Christian History Institute

James was possibly the first New Testament book written, probably penned in the very late 40s AD. It is generally accepted that the book was written by James, the leader of the Jerusalem Church, also known as James the brother of Jesus. From the very first, some people objected to having James in the New Testament. Martin Luther pushed for its exclusion (as well as some other books) because he thought it crossed some Protestant doctrines. However,...

The Promised Land Series covers the books in the Bible from Exodus to Judges. These books describe events from the birth of Moses to the end of the era of the judges of Israel. In Genesis, God promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan, so Canaan became known as The Promised Land. Modern Israel and Palestine encompass the majority of Canaan. Abraham's grandson was Jacob, whose name was changed to "Israel" by God. His descendants...

The New Testament starts with the three Gospel books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These three are known as the Synoptic Gospels. Gospel means "Good News," and Synoptic refers to the fact that all three give an account of the same general events from the same point of view. The fourth book, John, is distinctly different from the three Synoptic Gospels and includes much information not in the other three Gospels. The four Gospels differ in what stories...

Acts is the history of the development of the first churches and the spread of Christianity. For about the first decade after the death of Jesus, Christianity existed almost exclusively among the Jews. The first part of Acts portrays the meaning of Christianity, how it was shared, and how it was lived out in a closed community of Jews whose common culture was based on the Old Testament. After about the first decade, Christianity started growing in...

There is treasure hidden in Paul's thirteen letters, but the path to find it is not obvious. Here is a tip: in the Bible, Paul's letters are not sequenced in chronological order. The Bible rarely gives us specific dates about events it addresses, which can be frustrating for modern audiences. As an example, this is a very brief timeline of the first four decades of Christianity that is probably correct to within a few years: 27 AD to 30 AD: Ministry...