Christianity from Beginning to End: The Good and the Bad

A Jewish movement under Roman rule ● Documented

c. 6 BC–AD 30 Context

What happened. Jesus was born in Judea while Herod the Great ruled for Rome, grew up in Nazareth in Galilee, and taught as a Jewish teacher among Jews.

The record. Herod died in 4 BC, so most historians place Jesus's birth about 6–4 BC, and his public teaching in the late 20s AD. His first followers were all Jews, and for years the movement met in the Temple and in synagogues (Acts 2:46; Acts 3:1).

Why. Christianity began as a movement inside Judaism. That matters for everything that follows: when later Christians turned on Jews as "Christ-killers," they were turning on Jesus's own people.

"Love your enemies" ● Documented

c. AD 28–30 + Good

What happened. Jesus taught his followers to love their enemies, refused armed defense, and said his kingdom was not of this world.

The record. "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44) checked. At his arrest: "Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword" (Matthew 26:52) checked. To Pilate: "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36) checked.

Use it. This is the yardstick for every "bad" card in this form. The Crusades, the Inquisition and the wars of religion broke Jesus's own commands; they are not examples of following him.

Crucified under Pontius Pilate ● Documented

c. AD 30–33 Context

What happened. Jesus was executed by crucifixion on the order of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.

The record. The Roman historian Tacitus (c. 116): "Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus" (Annals 15.44, text) checked. The Jewish historian Josephus also mentions "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James" (Antiquities 20.200, tr. Whiston).

Use it. The crucifixion is among the best-attested events of the ancient world, recorded by a hostile Roman writer.

"He was raised on the third day" ● Documented

c. AD 30–55 Context

What happened. Within weeks his followers were proclaiming in Jerusalem that God had raised him from the dead.

The record. Paul, writing about AD 55, passes on what he says he had "received": "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures," was buried, was raised on the third day, and appeared to Peter, the Twelve, more than five hundred, James and Paul (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). Many scholars date this summary to within a few years of the crucifixion.

Why. The resurrection itself is a claim of faith that historians argue over. That it was proclaimed from the very start, and not invented generations later, is documented.

The Jerusalem church shares its goods ● Documented

c. AD 30–40 + Good

What happened. The first believers in Jerusalem pooled their property so that no one among them was in need.

The record. Believers held their possessions in common and sold property to give to anyone in need (Acts 2:44-45; Acts 4:32-35). Care for widows was organized from the start (Acts 6:1-6).

Women among the disciples ● Documented

c. AD 28–60 + Good

What happened. Women followed and funded Jesus, were the first witnesses of the empty tomb, and served in the early churches.

The record. Women traveled with Jesus and supported him from their own means (Luke 8:1-3); women found the tomb empty (Luke 24:1-10). Paul commends Phoebe, a servant (deacon) of the church at Cenchreae (Romans 16:1-2), and Junia (Romans 16:7).

"Christians," Gentiles and the council at Jerusalem ● Documented

c. AD 40–49 + Good

What happened. At Antioch the disciples were first called Christians, and non-Jews joined in large numbers. A council at Jerusalem ruled that Gentile converts did not have to be circumcised.

The record. "The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch" (Acts 11:26). The council: Acts 15:1-29. Paul: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28) checked.

Why. Opening the faith to every nation without making them Jews first is what turned a Jewish renewal movement into a world religion.

Paul's journeys and letters ● Documented

c. AD 46–58 Context

What happened. Paul founded churches across Asia Minor and Greece and wrote letters to them, the earliest surviving Christian writings.

The record. Most scholars date 1 Thessalonians to about AD 50 and Romans to about 57. The churches named in Acts and the letters (Antioch, Ephesus, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Rome) are the dots on the map for 100.

When the Gospels were written ○ Debated

c. AD 60–100 Context

What happened. The four Gospels were written within the lifetime of people who had known Jesus or their students.

The record. The common scholarly range is Mark about 65–75, Matthew and Luke about 80–90, and John about 90–100. Some conservative scholars date Mark, Matthew and Luke before 70, noting that Acts ends with Paul still alive in Rome (about 62). Either way, the gap is decades, not centuries.

The Temple destroyed ● Documented

AD 66–70 Context

What happened. Rome crushed the Jewish revolt and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70.

The record. After 70, church and synagogue drifted apart over the following decades. Exactly when and how they separated is debated by historians.

Nero's torches ● Documented

AD 64 Context

What happened. After the great fire of Rome, Nero blamed the Christians and had them killed in public spectacles.

The record. Tacitus: "Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses," and some "were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination." Even so, "there arose a feeling of compassion" (Annals 15.44, text) checked. Christian tradition places the deaths of Peter and Paul in Rome in these years.

Pliny: "a hymn to Christ as to a god" ● Documented

c. 112 Context

What happened. A Roman governor wrote to the emperor Trajan asking how to handle Christians; he had executed those who would not recant.

The record. Pliny reports they met before dawn to "sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god" and bound themselves by oath against fraud, theft and adultery; "those who persisted I ordered executed." Trajan replied that Christians "are not to be sought out" and that "anonymously posted accusations ought to have no place in any prosecution" (Fordham Sourcebook) checked.

Use it. Pliny shows Christians worshiping Christ as God about 200 years before Constantine.

Polycarp: "Eighty and six years have I served Him" ● Documented

c. 155 Context

What happened. The aged bishop of Smyrna was burned when he refused to curse Christ.

The record. "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury" (Martyrdom of Polycarp 9, New Advent) checked.

Decius, Valerian and Diocletian ● Documented

250–311 Context

What happened. Persecution was local and on-and-off until 250, when Decius ordered everyone to sacrifice. Valerian (257–258) and the "Great Persecution" of Diocletian (303–311) followed.

The record. Under Decius, people had to obtain certificates (libelli) proving they had sacrificed; some of these papyri survive. Bishop Cyprian of Carthage was beheaded under Valerian in 258. Diocletian ordered churches destroyed and Scriptures burned in 303; Galerius ended the persecution in 311, and the Edict of Milan followed in 313.

"Millions of martyrs" ○ Debated

64–311 Claim

The claim. Rome killed millions of Christians.

The record. No ancient count exists. Persecution was sporadic for most of these centuries, and historians generally put the executions in the thousands, not millions; the exact number is unknown. Many more lost property, were exiled or were sent to the mines.

Don't say. "Millions were fed to the lions." Say "thousands were killed, and many more suffered."

No abortion, no abandoning babies ● Documented

c. 100 + Good

What happened. In a world where unwanted infants were often abandoned, the earliest Christian manual forbade both abortion and infanticide.

The record. "You shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is begotten" (Didache 2, New Advent) checked.

Nursing the sick in the plague ● Documented

c. 250–262 + Good

What happened. When plague struck Alexandria, Christians stayed to care for the sick, while many others fled.

The record. Bishop Dionysius: Christians "visited the sick fearlessly, and ministered to them continually," and many "died themselves having transferred to themselves their death." Others "cast them out into the streets when they were half dead, and left the dead like refuse, unburied" (Eusebius, Church History 7.22, New Advent) checked.

Use it. This is a Christian bishop describing his own people, so treat the contrast as partly rhetorical; the care itself is well attested.

The catacombs ○ Debated

3rd century Context

What happened. Christians buried their dead in underground cemeteries outside Rome and decorated them with Bible scenes and the Good Shepherd.

The record. The catacombs were cemeteries and places of memorial. The popular picture of Christians living or worshiping in them in hiding is largely a later romance.

How fast the church grew ○ Debated

100–300 Context

What happened. Christianity grew from a few thousand to millions without political power and often under threat.

The record. There are no censuses. Sociologist Rodney Stark (The Rise of Christianity, 1996) estimated about 40 percent growth per decade, reaching roughly six million by 300; other historians give different figures, but agree the growth was large.

"You killed your Lord" ● Documented

c. 170 − Bad

What happened. Some second-century Christian writers began to blame the Jewish people as a whole for Jesus's death.

The record. Melito of Sardis, in an Easter sermon addressed to Israel: "And you killed your Lord at the great feast" (On Pascha 79, tr. S. G. Hall, text) checked.

Why. Debates with the synagogue hardened into a charge of collective guilt. That charge fed centuries of anti-Jewish laws and violence (see 1096, 1349 and 1543).

Constantine's vision ◐ Reported

312 Context

What happened. Before the battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine had his soldiers mark a Christian sign on their shields, won, and favored Christianity from then on.

The record. Lactantius (writing about 315) says he was told in a dream to mark the sign; Eusebius (writing after 337) says Constantine told him of a vision of a cross in the sky. The accounts differ, and historians still argue over what Constantine believed and when. He was baptized only on his deathbed in 337.

The Edict of Milan: freedom for "Christians and others" ● Documented

313 + Good

What happened. Constantine and Licinius granted religious freedom to everyone and returned confiscated church property.

The record. They would "grant to the Christians and others full authority to observe that religion which each preferred"; property "shall be restored to the Christians without payment or any claim of recompense" (Fordham Sourcebook) checked.

Use it. The first great Christian charter was a grant of freedom for every religion. Later laws abandoned it.

The Council of Nicaea ● Documented

325 Context

What happened. About 300 bishops met at Nicaea to settle Arius's teaching that the Son was a created being.

The record. The council opened on 19 June 325. Its creed calls the Son "consubstantial" with the Father and condemns those who say "there once was when he was not." Its 20 canons deal with clergy, penance and church order; neither the creed nor the canons list the books of the Bible (Papal Encyclicals Online) checked.

Don't say. "Nicaea chose the books of the Bible" or "Nicaea made Jesus God." Neither is in its decrees.

Churches over Jesus's tomb and birthplace ● Documented

c. 326–336 + Good

What happened. Constantine and his mother Helena built great churches at the holy sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

The record. Britannica: Constantine "first built a church there around 336 CE" over the site venerated as Jesus's tomb (Church of the Holy Sepulchre) checked. The Caliph al-Hakim had it destroyed in 1009 (see 1009).

Julian: the "Galileans" feed our poor too ● Documented

362 + Good

What happened. The last pagan emperor tried to revive the old religion and admitted that Christian charity was winning people over.

The record. Julian to a pagan high priest: "the impious Galileans feed not only their own poor but ours as well," and he asked whether their "charity to strangers, their care for the graves of the dead" had done most to spread their faith (Letter 22, Roman Letters) checked.

Use it. A hostile emperor testifies to Christian charity.

Athanasius lists the 27 books ● Documented

367 Context

What happened. Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria sent his churches a list of Scripture: exactly the 27 books of today's New Testament.

The record. His Festal Letter 39 lists the 27 books and names others, including Wisdom, Sirach, Judith, Tobit, the Didache and the Shepherd, as "not indeed included in the Canon, but appointed by the Fathers to be read" (New Advent) checked. The Codex Sinaiticus, copied in this century, holds the 27 books plus Barnabas and the Shepherd (Codex Sinaiticus Project) checked.

Basil's "new city" for the sick and poor ◐ Reported

c. 369–372 + Good

What happened. Bishop Basil of Caesarea fed the hungry in a famine and built a large complex outside the city to house and treat the sick, the poor and lepers.

The record. His friend Gregory of Nazianzus describes his famine relief, when he fed the hungry and "set before them basins of soup" (Oration 43.34, New Advent) checked, and later in the same oration praises the "new city" Basil built for the sick (43.63).

Why. Christians did not invent care for the sick, but Basil's foundation is one of the first public hospitals for the poor on record.

One faith by law: "foolish madmen" ● Documented

380 − Bad

What happened. The emperor Theodosius ordered all his peoples to hold the Nicene faith and branded other Christians heretics.

The record. The edict (Theodosian Code 16.1.2) commands the religion "delivered to the Romans by the divine Apostle Peter"; its followers may "assume the title Catholic Christians," while the rest, "foolish madmen," are "branded with the ignominious name of heretics" (tr. Bettenson, Fordham Sourcebook) checked.

Why. Once the faith became the state's religion, rulers treated dissent as a crime. Laws of 391–392 banned pagan sacrifice.

The first heretic executed ● Documented

385 − Bad

What happened. Priscillian, a Spanish bishop accused of heresy and sorcery, was beheaded at Trier by the usurper Maximus at the urging of other bishops.

The record. Martin of Tours and Ambrose of Milan protested. It is the first known execution of a Christian for heresy by a Christian ruler.

A bishop makes the emperor repent ● Documented

390 + Good

What happened. After Theodosius's troops massacred thousands at Thessalonica, Bishop Ambrose barred him from communion until he did public penance.

The record. Ambrose's letter to the emperor and the church historian Theodoret record the episode. The emperor submitted.

Use it. Early proof that the church could call a ruler to account.

The Serapeum torn down ● Documented

391 − Bad

What happened. After Theodosius banned pagan sacrifice, a Christian crowd with Patriarch Theophilus destroyed the great temple of Serapis in Alexandria.

The record. A church was built on the site. A "daughter" library had been housed there, but whether any books remained by 391 is unclear: John Chrysostom (386) says books "remain there in the temple," while Rufinus's description of the ruins (402) mentions none (Encyclopaedia Romana, University of Chicago) checked.

Don't say. "Christians burned the Library of Alexandria." See the claim card.

Telemachus stops the gladiators ◐ Reported

404 + Good

What happened. A monk named Telemachus jumped into the arena in Rome to separate gladiators and was killed by the crowd; the emperor then banned the fights.

The record. Theodoret: he went "stepping down into the arena," the spectators "stoned the peacemaker to death," and Honorius "put a stop to the gladiatorial combats which had long been held at Rome" (Church History 5.26, text) checked. Theodoret is the main source for the story, and the games may have faded more gradually than he suggests.

Augustine: grace, the City of God, and "compel them" ● Documented

397–430 ± Mixed

What happened. Augustine of Hippo shaped Western theology for a thousand years. He also came to support using state force against the Donatist church.

The record. After Rome was sacked by the Goths in 410, he wrote The City of God (413–426). His letters defending imperial pressure on the Donatists, reading "compel them to come in" (Luke 14:23) as approval, were cited by later defenders of persecution.

Hypatia murdered by a Christian mob ● Documented

415 − Bad

What happened. A mob of Christians in Alexandria dragged the philosopher Hypatia into a church and killed her.

The record. Socrates Scholasticus: led by "a reader named Peter," they "took her to the church called Caesareum, where they completely stripped her, and then murdered her with tiles." He says the affair brought "not the least opprobrium" (that is, great disgrace) on Bishop Cyril and his church, and that "nothing can be farther from the spirit of Christianity than the allowance of massacres" (Fordham Sourcebook) checked.

Why. Socrates ties the murder to a feud between Cyril and the prefect Orestes; rumor blamed Hypatia for keeping them apart. It was a political killing by a mob, condemned by a Christian historian of the time.

The western empire falls; Chalcedon divides the East ● Documented

451–476 Context

What happened. The Council of Chalcedon (451) defined Christ as one person in two natures; the last western emperor was deposed in 476.

The record. Churches in Egypt, Ethiopia, Armenia and Syria rejected Chalcedon. They are today's Oriental Orthodox churches, shown separately on the maps. In the West, Germanic kingdoms replaced Roman rule.

Who called them the Dark Ages ● Documented

1330s–1800s Context

What happened. The idea of a "dark" age between Rome and the Renaissance was invented by Renaissance writers looking back, not by people living in it.

The record. The poet Petrarch (1304–1374) contrasted ancient Rome and Greece with his own age: "When the darkness has been dispersed, our descendants can come again in the former pure radiance." Edward Gibbon in the 18th century wrote of "the darkness of the middle ages," and by the 19th century "Dark Ages" and "Middle Ages" were nearly the same thing; historians now avoid the term (Medievalists.net, 2026) checked. The classic study is Theodor Mommsen, "Petrarch's Conception of the 'Dark Ages'" (Speculum 17, 1942).

Why. "Dark" first meant "without the light of classical Latin learning." Later it also came to mean "poorly documented," because few written sources survive from parts of the period, especially in Britain. Writers hostile to the medieval church then used it to blame the church.

What really declined ● Documented

400–700 Context

What happened. In the western half of the old empire, cities shrank, trade and coinage collapsed, building stopped, and fewer people could read.

The record. The causes were the breakdown of Roman government in the West (the last emperor was deposed in 476), invasions and wars, and plague (the "Plague of Justinian" from 541). Literacy narrowed largely to clergy and monks, which is why so much of what survives was written by them.

Use it. The decline was real, but its causes were political and economic. The church was where much of the old learning survived it.

Not dark everywhere ● Documented

527–1000 Context

What happened. In the same centuries the eastern Roman (Byzantine) empire kept Roman law, Greek learning and great cities, and the Islamic world built a flourishing scholarly culture.

The record. Justinian completed Hagia Sophia in 537 and issued his law code in 529–534. In Abbasid Baghdad, Greek science and philosophy were translated into Arabic, many of them by Syriac-speaking Christian scholars.

Benedict's Rule: work, prayer, reading and the sick ● Documented

c. 530 + Good

What happened. Benedict of Nursia wrote a rule for monks that spread across Europe; monasteries became centers of farming, schooling, copying and care.

The record. Chapter 36: "Before and above all things, care must be taken of the sick, that they be served in very truth as Christ is served" (Rule of St. Benedict) checked.

The Irish monks and the illuminated Gospels ● Documented

432–800 + Good

What happened. Patrick's mission (5th century) made Ireland Christian; Irish monks founded Iona (563) and carried the faith and Latin learning to Scotland, northern England and the Continent.

The record. Their workshops produced masterpieces such as the Lindisfarne Gospels (about 715) and the Book of Kells (about 800).

Gregory the Great feeds Rome and sends missionaries ● Documented

590–604 + Good

What happened. Pope Gregory I organized food for the poor of Rome during famine and plague, and sent a mission to the Anglo-Saxons.

The record. Bede's Ecclesiastical History (731) tells how Gregory's missionaries reached Kent in 597 and baptized King Æthelberht. Within about a century, England was Christian.

Bede: history, AD dates and a round earth ● Documented

c. 703–735 + Good

What happened. The Northumbrian monk Bede wrote the first history of the English, popularized counting years from the birth of Christ (AD), and taught that the earth is a sphere.

The record. His Reckoning of Time (725) describes the earth as a globe; his Ecclesiastical History of the English People was finished in 731.

Charlemagne's schools ● Documented

c. 780–800 + Good

What happened. Charlemagne ordered monasteries and cathedrals to teach reading and writing; scribes developed a clear new script and recopied ancient books.

The record. To Abbot Baugulf of Fulda: he found in letters from monasteries "both correct thoughts and uncouth expressions," and ordered them to be "zealous in teaching those who by the gift of God are able to learn" (tr. Munro, Fordham Sourcebook) checked. Many works of classical Latin literature survive only because they were copied in this period.

The Church of the East reaches China ● Documented

635 · 781 + Good

What happened. Missionaries of the Church of the East, based in Persia, reached the Chinese capital in 635.

The record. The Xi'an Stele, set up in 781, records their arrival and the emperor's permission to teach. The church spread along the Silk Road to Central Asia and India.

Cyril and Methodius: an alphabet for the Slavs ● Documented

863 + Good

What happened. Two Greek brothers went to Moravia, created an alphabet for the Slavic language and translated the Gospels and liturgy into it.

The record. Their Glagolitic script was the basis for the later Cyrillic alphabet, still used for Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Serbian.

Use it. Worship in the people's own language, centuries before the Reformation.

Vladimir and the baptism of Kiev ● Documented

988 ± Mixed

What happened. Prince Vladimir of Kiev accepted Byzantine Christianity and had the people of Kiev baptized in the Dnieper.

The record. The Primary Chronicle says he ordered the city's people to the river, under his displeasure if they refused. The baptism of the Rus' is the root of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian Orthodoxy.

Baptism or death for the Saxons ● Documented

772–804 − Bad

What happened. Charlemagne conquered the pagan Saxons over 30 years of war and imposed Christianity by law.

The record. His Capitulary for Saxony: anyone who "shall have scorned to come to baptism and shall have wished to remain a pagan, let him be punished by death"; death also for eating meat in Lent (tr. Munro, Fordham Sourcebook) checked. The Royal Frankish Annals say "four thousand five hundred" Saxons were executed at Verden in 782; some historians question the account, since it is the only source (Medievalists.net) checked.

Why. Conquest and conversion were fused. Charlemagne's own adviser Alcuin objected in a letter of 796 that faith must be freely chosen, not forced.

The Islamic conquests of Christian lands ● Documented

634–732 Context

What happened. Within a century, Arab Muslim armies took the Christian Middle East, Egypt, North Africa and Spain.

The record. Jerusalem fell in 637/638, Alexandria in 641, Carthage in 698 and most of Spain from 711. Christians became protected but subordinate subjects; over centuries most of these lands became mainly Muslim. The Franks stopped a raid at Tours in 732.

Vikings, then Viking kings converted ● Documented

793–1030 ± Mixed

What happened. Viking raids began with the sack of the monastery of Lindisfarne in 793; by about 1030 Denmark and Norway had Christian kings.

The record. Conversion in Scandinavia came largely from the top down, and kings such as Olaf Tryggvason of Norway used force.

"Medieval Christians thought the earth was flat" ✕ Overclaim

Myth from the 1800s Claim

The claim. The church taught a flat earth until Columbus proved it round.

The record. Educated medieval people knew the earth was a sphere. Historian Jeffrey Burton Russell calls the Columbus story "the almost universally accepted fable" and writes that "educated people throughout Europe knew the earth's spherical shape and its approximate circumference" (History Today) checked. Thomas Aquinas, about 1265, uses the earth's roundness as his textbook example: "the astronomer and the physicist both may prove the same conclusion: that the earth, for instance, is round" (Summa Theologiae I.1.1, New Advent) checked.

Don't say. "The church said the earth was flat."

"The church caused the Dark Ages" ✕ Overclaim

476–1000 Claim

The claim. Christianity destroyed classical civilization and kept Europe ignorant for a thousand years.

The record. The western collapse had political and economic causes (see above), and most surviving Latin classics were preserved in church copies. But the church was not blameless: Christian rulers and crowds destroyed pagan temples, such as the Serapeum in 391, and Christian emperors suppressed pagan teaching.

Don't say. "The church caused the Dark Ages." Say the church both preserved learning and, at times, destroyed what it saw as pagan.

The Holy Sepulchre destroyed ● Documented

1009 Context

What happened. The Fatimid caliph al-Hakim ordered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, built over Jesus's tomb, torn down.

The record. He "ordered the destruction of all churches in Jerusalem, including the Holy Sepulchre," and Christians were forbidden to visit the ruins (Center for Online Judaic Studies) checked. The French chronicler Adémar of Chabannes recorded it in the West (Transcultural Medieval History, Konstanz). The church was rebuilt by about 1048.

Why. The destruction shocked Western Europe, but the Crusade came 86 years later; it was background, not the trigger.

East and West split ● Documented

1054 − Bad

What happened. Papal legates and the patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated each other, a break that hardened into the division between Catholic and Orthodox.

The record. The disputes included the pope's authority, the filioque ("and the Son") added to the creed in the West, and leavened or unleavened bread at communion. In 1965 Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras declared that they "regret the offensive words, the reproaches without foundation, and the reprehensible gestures" and "commit these excommunications to oblivion" (Joint Declaration, 7 December 1965) checked.

Manzikert and the loss of Anatolia ● Documented

1071 Context

What happened. The Seljuk Turks destroyed the Byzantine army at Manzikert, captured the emperor and overran most of Anatolia.

The record. "The Byzantine army was destroyed, and Romanus, wounded, was taken prisoner"; the battle was "followed by Seljuq conquest of most of Anatolia," and the weakened empire appealed to the West (Britannica) checked. The Seljuks also took Jerusalem from the Fatimids in the 1070s.

The emperor asks for help ● Documented

March 1095 Context

What happened. Envoys of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I came to Pope Urban II's council at Piacenza to ask for Western soldiers against the Turks.

The record. The envoys appealed for help against Muslim advances; their exact words are not recorded (Manchester Historian) checked.

Clermont, 27 November 1095 ● Documented

1095 ± Mixed

What happened. At the Council of Clermont in France, Pope Urban II called on the knights of the West to go east, help the Christians there and free Jerusalem.

The record. Five versions of the speech survive, written years later by chroniclers, some of whom were present; they differ. In Fulcher of Chartres, the Turks "have killed and captured many, and have destroyed the churches and devastated the empire," and Urban promises: "All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins." In Robert the Monk, "Jerusalem is the navel of the world," and the crowd shouts "It is the will of God! It is the will of God!" (Fordham Sourcebook, five versions) checked. The council's own decree: "the journey itself shall take the place of all penance" (Fordham Sourcebook) checked.

Why. Urban gave several reasons at once. 1. Help for eastern Christians under Turkish attack, answering the emperor's appeal. 2. Jerusalem, the city of Christ's death and resurrection, under Muslim rule since 638 and recently fought over. 3. Penance: the journey would count for the penalties of the knights' sins, which made it a pilgrimage in arms. 4. Turning violence outward: "Let those who for a long time, have been robbers, now become knights," fighting for Christ instead of each other (Fulcher) checked; the church had been trying to curb knightly violence through the Peace of God, which sought to protect "women, priests, pilgrims, merchants, and other noncombatants" (Britannica) checked. 5. Papal leadership: historians add that Urban, locked in conflict with the German emperor, gained by leading Christendom, and may have hoped to heal the 1054 split; these are inferences, not his stated aims.

Why the knights went ○ Debated

1096 ± Mixed

What happened. Tens of thousands took the cross. Older books said they were landless younger sons after loot; most historians now stress religious motives.

The record. Crusading was "an extraordinary expense—costing a knight four to five times his annual income," and families sold or mortgaged land to pay for it, citing Jonathan Riley-Smith (Catholic Answers, 2014) checked. Some leaders did seek lordships: Bohemond kept Antioch and Baldwin took Edessa.

Why. Penance, pilgrimage, loyalty to lords and kin, and the hope of reward all mixed together, in proportions that differed from person to person.

Jews massacred in the Rhineland ● Documented

May 1096 − Bad

What happened. Before leaving, bands of crusaders attacked the Jewish communities of the Rhineland, killing those who would not be baptized.

The record. At Mainz, led by Emicho, "the enemy of the Jews," "eleven hundred souls were killed and slaughtered" on 27 May 1096; the archbishop's men "were the very first to flee" (Solomon bar Samson, tr. Jacob Marcus, Fordham Sourcebook) checked.

Why. Some crusaders asked why they should march to fight God's enemies abroad while "Christ-killers" lived at home. The pope had not called for this, and some bishops tried, and failed, to protect the Jews.

Jerusalem taken; the massacre ● Documented

15 July 1099 − Bad

What happened. After a five-week siege the crusaders stormed Jerusalem and killed much of its Muslim and Jewish population.

The record. The crusaders' own chroniclers boast of it: the Gesta Francorum says they "waded in blood up to their ankles," Raymond of Aguilers that "men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins," Fulcher of "our feet colored to our ankles with the blood of the slain" (Fordham Sourcebook) checked. The images echo Revelation 14:20; the true death toll is uncertain, and later chroniclers give larger numbers.

Use it. Concede it plainly. It was a massacre, and it broke Christ's command in Matthew 26:52.

The crusader states ● Documented

1098–1291 Context

What happened. The crusaders set up four Latin states: Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli and the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

The record. Edessa fell in 1144, Jerusalem in 1187, and the last mainland stronghold, Acre, in 1291. The military orders (Templars, Hospitallers) were founded to protect pilgrims and the states.

The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople ● Documented

1202–1204 − Bad

What happened. Deep in debt to Venice, the crusaders sacked the Catholic city of Zara (1202) and then the greatest Christian city in the world, Constantinople (1204).

The record. Pope Innocent III had forbidden attacks on Christians. He wrote that they had "exposed both matrons and virgins, even those dedicated to God, to the sordid lusts of boys" and "violated the holy places and have carried off crosses and relics," and asked how the Greek church could not now, "and with reason," detest "the Latins more than dogs" (tr. Brundage, Fordham Sourcebook) checked. In 2001 Pope John Paul II told the Orthodox in Athens that the attackers "turned against their own brothers in the faith," and that their being Latin Christians "fills Catholics with deep regret" (Vatican) checked.

Don't say. "The pope ordered the sack of Constantinople." He condemned it.

The Albigensian Crusade ● Documented

1209–1229 − Bad

What happened. Innocent III called a crusade against the Cathar heretics of southern France. At Béziers in 1209 the crusaders massacred the town, Catholics and Cathars alike.

The record. The famous order "Kill them all, God will know his own" comes from Caesarius of Heisterbach, a monk writing years later who was not there; no source from 1209 uses it, though historians accept that a large massacre happened (The Medieval Origins of a Modern Phrase) checked.

Don't say. Quote "Kill them all, God will know his own" as a fact. It is a later report.

"The Crusades were unprovoked attacks on peaceful Muslims" ✕ Overclaim

1095–1291 Claim

The claim. Christians invaded a peaceful Muslim world for no reason.

The record. The First Crusade answered a Byzantine appeal after the Turks took most of Anatolia (1071), and the lands in question had been Christian before the Arab conquests of the 600s.

Don't say. "Unprovoked."

"The Crusades were purely defensive" ○ Debated

1095–1291 Claim

The claim. The Crusades were simply self-defense.

The record. The background was real (see the card above), but the Crusades also included the massacres of 1099 and 1191, attacks on Jews (1096), attacks on Christians (1204, 1209) and forced conversion in the Baltic.

Use it. "The Crusades had real causes, and they also involved real atrocities. Both are true."

The first universities ● Documented

1088–1200 + Good

What happened. Universities grew out of cathedral schools and guilds of students and teachers at Bologna, Paris and Oxford.

The record. Bologna is traditionally dated to 1088; Paris and Oxford took shape in the 12th century. They taught the liberal arts, law, medicine and theology, almost always under church charters.

Thomas Aquinas: faith and reason ● Documented

c. 1265–1274 + Good

What happened. Aquinas combined Christian theology with Aristotle's philosophy and argued that reason and revelation cannot truly conflict.

The record. His Summa Theologiae (from 1265) became a standard textbook of theology.

Francis of Assisi and the friars ● Documented

1209–1226 + Good

What happened. Francis gave up his wealth, cared for lepers and founded an order of friars living in poverty among the poor.

The record. The Franciscans and Dominicans (founded 1216) preached in the towns. The Dominicans also became the main staff of the inquisitions (below).

"Christians invented hospitals" ○ Debated

369–1500 Claim

The claim. The hospital is a Christian invention.

The record. Roman army infirmaries and Greek healing temples came first, and medieval Islam built large hospitals too. But public hospitals for the poor spread with the church, from Basil's foundation (about 369, see card) to the Hospitallers in Jerusalem and the town hospitals of medieval Europe.

Use it. "Christians made care for the sick poor a public duty."

The medieval inquisition ● Documented

1184–1252 − Bad

What happened. The church set up courts to find and try heretics, handing the unrepentant to secular rulers for punishment, usually burning.

The record. Pope Lucius III ordered bishops to seek out heretics in 1184; Gregory IX appointed papal inquisitors in the 1230s; Innocent IV's bull Ad extirpanda (1252) allowed torture.

Why. Heresy was treated as treason against God, more dangerous than murder because it killed souls. Defenders appealed to Augustine's arguments for coercion (see 410).

Lateran IV: confession, and a badge for Jews ● Documented

1215 ± Mixed

What happened. The Fourth Lateran Council required yearly confession and communion, and ordered Jews and Muslims to wear distinctive dress.

The record. Canon 21: every adult should "confess all their sins in a faithful manner to their own priest at least once a year." Canon 68: Jews and Saracens "are to be distinguished in public from other people by the character of their dress" (Papal Encyclicals Online) checked.

Blood libels and expulsions ● Documented

1144–1492 − Bad

What happened. Christians accused Jews of murdering Christian children (the "blood libel," first at Norwich in 1144), and kingdoms expelled their Jews.

The record. England expelled its Jews in 1290, France in 1306, and Spain in 1492. Several popes, including Innocent IV in 1247, condemned the blood libel as false.

The Black Death and the burning of Jews ● Documented

1348–1349 − Bad

What happened. As plague killed perhaps a third of Europe, mobs blamed Jews for poisoning wells and murdered whole communities.

The record. At Strasbourg about two thousand Jews were burned on St. Valentine's Day 1349, after the council that tried to protect them was overthrown; the chronicler Jacob von Königshofen wrote, "The money was indeed the thing that killed the Jews." Pope Clement VI protected Jews at Avignon (Fordham Sourcebook) checked.

The Spanish Inquisition ● Documented

1478–1834 − Bad

What happened. Spain's crown-controlled Inquisition investigated converted Jews and Muslims suspected of secretly keeping their old faith, and later Protestants and others.

The record. Estimates of executions have fallen sharply with research in its archives. Henry Kamen puts the total at no more than 3,000 executions. For 1540–1700, Contreras and Henningsen counted 44,674 recorded trials with 826 executions in person. A recent overall estimate is about 7,300 executions in 160,000 trials from 1480 to 1820, most of them in the first decades (Ereticopedia) checked.

Don't say. "The Inquisition killed millions."

Popes in Avignon, then two and three popes ● Documented

1309–1417 − Bad

What happened. The popes lived at Avignon under French influence for most of 1309–1377. Then rival popes in Rome and Avignon (and from 1409 a third) split the church for 39 years.

The record. The Council of Constance (1414–1418) ended the Western Schism. The spectacle damaged the papacy's authority and fed calls for reform.

Jan Hus burned at Constance ● Documented

1415 − Bad

What happened. The Czech reformer Jan Hus, who followed John Wycliffe in criticizing the papacy and church wealth, came to the Council of Constance under a promise of safe conduct and was burned.

The record. Emperor Sigismund promised "safe-conduct for the journey to Constance and back," but Hus was arrested "with Sigismund's tacit consent," and was "solemnly sentenced on July 6, 1415, and burned at the stake" (Britannica) checked. Wycliffe's followers in England had produced the first complete English Bible in the 1380s.

The printed Bible ● Documented

c. 1455 + Good

What happened. Johannes Gutenberg's first major printed book was a Latin Bible.

The record. Printing made books cheap within a generation, and it would carry Luther's pamphlets across Europe in weeks.

Alexander VI and the Renaissance papacy ● Documented

1492–1503 − Bad

What happened. Rodrigo Borgia became Pope Alexander VI by buying votes, and openly advanced his children.

The record. Simony (buying church offices), absentee bishops and worldly popes were the scandal that reformers inside and outside the church attacked.

1492: Granada, and the expulsion of Spain's Jews ● Documented

1492 − Bad

What happened. Ferdinand and Isabella took Granada, the last Muslim state in Spain, and expelled all Jews who would not be baptized.

The record. The Alhambra Decree was issued on 31 March 1492. Spain's Muslims were later forced to convert or leave (from 1502).

The reasons, in one card ● Documented

1300–1517 Context

What happened. The Reformation had several causes working together.

The record. See the cards below for each.

Why. 1. A discredited leadership: Avignon, rival popes and Renaissance popes like Alexander VI. 2. Money for salvation: indulgences sold to fund St. Peter's and pay a bishop's debts. 3. A theological rediscovery: that sinners are made right with God by grace through faith, not by buying or earning it (Romans 1:17). 4. Back to the sources: Erasmus's Greek New Testament showed where the Latin text and church practice had drifted. 5. The printing press, which spread Luther's writings faster than they could be suppressed. 6. Politics: German princes and kings such as Henry VIII had their own reasons to break with Rome.

Indulgences for St. Peter's, and a bishop's debts ● Documented

1515–1517 − Bad

What happened. Pope Leo X authorized an indulgence campaign in Germany. Half the money went to rebuild St. Peter's in Rome; half repaid the loan Albert of Brandenburg had taken to buy the archbishopric of Mainz.

The record. Albert borrowed from "the bank of Jacob Fugger," with "half the proceeds going to pay back Fugger and half going to Rome"; the Dominican Johann Tetzel ran the campaign (Christian History Institute) checked.

Why. An indulgence remitted the temporal punishment for sins, including for souls in purgatory. Preached as a transaction, it looked like salvation for sale.

The 95 Theses ● Documented

31 October 1517 + Good

What happened. Martin Luther, an Augustinian friar and professor at Wittenberg, published 95 theses for debate against the sale of indulgences.

The record. Thesis 1: "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent' (Mt 4:17), ... he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance." Thesis 27 attacks the preachers who say "as soon as the money clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory." Thesis 43: "he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does a better deed than he who buys indulgences." Thesis 86 asks why the pope, richer than Crassus, does not "build this one basilica of St. Peter with his own money rather than with the money of poor believers" (EWTN) checked.

"The righteous will live by faith" ● Documented

c. 1513–1519 + Good

What happened. Studying Romans, Luther concluded that God's righteousness is a gift received by faith, not a standard earned by works or bought with money.

The record. "But the righteous will live by faith" (Romans 1:17, quoting Habakkuk 2:4) checked. When exactly Luther reached this view is debated (1513–1519).

Erasmus and the Greek New Testament ● Documented

1516 + Good

What happened. The Catholic scholar Erasmus published the Greek New Testament with a new Latin translation.

The record. He replaced the Vulgate's "do penance" (paenitentiam agite) in Matthew 4:17 with "repent" (resipiscite) (1517.org) checked. Luther used Erasmus's Greek text for his German New Testament.

Worms: "Unless I am convinced by Scripture" ● Documented

April 1521 Context

What happened. Excommunicated by the pope, Luther refused to recant before Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms and was declared an outlaw.

The record. His reply began: "Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason." The famous words "Here I stand" were not recorded on the spot and first appear in the earliest printed version; many scholars doubt he said them (Christianity Today) checked.

Don't say. "Here I stand, I can do no other" as his certain words. Quote the recorded part.

Luther's German Bible ● Documented

1522 · 1534 + Good

What happened. Hidden at the Wartburg castle, Luther translated the New Testament into German (1522); the whole Bible followed in 1534.

The record. He moved Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation to the end of the New Testament, and in his 1522 preface called James an "epistle of straw" compared with the others, a line "removed from this preface in all editions of his German Bible after 1537" (Themelios) checked. He put the Apocrypha in a separate section between the Testaments (see the Apocrypha tab).

Princes and kings ● Documented

1526–1555 ± Mixed

What happened. The Reformation spread where rulers backed it: German princes, the Scandinavian kings, Swiss city councils and, for his own reasons, Henry VIII.

The record. Henry broke with Rome when the pope would not annul his marriage; the Act of Supremacy (1534) made him head of the Church of England. The Peace of Augsburg (1555) let each German prince choose Lutheran or Catholic for his territory.

Tyndale strangled and burned ● Documented

1536 − Bad

What happened. William Tyndale, who translated the New Testament from Greek into English, was executed for heresy near Brussels.

The record. He was strangled and his body burned at Vilvoorde; his dying prayer was that "the King of England's eyes would be opened." Two years later Henry VIII authorized the Great Bible, "largely Tyndale's work" (St Michael's Mount Dinham) checked.

Luther and the Peasants' War ● Documented

1525 − Bad

What happened. When German peasants rose in revolt, partly inspired by Reformation preaching, Luther urged the princes to crush them.

The record. In Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants: "Let everyone who can smite, slay, and stab, secretly and openly." As many as 100,000 peasants were killed (Columbia University Libraries) checked.

Anabaptists drowned ● Documented

1527–1600 − Bad

What happened. Felix Manz was drowned by the Protestant authorities of Zurich in 1527 for rebaptizing; thousands of Anabaptists were executed by Catholic and Protestant governments.

The record. The drowning was a mocking punishment for their "third baptism."

Luther's writings against the Jews ● Documented

1543 − Bad

What happened. Late in life, Luther wrote that synagogues should be burned and Jewish homes destroyed.

The record. In On the Jews and Their Lies he urged that synagogues and schools be set on fire and Jewish houses "be razed and destroyed," as "sharp mercy"; in 1523 he had urged Christians to "receive them cordially" (Christian History Institute) checked. In 1994 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America rejected "the violent recommendations of his later writings against the Jews" (ELCA Declaration) checked.

Servetus burned in Calvin's Geneva ● Documented

1553 − Bad

What happened. Michael Servetus, who denied the Trinity, was burned at Geneva.

The record. He was burned on 27 October 1553; Calvin asked for "a more humane death," but the judges refused. Christian History: "No one should excuse Calvin for consenting to the execution" (text) checked.

St. Bartholomew's Day ○ Debated

24 August 1572 − Bad

What happened. Catholic mobs and troops massacred Protestant Huguenots in Paris and other French cities.

The record. Thousands were killed in Paris and many more in the provinces; estimates for all of France vary widely, from about 5,000 to 30,000. Pope Gregory XIII celebrated the news with a Te Deum and a commemorative medal.

The witch hunts ● Documented

1450–1750 − Bad

What happened. Catholic and Protestant courts tried tens of thousands of people for witchcraft.

The record. Historian Brian Levack: about 100,000 people were tried between about 1450 and 1750 and about half were executed; about 80 percent of the accused were women. "Protestant and Catholic reformers" were "among the most zealous witch-hunters," and "many of the most severe hunts took place in German territories" (15-Minute History, University of Texas) checked.

Don't say. "Nine million witches were burned."

The Thirty Years' War ○ Debated

1618–1648 − Bad

What happened. A war that began between Catholic and Protestant states of the Holy Roman Empire drew in most of Europe.

The record. Peter Wilson: "Around 1.8 million soldiers and at least 3.2 million civilians died," reducing the empire's population "by at least a fifth." He argues it "was neither inevitable nor a religious conflict," but "a struggle over the political and religious order" (Rorotoko interview) checked. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) ended it.

The Council of Trent ● Documented

1545–1563 ± Mixed

What happened. The Catholic Church answered the Reformation by defining its doctrine and reforming abuses.

The record. Trent fixed the Old Testament canon with the deuterocanonical books (1546, see the Apocrypha tab), rejected justification by faith alone, and kept indulgences while ordering "that all evil gains for the obtaining thereof... be wholly abolished" (Session 25, Hanover College) checked. It also ordered seminaries to train priests.

The Jesuits ● Documented

1540 ± Mixed

What happened. Ignatius of Loyola's Society of Jesus founded hundreds of schools and sent missionaries to India, Japan, China and the Americas.

The record. Francis Xavier reached Japan in 1549. The Jesuits were also leading agents of the Counter-Reformation in Europe.

What the Reformation left behind ○ Debated

1517–1648 ± Mixed

What happened. The Reformation split Western Christianity for good. It also left lasting changes on both sides.

The record. The Bible was read and printed in the people's languages, Protestant and Catholic schools multiplied, and many abuses were reformed. After a century of wars, rulers slowly accepted coexistence (Edict of Nantes 1598, Peace of Westphalia 1648). How far the Reformation raised literacy, or led to religious freedom, is debated by historians.

The books ● Documented

c. 300 BC–AD 100 Context

What happened. Catholics call them the deuterocanonical books; Protestants call them the Apocrypha.

The record. The Church of England's Article VI lists them: 3 and 4 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the rest of Esther, Wisdom, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, the Song of the Three Children, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasseh, and 1 and 2 Maccabees (Fordham Sourcebook) checked. The Catholic Old Testament includes Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees and the additions to Esther and Daniel. Eastern Orthodox Bibles include a few more, and the Ethiopian Orthodox canon has 81 books in all (Mahibere Kidusan) checked.

Jewish books in the Greek Bible ● Documented

c. 300 BC–AD 100 Context

What happened. Most of them are Jewish writings from the centuries between the Old and New Testaments, many preserved in Greek.

The record. They were included in Greek (Septuagint) manuscripts used by Christians. The Codex Sinaiticus, for example, contains Tobit, Judith, 1 and 4 Maccabees, Wisdom and Sirach (Codex Sinaiticus Project) checked.

The Jewish canon: "twenty-two books" ● Documented

c. AD 95 Context

What happened. The Jewish historian Josephus described a closed list of sacred books and said later writings did not have the same authority.

The record. "Only twenty-two books, which contain the records of all the past times," and of later histories, "there hath not been an exact succession of prophets since that time" (Against Apion 1.38–41, tr. Whiston, text) checked. His 22 books are generally equated with the 39 of the Protestant Old Testament, counted differently.

Did Jesus and the apostles use them? ○ Debated

1st century Context

What happened. Protestants note that the New Testament never quotes the Apocrypha as Scripture; Catholics point to allusions.

The record. No New Testament verse introduces one of these books with "it is written." But Hebrews 11:35 recalls the martyrs of 2 Maccabees 7, and Jesus kept the Feast of Dedication (John 10:22), the Hanukkah festival founded in 1 Maccabees 4. Jude quotes 1 Enoch, which is in neither canon (see Enoch).

Luther: "useful and good to read" ● Documented

1519–1534 Context

What happened. Luther did not cut the Apocrypha out of his Bible. He gathered them into a separate section between the Old and New Testaments.

The record. His heading: "Apocrypha. Das sind Bücher: so nicht der heiligen Schrift gleich gehalten: und doch nützlich und gut zu lesen sind" ("Apocrypha: these are books not held equal to Holy Scripture, yet useful and good to read") (German Bible Society) checked. When 2 Maccabees 12 was used to prove purgatory, he answered in 1521 that "that book is not among the books of Holy Scripture," noting that Jerome said it was "not found in a Hebrew version" (Luther's Works 32:96, quoted by Alpha and Omega Ministries) checked.

Why. Luther followed Jerome and the Hebrew canon, and the issue sharpened when the books were used to support purgatory and prayers for the dead.

Trent: canonical, with an anathema ● Documented

8 April 1546 Context

What happened. The Council of Trent declared the deuterocanonical books part of Scripture and condemned anyone who rejected them.

The record. Its list includes Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, "Jeremias, with Baruch" and "two books of the Machabees": "But if any one receive not, as sacred and canonical, the said books entire with all their parts... let him be anathema" (Session IV, Papal Encyclicals Online) checked.

The Church of England: "for example of life" ● Documented

1563 · 1571 Context

What happened. The Anglican Articles kept the books for reading but not for doctrine, quoting Jerome.

The record. Article VI: "And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine" (Fordham Sourcebook) checked.

The 1611 King James Bible included them ● Documented

1611 Context

What happened. The original King James Version printed the Apocrypha between the Testaments, as Luther had.

The record. Selections were read in the Church of England's services.

Westminster: "no part of the canon" ● Documented

1646 Context

What happened. The Westminster Confession, the standard of Presbyterian churches, gave the books no authority.

The record. "The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture"; they are to be used no otherwise than other human writings (1.3, CCEL) checked.

The Bible Society stops printing them ● Documented

1826–1827 Context

What happened. Most English-language Protestant Bibles lost the Apocrypha in the 1800s, when the British and Foreign Bible Society refused to fund Bibles that contained them.

The record. The dispute "came to a head in 1826 and 1827," driven by the Edinburgh auxiliary and Robert Haldane; the rule "held its place in the rules of the Society for 140 years," until 1967 (Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland) checked.

Use it. The books were "taken out" of most Protestant Bibles by Bible societies in the 1820s, not by Luther.

Why Protestants leave them out ● Documented

1519–today Context

What happened. Protestants give four main reasons.

The record. 1. They were not in the Hebrew Bible of Jesus's day (Josephus, Jerome, above). 2. The books themselves disclaim prophecy: 1 Maccabees speaks of a time "since the time that a prophet was not seen among them" (9:27, KJV) checked, and 2 Maccabees ends, "if slenderly and meanly, it is that which I could attain unto" (15:38, KJV) checked. 3. Historical problems: Judith makes Nebuchadnezzar a king "who reigned in Nineve" and "king of the Assyrians" (1:1, 1:7, KJV) checked, though he ruled Babylon after Nineveh fell. 4. Doctrine: 2 Maccabees 12:45 says Judas "made a reconciliation for the dead, that they might be delivered from sin" (KJV) checked, and Tobit 12:9 that alms "shall purge away all sin" (KJV) checked.

Why Catholics and Orthodox keep them ● Documented

397–today Context

What happened. Catholics and Orthodox give three main reasons.

The record. 1. The early church's Bible was the Greek Old Testament, which contained them, and the New Testament alludes to them (above). 2. Councils: Hippo and Carthage (393, 397), Florence (1442) and Trent (1546) listed them. 3. Church Fathers such as Augustine quoted them as Scripture, though others, like Jerome and Athanasius, did not.

"God took him" ● Documented

Genesis 5 Context

What happened. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, "walked with God" and did not die: God took him.

The record. Genesis 5:21-24; Hebrews 11:5. Because he was taken alive, later Jewish writers credited him with visions of heaven and the end of the world.

Jude quotes 1 Enoch ● Documented

c. AD 60–90 Context

What happened. The letter of Jude quotes a prophecy of Enoch that matches 1 Enoch 1:9.

The record. Jude: "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones" (Jude 1:14-15, LSB) checked. 1 Enoch: "And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy all the ungodly" (1:9, tr. R. H. Charles, text) checked.

Why. Some early Christians took this as proof the book was inspired; others doubted Jude because of it (see the Fathers).

What 1 Enoch is ● Documented

c. 300 BC–AD 100 Context

What happened. 1 Enoch is a collection of five Jewish works written over about three centuries, mostly apocalyptic.

The record. The sections are usually called the Book of the Watchers (chapters 1–36, the fallen angels of Genesis 6:1-4), the Parables or Similitudes (37–71), the Astronomical Book (72–82), the Dream Visions (83–90) and the Epistle of Enoch (91–108). Britannica: it is "a compilation of several separate works," its oldest dated part was written "shortly before the Maccabean uprising of 167 bc," and the Parables may be as late as the 2nd century AD ("First Book of Enoch") checked.

Aramaic Enoch in the Dead Sea Scrolls ● Documented

c. 200–150 BC Context

What happened. Fragments of 1 Enoch in Aramaic were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran.

The record. The oldest exhibited fragment (4Q201) was "copied ca. 200-150 B.C.E."; the original language of most of the work was "in all likelihood, Aramaic" (Library of Congress exhibit, Scrolls from the Dead Sea) checked. No fragment of the Parables (chapters 37–71) was found there.

The church fathers disagreed ● Documented

c. 200–420 Context

What happened. Some early Christians accepted Enoch; most came to reject it.

The record. Tertullian (about 200) admits it "is not received by some, because it is not admitted into the Jewish canon either," but argues that "Enoch possesses a testimony in the Apostle Jude" (On the Apparel of Women 1.3) checked. Jerome says Jude's letter itself, "because in it he quotes from the apocryphal Book of Enoch," was "rejected by many" (Lives of Illustrious Men 4) checked. Augustine grants that Jude cites Enoch "in his canonical epistle," but excludes the writings because "their antiquity brought them under suspicion," they were not "preserved in the temple of the Hebrew people by the diligence of successive priests," and "it was impossible to ascertain whether these were his genuine writings" (City of God 15.23, CCEL) checked.

Kept in Ethiopia ● Documented

4th century–today Context

What happened. The full text of 1 Enoch survived only in Ge'ez, the old language of Ethiopia, where it is still part of the Bible.

The record. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has "the largest biblical canon with 81 books," including Enoch and Jubilees, preserved in Ge'ez (Mahibere Kidusan) checked. Its only complete version is "an Ethiopic translation of a previous Greek translation" (Britannica) checked.

Rediscovered in Europe, 1773 ● Documented

1773 · 1821 Context

What happened. The Scottish traveler James Bruce brought Ethiopic manuscripts of 1 Enoch to Europe; an English translation appeared in 1821.

The record. One of Bruce's 1773 manuscripts is Bodleian Library MS Bodl. Or. 531; Richard Laurence published the first English translation in 1821 (Ariel Hessayon) checked. R. H. Charles's translation (1912, 1917) became the standard.

2 Enoch ("Slavonic Enoch") ○ Debated

1st century AD? Context

What happened. A different book, about Enoch's journey through the heavens and the miraculous birth of Melchizedek, known mainly in Old Church Slavonic.

The record. Described as "an ancient Jewish (or perhaps Christian) text from, arguably, the first century AD." It presents "a heaven of seven levels." Coptic fragments from Qasr Ibrim in Nubia, announced in 2009, "antedate the earliest Slavonic witness by about five hundred years," and Andrei Orlov argues for a date before AD 70 (review of Orlov and Boccaccini, New Perspectives on 2 Enoch, BYU Studies) checked. Its date and origin are debated.

3 Enoch ("Hebrew Enoch") ● Documented

5th–9th century AD Context

What happened. A Jewish mystical text in Hebrew in which Rabbi Ishmael ascends to heaven and meets the angel Metatron, who reveals that he is Enoch, transformed.

The record. It is "the latest and most systematic composition in the Hekhalot corpus"; dates given range from the 5th–6th to the 6th–9th century. Metatron is "none other than the antediluvian patriarch Enoch," which may answer Christian ideas about Jesus's heavenly origin. The name "3 Enoch" is modern and is not in the manuscripts (tr. Philip Alexander, Posen Library) checked.

The reasons ● Documented

c. 200–today Context

What happened. 1 Enoch was never in the Jewish Bible or in the canon of any church except the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox.

The record. 1. Not in the Hebrew Scriptures, as Tertullian himself admitted (above). 2. Authorship: it claims to be by Enoch, who lived before the Flood, but it is a collection written from about 300 BC on; Augustine said its genuineness could not be established. 3. A quotation is not a canon: Paul quotes pagan poets (Acts 17:28; Titus 1:12) without making their books Scripture, though Jude does say Enoch "prophesied." 4. 2 and 3 Enoch are separate, later books that no church has treated as Scripture.

Use it. "Jude quotes one true prophecy from Enoch. That doesn't make the whole book Scripture, any more than Paul quoting a Greek poet makes the poet Scripture."

"The church removed the Book of Enoch" ✕ Overclaim

Claim Claim

The claim. The Book of Enoch was taken out of the Bible by a council or by the Reformers.

The record. It was never in the Jewish Bible or the Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant canon, so no council removed it. It fell out of use outside Ethiopia, where it has always been part of the Bible.

Don't say. "They removed Enoch." Say "most churches never accepted it."

"The three books of Enoch were taken out" ✕ Overclaim

Claim Claim

The claim. There were three books of Enoch in the Bible, and they were removed.

The record. The "three books" are three unrelated works from different centuries and languages: 1 Enoch (Aramaic, from about 300 BC), 2 Enoch (known in Slavonic, date debated) and 3 Enoch (Hebrew, 5th century AD or later). None was in any Western Bible.

"Enoch was hidden from the people" ✕ Overclaim

Claim Claim

The claim. The church hid the Book of Enoch.

The record. Church fathers discussed it openly (Tertullian, Jerome, Augustine). It was lost in the West because it stopped being copied, survived in Ethiopia, and has been in print in English since 1821.

"Jesus took 'Son of Man' from Enoch" ○ Debated

Claim Claim

The claim. Jesus's title "Son of Man" comes from the Book of Enoch.

The record. The heavenly Son of Man appears in the Parables (1 Enoch 37–71), which may be later than Jesus. When Jesus explains the title, he quotes Daniel 7:13 (Mark 14:62).

The conquest of the Americas ● Documented

1492–1550 − Bad

What happened. Spanish and Portuguese conquerors, sailing under Catholic monarchs, enslaved and killed native peoples in the name of spreading the faith.

The record. The Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas, an eyewitness, wrote that the Spaniards "spar'd no Age, or Sex, nay not so much as Women with Child," and claimed "above Twelve Millions" had perished (Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies, 1552; English edition of 1689, Project Gutenberg) checked. His numbers are not reliable, and most deaths came from European diseases, but the cruelty he describes is confirmed by other sources.

Las Casas and Sublimis Deus ● Documented

1514–1566 + Good

What happened. Las Casas gave up his own native laborers, became a friar and spent fifty years campaigning for native rights; in 1537 Pope Paul III declared that the Indians were fully human and free.

The record. Sublimis Deus: "the Indians are truly men" and "are by no means to be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property" (Religion and Slavery) checked. At Valladolid in 1550–1551, Las Casas debated Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, who defended the conquest.

Use it. The strongest critics of the conquest were Christian friars, arguing from Christian principles.

Christians who defended slavery ● Documented

1500s–1865 − Bad

What happened. Christian nations ran the Atlantic slave trade, and many churches, clergy and church bodies owned slaves and defended slavery from the Bible.

The record. The Southern Baptist Convention was founded in 1845 in a split over slavery. In 1995 it resolved that "Our relationship to African-Americans has been hindered from the beginning by the role that slavery played," and that it would "apologize to all African-Americans for condoning and/or perpetuating individual and systemic racism" (SBC resolution, Atlanta, June 1995) checked.

Christians who ended it ● Documented

1787–1838 + Good

What happened. The movement to abolish the slave trade and slavery in the British Empire was led largely by Quakers and evangelical Anglicans.

The record. Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp founded the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1787; in Parliament "the campaign was led by William Wilberforce," and the trade was abolished in 1807; slave-owners, not the enslaved, "received compensation" (UK Parliament) checked. The Clapham Sect, "a group of evangelical Anglicans," worshiped together on Clapham Common; Wilberforce died "three days after the bill abolishing slavery passed the House of Commons" in 1833 (English Heritage) checked.

Galileo condemned ● Documented

1633 − Bad

What happened. The Roman Inquisition forced Galileo to renounce the view that the earth moves around the sun.

The record. On 22 June 1633 he was judged "vehemently suspected of heresy," condemned "to the formal prison of this Holy Office during our pleasure," told to "repeat once a week the seven penitential Psalms" for three years, and his Dialogue was banned (Museo Galileo) checked. He spent his last years under house arrest. On 31 October 1992 Pope John Paul II acknowledged that theologians had erred by treating the "literal sense of sacred Scripture" as an account of the physical world (Seattle Times) checked.

Don't say. "Galileo was tortured" or "thrown in a dungeon." He was threatened and confined to his home.

Christian scientists ○ Debated

1543–1930s Context

What happened. Many founders of modern science were devout Christians.

The record. Copernicus was a cathedral canon; Kepler, Pascal, Boyle and Newton wrote on theology; Gregor Mendel was an Augustinian friar; the "Big Bang" theory was first proposed by a Catholic priest, Georges Lemaître (1927). Whether Christianity caused the rise of science is debated by historians.

Missions: schools, hospitals and colonies ● Documented

1700s–1900s ± Mixed

What happened. Protestant and Catholic missionaries took the faith to Africa, Asia and the Pacific, translating the Bible and building schools and hospitals.

The record. William Carey sailed for India in 1793 and translated the Bible into several Indian languages. Missions also traveled with colonial power, and some missionaries supported or profited from it while others opposed its abuses.

Barmen and the Confessing Church ● Documented

1934–1945 ± Mixed

What happened. When the Nazi-backed "German Christians" took over much of the Protestant church, a minority formed the Confessing Church and rejected their claims.

The record. The Barmen Declaration (1934), drafted by Karl Barth and Hans Asmussen, confessed Jesus Christ as "the one Word of God whom we have to hear," against the German Christians who presented racial consciousness as revelation (United Church of Christ) checked. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was hanged in April 1945. Most church members, Protestant and Catholic, went along with the regime.

The civil rights movement ● Documented

1955–1968 + Good

What happened. Black churches and pastors led the American civil rights movement, while many white churches stood aside or opposed it.

The record. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister, wrote his "Letter from Birmingham Jail" on 16 April 1963, answering eight white local clergymen who had criticized "outside" activism; he addressed them as "my Christian and Jewish brothers" (text) checked.

Canada's residential schools ● Documented

1860s–1990s − Bad

What happened. Churches ran government-funded boarding schools that took Indigenous children from their families to assimilate them.

The record. About 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were sent to the schools, which ran from the 1860s to the 1990s and were run by the Anglican, United, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic churches. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (June 2015) called it "cultural genocide" (Anglican Journal; NCTR) checked. Pope Francis apologized in Canada in 2022.

Sexual abuse in the churches ● Documented

1950–2002 − Bad

What happened. Investigations revealed widespread sexual abuse of minors by clergy, and cover-ups by church leaders, in the Catholic Church and in other denominations.

The record. The 2004 John Jay College report found allegations against 4,392 U.S. Catholic priests, about 4 percent of those active from 1950 to 2002; "a total of 10,667 individuals made allegations" (Diocese of Brooklyn summary) checked. Similar reports have followed in other countries and Protestant bodies.

The world's largest religion, now centered in the South ● Documented

2020 Context

What happened. About 2.3 billion people are Christians, and most of them now live outside Europe and North America.

The record. Pew Research Center (2025): Christians numbered 2.3 billion in 2020, 28.8 percent of the world. 30.7 percent of the world's Christians live in sub-Saharan Africa, 24 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean and 22.3 percent in Europe; in the early 1900s, two-thirds lived in Europe and 1 percent in sub-Saharan Africa (Pew) checked.