History From the Old Brick Church

In this episode we interview Dr. Warren Throckmorton about his book; "The Christian Past that Wasn't; Debunking the Christian Nationalist Myths that Hijack History." We often hear the narrative that America is a Christian Nation and that the Constitution has divine origins. Dr. Throckmorton's book corrects this narrative with the actual accounts of the Constitutional Convention...

  In this episode, John Ericson, Executive Director at St Luke’s Historic Church & Museum, interviews Dr. Amy Stallings, Adjunct Professor of History at the College of William & Mary, on the enduring lessons of Bacon’s Rebellion. Dr. Stallings is also a public Historian who portrays Lady Berkeley, the wife of Virginia Governor Sir William Berkeley. In this conversation, we explore the caus...

Sacred Remembrance: In this episode St Luke’s Executive Director John Ericson interviews Chadra Pitman about her work in remembering the victims of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The discussion covers the many slave codes of the 17th century Virginia Colony and how they divided the labor class according to skin color thus creating the social construct of race.  Chadra Pitman is an Anthropologist,...

In this episode St Luke's Executive Director John Ericson discusses an exciting new tour opportunity that will allow for both onsite and offsite visitation, the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, and a conversation about sacred sites and messy history.  John Ericson is the Executive Director of St Luke's Historic Church & Museum. A graduate of Roanoke College and the Luthe...

In this episode John Ericson, the Education Coordinator at St Luke's and Host of the Old Brick Church Podcast, interviews Joseph McGill. Joseph is the founder and Director of the Slave Dwelling Project that seeks to offer a more inclusive narrative about our Nation's founding. Joseph and other members of his team have slept at plantations and other sites to highlight the stories of the E...

John Ericson discusses the recent Symposium at Jamestown Settlement entitled: Ways of Being; Evolving Religion and America with Dr. Travis Harris, Visiting Assistant Professor at Norfolk State University.  Support the show

The Reformation raised doubts about centuries-old church doctrines. Did this contribute to the emergence of atheism in the modern world? Or was it the violence of religious wars and the oppression stemming from the marriage of religion and government? St Luke's Education Coordinator John Ericson takes a look in this episode at Atheism in the 17th century.  Support the show

In this episode, we interview Dr. Naomi Pullin, a Professor at Warwick University in the UK, about the Quaker story on both sides of the Atlantic. The Society of Friends was persecuted for their beliefs but held fast to their ethics of equality and nonviolence in one of the most violent centuries in Western history. Join us as we discuss this fascinating story of perseverance and the Quakers'...

Today we often talk about the impact of social media on forming public opinion, its effect on elections, and how it fuels division. In 17th century England, the printing press and the proliferation of pamphlets were doing similar things. In this Episode, we speak with public historian and historic book binder, Hunter Willis, on the Pamphlet Wars.  Hunter Willis is an amateur historian and has been...

In this episode St Luke's Education Coordinator John Ericson interviews the Curator of The Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon UK, Stuart Orme. Cromwell is a figure steeped in a great deal of myth and clouded by his brutality towards the Irish. Is he a hero or a villain? Stuart Orme gives us a balance portrait of the most complicated figure of the 17th century.    Support the show

In this episode St Luke's Education Coordinator John Ericson discusses the recent trip to the UK and the many great people who are empowering our documentary and other educational material. Support the show

 Our upcoming documentary, entitled "Born from Conflict: Cavaliers and Puritans of Newport Parish," is based on the 17th century conflicts in the United Kingdom and in the English Colonial Possessions in North America. Most notably we are focusing on the English Civil Wars, also known as the War of the Three Kingdoms. The spark was a religious conflict between King Charles I and the Scot...

In this episode we interview Professor Alec Ryrie of Durham University in the UK on the topic of the English Reformation. England was the most diverse in its reforming efforts and the conflicts that arose in the 16th and 17th centuries would have enduring implications for Great Britain and for their Colonial possessions in North America.  Professor Ryrie helps us examine this tumultuous period and...

In this episode we discuss the life of Joseph Bridger the patron of the "Old Brick Church" and about the challenging decade of 1676-1686, a time of civil war in the Virginia Colony. How did these conflicts lead to the racist codes that would pour out of Jamestown and later Williamsburg? This period of our history is essential to understanding conflicts that continue to plague us almost 3...

In This Episode the host of History from the Old Brick Church, John Ericson, tells the story of a former Minister of the Newport Parish whose protest helped fan the flames of America's revolutionary spirit. This is the first in a series of stories that relate to the Newport Parish of the "Old Brick Church."  John Ericson is the Education Coordinator at St Luke's Historic Church...

In this episode, Education Coordinator, John Ericson interviews Dr. David Sehat of Georgia State University concerning some of the myths of America's founding, especially in regard to issues of religious freedom.  Dr. David Sehat is a Professor of Cultural and Intellectual History for Georgia State University. He is the author of "The Myth of American Religious Freedom" and "Th...

The 17th century featured dozens of trials for witchcraft. How was Colonial Virginia's experience different from what happened in Salem, Massachusetts? What was the role of the church and religion in connection to witchcraft trials? How does the phenomenon of witchcraft trials change from the 17th to the 18th centuries and beyond? In this episode we interview Dr. Carson O. Hudson, Jr, author...

In this podcast we explore the time period of the English Republic with Historian Anna Keay, author of the book "The Restless Republic: Britain without a Crown." This time period is often reduced to the time of Oliver Cromwell, but there are many other players and ordinary people who were affected by this tumultuous period. It was a time of great hopes that were never quite realized and...

David Callaway discusses the modern challenges to religious freedom with host John Ericson.  David Callaway is the Religious Freedom Specialist for the Freedom Forum, a non-profit fostering First Amendment freedoms for all. David oversees the Freedom Forum’s religious freedom work acting as a resource for educators, journalists, and the general public on the role of religious freedom and religious...

In this episode, we interview Dr. Katharine Gerbner, Professor of History at the University of Minnesota, about her research on the religious dimensions of the Atlantic slave trade. Dr. Gerbner studied three groups: Anglicans, Quakers, and Moravians analyzing how they engaged with, defended, and benefited from the slave trade in Barbados and other English Colonies. How did groups that we associate...

There’s an old ghost story about an Anglican Minister who is buried right behind the east wall of St. Luke’s. His name is Alexander Norris. But, Norris’ real story is even more intriguing than the ghost story. In this episode, we talk with Isle of Wight County Museum Curator, Rachel Popp, about Norris and other notable people buried in the Old Brick Church Cemetery.  Rachel Popp is the Curator at...

In this episode, we discuss, with Buck Woodard, the religious experience of the Indigenous people of the Chesapeake, their interactions with the Church of England and the Native American School at the College of William & Mary, the Brafferton School.  Buck Woodard is a cultural anthropologist specializing in historical and applied research, with interests in ethnographic and ethnohistorical wr...

In 2019, there were many lectures and commemorations of the first African Americans to arrive in the Colony of Virginia who were forced into labor for the Planter class. But, 1619 was also the year that brought the first large influx of English Women to the Colony. Why did these women agree to become wives to men they had never met? What was the role and status of these women at Jamestown? What ne...

Bacon’s Rebellion is often considered a precursor of the American Revolution. However, nothing could be further from the truth. We will discuss in Episode 3, with Dr. James Rice, the strange events that led to the burning of the Capitol of the Virginia Colony at Jamestown and how this violent period affected the rest of the Colonial era and beyond.  Dr. James D. Rice is the Walter S. Dickson Profe...

In this episode, we will explore, with Dr. Cassandra Newby-Alexander, the role of the church in the movement towards Emancipation. How did the Christianity of the English Planter Class become transformed into the power of Emancipation by the enslaved people of America? What was the role of the African American Episcopal Church, and other religious traditions, in the African American Community of t...