Disclaimer: Kristin’s opinions which may or may not be supported by the SSU.

So, I’m just now listening to Conversations with a Skeptic, and yeah, history of early Christianity would help with this.

For anyone who enjoys discussing belief and religion with Christians, I would suggest learning more about the early, Medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment, etc. church. If you happen to have time for a 5 credit class in the winter, Prof. James Felak teaches HIST 209: History of Christianity every year. This year, it’s 2:30-3:20 MTuWThF. Last year it was 8:30-9:20, and I still took it. I had Felak for 209 and 113, and he’s a very good professor. He is Catholic (though one of the theologically laid-back ones), but teaches the class from the perspective of someone who is familiar with all of these events but minimally biased. Non-Christians (and even Christian Non-Catholics) may find themselves struggling a tiny bit at a couple points of the class, but it’s certainly doable. I ended up with a 3.7 without ever stressing.

Without the class, I would recommend skimming The Theological Tradition. It does not appear to be in the UW library system, though there is an “article” by the same name with the same authors. The Christians as the Romans Saw Them was an interesting but heavy book on the Christians before Constantine accepted it as a legitimate, even favored, religion. It is currently available in both the Suz and Ode stacks. Reading it completely front to back would be a little excessive, but read the parts that interest you. The third book for the course was not particularly good or memorable, but the fourth was one of the best textbooks I’ve ever read. Summer for the Gods is about modern American culture wars, not ancient Christianity, but is essential for those people who insist on arguing about evolution so much. You think you know the Scopes trial. You do not.

Sitting here for the last couple days, however, most of the real pithy information I have batting around in my head came from lecture. I plan on hunting down the notebook for that, but meanwhile…

-No, Matt, the real take-off of Christianity was totally Constantine. It also diluted the average level of devotion of the group, as people joined for political reasons, and eliminated women from any roles of leadership.
-The Council of Nicaea (325) helped solidify the relationship of Christ and his Father; whether they are equal, or the Father is superior. The Arians essentially believed that the Son was less than the Father because he was created. Arianism was declared heresy (even though I believe there may have been an Arian pope?), and the winning side proclaimed that the Son and Father were one in being, homoousius.
-The Council of Constantinople (381) completed the Trinity by declaring the Holy Ghost equal to the Father and Son.
-The Gnostics (in this incarnation, anyway, there is more than one sect referred to as Gnostics) believed in two Gods, not one. The supreme God and the creator God (Good God and Bad God, New Testament God and Old Testament God, loving God and corrupting God). They considered phyiscal matter to be pretty much bad, and so insisted that Christ never became a man, he only appeared to be so. Most modern Christians would not even recognize the Gnostics as Christians, what with the polytheism and the Jesus was not a man ideas.
-Two more fun sects: Donatists and Manicheans.

So, remember folks, the trinity did not exist until late in the fourth century.

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