Church History: The True Story of St. Patrick
This week, in the year AD 461, Patrick of Ireland passed away. Ever since the early seventeenth century, churches have designated March 17 as St. Patrick’s Day. Prohibitions on feasting during the...
View ArticleFamily Ministry: A New Definition for Family Ministry (Part 2)
I delivered this paper proposing a revised definition for family ministry in May 2017 at the HOUSE Conference in Australia, a gathering sponsored by YouthWorks and themed around the intersection...
View ArticleChurch History: The True Story of Joan of Arc
On May 30, 1431, Jeanne D’Arc—more commonly known to us as “Joan of Arc”—was tied to a pillar in the village of Rouen and burned to death. Nearly everyone has heard of Joan’s unjust execution—but who...
View ArticleChurch History: Macrina and the Supreme Authority of Scripture
Two years after the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, Macrina the Younger was born. She—as Coleman Michael Ford has pointed out— lived between two worlds. One world was the age of Christian persecution by...
View ArticleChurch History: Leadership Wisdom from Ignatius of Loyola
Íñigo López de Loyola—better known to us as Ignatius of Loyola*—passed from this life on July 31, 1556. He was a Spanish priest and a leader in the Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation. Roman Catholics...
View ArticleHistory: How We Got the Bible in Six Minutes or Less
I need your help! Here’s the challenge: I’m working on a video that summarizes the history of the Bible in six minutes. Below, I’ve posted the script so far—and I’d be interested to know what you think...
View ArticleChurch History: Martin Luther and the Ninety-Five Theses
On October 31, 1517, a monk and professor named Martin Luther sent a document entitled Disputatio Pro Declaratione Virtutis Indulgentiarum to the archbishop of Mainz. This Disputatio consisted of...
View ArticleFamily Ministry: When and Why Did Weekly Children’s Classes Begin in...
When did age-organized ministries for children begin? If you thought children’s classes didn’t begin until the introduction of Sunday School, you have a lot to learn! The post Family Ministry: When and...
View ArticleFamily Ministry: When and Why Did Weekly Children’s Classes Begin in...
This research into the history of age-organized ministries in the church is based on an academic paper that I presented to the practical theology section of the annual meeting of the Evangelical...
View ArticleChurch History: How Did a Christian Politician Help to End the British Slave...
To learn more about William Wilberforce and the end of the British slave trade, read this introduction from Eric Metaxas or this summary from C. Ben Mitchell. 30 Days through Church History: Day 24 The...
View ArticleChurch History: Why Is Christianity Currently Headed South?
30 Days through Church History: Day 28 The post Church History: Why Is Christianity Currently Headed South? appeared first on Timothy Paul Jones.
View ArticleChurch History: How and When Will God Bring History to an End?
Video courtesy of Christianity.com For more on how Christians have thought about the end of time throughout history, take a look at this book and video series: Rose Guide to End Times Prophecies and...
View ArticleChurch History: What Are Some of the Best Books about Church History?
Video courtesy of Christianity.com So now that you’ve spent thirty days looking at the history of Christianity, what’s next? What books or videos can provide you with deeper understanding of how God...
View ArticleTheology: Jonathan Edwards on What It Means to Be “In Christ”
“By virtue of the believer’s union with Christ, he doth really possess all things. That we know plainly from Scripture. “But it may be asked, how does he possess all things? What is he the better for...
View ArticleChurch History: Why the History of Christianity Matters
Christianity.com: Why You Need to Know Christian History – Timothy Paul Jones from christianitydotcom on GodTube. The post Church History: Why the History of Christianity Matters appeared first on...
View ArticleChurch History: What Are the Gnostic Gospels and Why Do They Matter?
Christianity.com: What are the Gnostic Gospels?-Timothy Paul Jones from christianitydotcom2 on GodTube. The post Church History: What Are the Gnostic Gospels and Why Do They Matter? appeared first on...
View ArticleChurch History: How Did the First Christians Defend the Truth about Jesus?
Christian History Made Easy: Session 2 – Defending the Truth from Rose Publishing on Vimeo. The post Church History: How Did the First Christians Defend the Truth about Jesus? appeared first on Timothy...
View ArticleChurch History: Why Church History Matters
So why is church history so important? Or is it? For the average Christian, the thought of studying church history most likely seems boring or irrelevant–but church history is vitally important! So...
View ArticleApologetics: Was Scripture Modified to Oppose Women and Jews?
According to Dr. Bart Ehrman, in his book Misquoting Jesus, there exists a category of New Testament alterations which includes changes that occurred because copyists “who were not altogether satisfied...
View ArticleChurch History: A Quick Introduction to the Icon Controversy
The post Church History: A Quick Introduction to the Icon Controversy appeared first on Timothy Paul Jones.
View ArticleChurch History: How Did the Many Marriages of Henry VIII Change the History...
The post Church History: How Did the Many Marriages of Henry VIII Change the History of Christianity? appeared first on Timothy Paul Jones.
View ArticleFamily Ministry: An Ancient Christian Perspective on Family Ministry
This model for family ministry not only began before Paul’s generation but also persisted far beyond the lifetimes of the first followers of Jesus. Didache and Letter of Barnabas provide summaries of...
View ArticleFamily Ministry: Family Discipleship in the Middle Ages and Reformation
With the dawning of imperial favor in the early fourth century and the crumbling of the Roman Empire in the fifth, the primary locus of Christian practice drifted from homes to dedicated institutional...
View ArticleChurch History: An Interview with Tom Nettles on the Prince of Preachers
On January 31, 1892, Charles Haddon Spurgeon passed from this life. More than a century later, he remains one of the most widely-read preachers ever. In Living By Revealed Truth, Dr. Tom Nettles...
View ArticleChurch History: The Legacy of William Wilberforce
March 25th marks the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in Great Britain. In 1807 the British Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act, eradicating the inhumane export of African slaves...
View ArticleChurch History: How Christianity Happened
Easter is certainly a time for celebration, but it is also a time for solemn reflection. We fast and reflect during the season of Lent, then we celebrate the joy of the resurrection on Easter sunday....
View ArticleChurch History: Why Should Anyone Care About Church History?
The following is part of an interview I did with Baptist Press related to my book and DVD-curriculum, Christian History Made Easy. Professor Timothy Paul Jones acknowledges that plenty of people view...
View ArticleChurch History: Why the Story of Our Faith Is Bigger and Better Than Facts...
The following is the second half of an interview I did with Baptist Press related to my book and DVD-curriculum, Christian History Made Easy. Click here for the first half. Q: Why is the average person...
View ArticleChurch History: Why Does Church History Even Matter?
Why does it matter if Christians know the history of their faith? Well, imagine trying to sustain a marriage with total amnesia, never fully aware of all the past experiences that you and your spouse...
View ArticlePROOF: Who Invented the TULIP? (Part 1)
Chances are, if you’ve ever heard of the “five points of Calvinism,” you heard them first in the form of a flower—a tulip, to be exact. If your earliest awareness of these points was anything like...
View ArticlePROOF: Who Invented the TULIP? (Part 2)
Did you miss Part 1 of “Who Invented the TULIP?” Click here to read it. Tiptoeing through (the History of) the TULIP The earliest name clearly connected to the TULIP seems to be Cleland Boyd McAfee....
View ArticlePROOF: Who Invented the TULIP? (Part 3)
Did you miss Parts 1 and 2 of “Who Invented the TULIP?” Click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2. Where Did McAfee Find His Points in the First Place? Others have explored the origins of TULIP as far...
View ArticleChurch History: Christianity and the Institution of Slavery
I serve in a seminary founded by slaveholders as part of a denomination that began so that slaveholders could be sent as missionaries. Not only did early Southern Baptists practice slavery, but they...
View ArticleApologetics: Is Inerrancy a Modern Invention?
“Inerrancy” is the belief that the Bible never errs. It’s another way of saying that the Old and New Testaments—as they were originally written—declare what is true and describe accurately what...
View ArticleChurch History: The Racist Heresy in Southern Baptist History
The founders of the Southern Baptist Convention and of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary were zealous defenders of biblical orthodoxy. They were also heretics. Their heresy was racism, and this...
View ArticleChurch History: The Church Council that John Calvin Rejected
On October 23, 787, the last session took place of the last church council that brought together church leaders from both the eastern and western halves of what had once been the Roman Empire....
View ArticleChurch History: Martin Luther and the Ninety-Five Theses
On October 31, 1517, a monk and professor named Martin Luther sent a document entitled Disputatio Pro Declaratione Virtutis Indulgentiarum to the archbishop of Mainz. This Disputatio consisted of...
View ArticleCulture: Is Christianity Headed South?
Is Christianity headed south? Year after year, Western culture continues to grow increasingly secularized. Secularization is—in the words of Baptist theologian R. Albert Mohler— the process by which a...
View ArticleBlog: Most-Read Posts of 2016 and Plans for 2017
Around twenty-seven thousand people racked up nearly one hundred thousand views of this blog in 2016. If you were one of them, thank you! Since there are no advertisements on my site, I don’t profit...
View ArticleChurch History: The Centrality of Scripture in the Ministry of Macrina
Two years after the Council of Nicaea in the year 325, Macrina the Younger was born. She—as Coleman Michael Ford has pointed out— lived between two worlds. One world was the age of Christian...
View ArticleChurch History: When Did Churches Stop Baptizing by Immersion?
As part of my research for the chapter on baptism in a recent book written by the faculty of Southern Seminary, one of the questions that I wanted to answer was, “When did churches leave behind the New...
View ArticleStudy: Read through the Greek New Testament in a Year
After a few years of using other Bible reading plans, I’m returning in 2020 to a plan that I’ve used in the past to read through the New Testament in Greek each year. The plan that I’ve found most...
View ArticleApologetics: Which Canon Contains the Right Books?
Believing What Jesus Believed About the Old Testament Canon Different communities of people who call themselves Christians use different Old Testaments. Here’s what I mean: Everyone agrees about...
View ArticleApologetics: Natural Theology, Evidential Apologetics, and Thomas Aquinas in...
I recently finished reading With the Grain of the Universe: The Church’s Witness and Natural Theology, the published text of Stanley Hauerwas’s 2001 Gifford Lectures at the University of St. Andrews....
View ArticleTed Cabal: Creation and the Age of the Earth + “Let There Be Rock” (AC/DC)
This episode is packed with answers in Genesis—but, believe it or not, when we say “Genesis” we’re not talking about the group that’s been fronted by Phil Collins since the early 1970s from which Mike...
View ArticleJosh Chatraw: The Apologetics of Blaise Pascal + “Superstition” (Stevie Wonder)
Faith happens, and this week’s episode of Three Chords and the Truth: The Apologetics Podcast is all about how faith happens. In the first half, Garrick and Timothy are joined by Josh Chatraw, the...
View ArticleGarrick Bailey and Timothy Paul Jones: Good Times with the End Times (Part 2)...
Welcome to the stunning conclusion of this two-part series about the end of time! This episode focuses on four truths about the end times that matter far more than any particular perspective on how God...
View ArticleGarrick Bailey and Timothy Paul Jones: Who Really Wrote the Gospels?
Who really wrote the Gospels? And why does it matter? Garrick and Timothy take on Bart Ehrman’s claim that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John couldn’t have written the Gospels that bear their names. The...
View ArticleJ. Warner Wallace: What Could We Know About Jesus If Every Bible in the World...
What if every single copy of the Bible went fluttering away, never to be seen again? If that happened, surely all of our knowledge about Jesus would be gone as well, right? Not so fast, says cold-case...
View ArticleDan Kimball: Making Sense of the Anti-Women, Anti-Science, Pro-Violence,...
Dan Kimball joins The Apologetics Podcast this week to talk about his most recent book, How (Not) to Read the Bible: Making Sense of the Anti-Women, Anti-Science, Pro-Violence, Pro-Slavery and Other...
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