John the Baptist baptizes Jesus (sarcophagus from Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome, 200s AD) Who was John the Baptist? John the Baptist was, according to the Bible, the cousin of Jesus Christ. He [...]
The birth of Jesus - a Nativity scene from a Roman sarcophagus, 300s AD. Arles, France - Life of Jesus How do we know about Jesus? Everything we know about [...]
Byzantine iconoclasm: an Icon of St. Nicholas (Russia) Byzantine iconoclasm By the early 700s AD, the Roman Empire had seen four hundred years of religious arguments about what or who Jesus Christ was. The Arians believed that [...]
Pope Gregory the Great writing, carved near Strasbourg, about 875 AD. That's under Charlemagne's grandchildren. The Holy Spirit (in the form of a dove) sits on his shoulder and dictates to [...]
The Gnostics - Books of Roman Gnostic writings from Nag Hammadi in Egypt (300s AD) When were the Gnostics? About the time of Jesus, about 100 BC-100 AD, people living in the Eastern [...]
Medieval excommunication ceremony What is excommunication? Excommunication was a Christian idea. It meant you could not take Communion anymore. Beginning in the Roman period, bishops or groups of bishops excommunicated people who were doing [...]
Ostrich eggshell from Diepkloof Rock Shelter, South Africa (60,000 BC) When did people start dyeing eggs? Easter eggs go back long before Easter, and even long before the beginning of farming. As [...]
Wheat and barley on the Warka Vase (Sumeria, ca. 3200-3000 BC) Why celebrate spring? When people moved out of Africa further north to West Asia and then to Europe, about 60,000 BC, they began to [...]
The Roman emperor Constantine - the first Christian emperor - had to deal with the Donatists When did the Donatists get started? Almost as soon as Constantine had won the battle [...]
The Roman emperor Domitian, the last of the Flavian emperors After the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, we don't hear anything definite about the Christians for forty years. There's nothing that's for sure [...]
