 19
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1:03:50

Ambrose of Milan: A Bishop with a Shepherd's Heart
Have you ever been 'volun-told' to do something? Maybe volunteer for setup at your church, or work the sound board?Imagine being 'volun-told' to lead one of the most influential dioceses in the nation, when you're not even a baptized Chr...
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Season 3
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Episode 18
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54:12

The Conversion of Constantine: Faithful or Fraud?
"I'm not superstitious, but I am a little stitious."-Constantine, probably The 4th century has begun to dawn. The Christian church is in hot water. The new system of tetrarchy established by Diocletian has already started to tee...
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Season 3
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Episode 17
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1:09:23

The Council of Nicaea: The Greatest Church Business Meeting Ever
"Conference room, five minutes!" -Emperor Constantine, probably 325 AD was a year of rebirth. The Church was recovering from the Diocletianic Persecution, the worst wave of violence and discrimination faced thus...
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Season 3
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Episode 16
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1:06:15

The Great Persecution: The Empire Strikes Back!
"Y'all gon' make me lose my mind up in here."-Emperor Diocletian, probablyThe third century wasn't a great time to be a Roman. But believe it or not, it was a great time to be a Christian! Churches were built, the fa...
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Season 3
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Episode 15
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55:01

Catechism in the Early Church: Becoming a Citizen of God's Kingdom
Imagine you had a friend who was, I dunno, an alien. They have no grasp of life on earth, no understanding of human customs, minimal grasp of the language, culture, music, anything like that. And so for years, they under...
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Season 3
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Episode 14
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1:10:08

Athanasius of Alexandria: The Five-Time Exile Champion
Have you ever had to move across the country? It's a life-changing experience. Disrupting your regular routines and rhythms, adjusting to a totally foreign environment, learning new regional customs. Now imagine being forced to move...
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Season 3
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Episode 13
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51:04

Saint Patrick: Pirates, Snakes, Barbarians, Oh My!
Did you know that Saint Patrick was the first Christian clergyman to ever don a priestly robe in green? No?That's because it's not true! There's a lot of mythology around our boy, Paddy. But that just makes his story that muc...
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Season 3
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Episode 12
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45:19

Augustine of Hippo: Your Pastor's Favorite Theologian
Every sport has a Wayne Gretzky. A Hank Aaron. A Michael Jordan. The 4th Century didn't have Michael Jordan, though. It had Augustine of Hippo. And maybe Augustine didn't drop 30 points against the Jazz with a flu (or whatever), but...
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Season 3
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Episode 11
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53:58

King Charles I: The War Among Protestants
When most Christians (okay, all Christians that aren't Catholic) look back on the Reformation, we typically do it with a little twinkle in our eyes. It feels like a time of triumph, of sticking it to the man once and for all. In rea...
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Season 3
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Episode 10
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1:24:12

Anthony the Great: The First Desert Father
Imagine that you're a teenager. You live in one of the biggest cities in the world, and your parents have just died, leaving behind a Bruce Wayne-esque amount of wealth and land. This is any kid's dream come true. The world is your oyster. ...
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Season 3
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Episode 10
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49:57
