Josephus does not tell us that Christianity is true, and Christians do not need Josephus to tell them that Christ is risen. But Christianity makes claims about things that happened in public history under identifiable rulers, priests, and governors. For that reason, testimony from outside the church matters.
Today, the longing for cultural Christianity on both the left and the right hearkens back to an older version of Christendom that was a mixed blessing for the church in the western world. The cultural mediation of Christian views on created order has certainly benefitted the civilization we’ve inherited. But the gospel itself isn’t something that can be reduced to cultural mediation either. Instead, the gospel as a message stands apart from all human accomplishments and achievements, no matter how beneficial they might be.
The student of Scripture should always have a map open next to their Bible as they read. If possible, they should also travel to Israel, not to make a pilgrimage, but to see the context of the land in which these stories took place. These are not fairy tales made up about fictional fantasy lands; these are stories about real people in real places interacting with a real God.

All Articles

Cyril’s fervor for pure explication of the gospel was present throughout his career.
We cannot overstate that no person outside the Bible has been as influential to Christian theology as Augustine.
Origen is wrong about stuff, but he had the foresight to say that if he was wrong, he was open to correction.
You will not be disappointed in this Champion of the Incarnation.
Finding the balance between indifferentism and obsessiveness has never been easy, and it’s especially difficult in our environment.
FLAME uses Scripture and church history to argue that baptism is a gospel gift, not our work.
History won’t judge us, Jesus will. We already have his judgment. He gave it to us from the cross, where he acquitted us with his death.
Edward's goal of teaching his people to know the scriptures and to believe that their salvation depended on Christ is also essential for us today.
Confession is not another ecclesiastical bludgeon but is instead a gift. There we can tell the truth about ourselves, knowing that Christ has only mercy for us in response.
Luther had a living Word from God intended to land squarely among sinners.
An immense amount of ink has been spilled contesting and interpreting Bonhoeffer's significance as a figure of Christian history and a theologian of the church.
Aquinas would craft a systematic theology that did with the matter of faith what Aristotle had done with the natural world.