Restitutio Classes

What is the destiny of the unrighteous?  Christians over the centuries have put forward three major options: eternal conscious torment (traditionalism), temporary torment followed by salvation (universalism), temporary torment followed by destruction (annihilationism).  In this lecture we’ll cover the main texts supporting the annihilation of the wicked as well as three logical problems with...

In our last episode, we examined the broad scope of scripture, stopping at many texts along the way that teach about a future kingdom when Jesus returns.  In this session, we’ll take a look at a number of sometimes misunderstood texts that seem to imply the kingdom is either already present or in heaven. Here Read more about Theology 6 — Challenging the Kingdom […]

We now begin a series of four lectures on the eternal destiny of the righteous and the wicked, including the kingdom and the judgement.  For today we are going to focus on what God promises for his own people in the age to come.  We’ll cruise through the entire bible (right from Genesis to Revelation), Read more about Theology 5 — Kingdom Hope […]

In our last episode we looked at what the scriptures teach about humanity, including creation, death, and resurrection.  I laid out a case for conditional immortality from several important texts.  This time, we will consider a number of challenges to this understanding including: Philippians 1.23 “depart and be with Christ” 1 Corinthians 5.8 “absent from Read more about Theology...

In this lecture, you’ll learn about anthropology–the bible’s view of humanity.  In particular, we’ll focus on the two ends of the spectrum: creation and death.  We’ll see how the biblical view of humanity is rather exalted since we are made in God’s image.  We’ll examine what the bible teaches about death and resurrection and how Read more about Theology 3...

Before delving into specific biblical doctrines, we need to first think about what the bible is. In this lecture you’ll learn what the bible says about itself, some reasons to believe God inspired it, as well as the major types of biblical scholars and how they approach scripture. This episode, along with the last one, Read more about Theology 2 – Bibliology […]

Happy New Year. I’m so excited to begin with you a new class that covers a whole range of biblical doctrines. In fact, I’m going to combine two classes into one and I think they will work together really well. The first class was originally titled “Basic Bible Doctrine” and it covered approximately fifteen different Read more about Theology 1 – Introduction […]

In this last episode of our 500 class, we’ll cover a bunch of 20th century American groups including Christian Science, the Evangelicals, Plymouth Brethren, Pentecostals, Calvary Chapel, Vineyard Churches, Christian and Missionary Alliance, the Way International, the Worldwide Church of God, Scientology, the Moonies, and Megachurches (Rick Warren, Craig Groeschel, and Joel Osteen).  It&#8217...

The 1800s was an exciting time for Christianity in America. At the same time that secularism and liberal Christianity made huge gains, several renewal movements occurred throughout the land, including the Second Great Awakening. In this episode you learn about the birth of the Protestant missionary movement with the Moravians and the Baptists, how the Read more about 130 Missionaries, Adventists,...

This lecture covers the two main types of criticisms leveled against Christianity during the Enlightenment period: biblical and philosophical.  In addition you’ll see how some Christians dug their heals in and worked hard to defend their faith while others gave ground but reinterpreted Christianity in a way that would not only survive the criticisms but Read more about 129 Losing Faith (Five...

Although the focus of this class is on the history of Protestants of various stripes, it’s also important to realize that Catholicism changed a good deal during the last five hundred years.  In this lecture, you’ll get a brief sketch of the history of significant Catholic movements and doctrinal declarations during this period, including the Read more about 127 Catholicism (Five Hundre...

Learn about the dissident groups in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries, including the Puritans, Baptists, Quakers, and Unitarians. In addition, Sean Kelly presents a vignette of John Biddle’s life and influence. This is lecture 10 of a history of Christianity class called Five Hundred: From Martin Luther to Joel Osteen. All the notes Read more about 126 Dissidents in Britain (Five Hundre...

In this sprint through British church history, you’ll learn about King Henry VIII and his staggering Act of Supremacy when he pulled the Church of England out of Catholicism and appointed himself the head of the church.  After Henry’s death, England swayed back and forth as Henry’s successors adopted Protestantism then Catholicism then Protestantism again.  Read more about 125 Th...

Did you know that Christianity spread to Asia in the first century?  At one time the Church of the East was bigger than the Roman Catholic Church.  Although often overlooked, this part of the world is critical to our understanding Christianity in the last five hundred years.  Our guest lecturer, Matthew Elton, guides us through Read more about 124 Asian Christianity with Matthew Elton (Five Hundre...

Zooming out, this episode casts a wide net to summarize how the movement started by Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin affected Europe over the next century. We’ll see how the Reformation took root in Germany, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands while simultaneously failing to find fertile ground in France, especially among those in power. Lastly, we’ll consider Read more about 122 Reformations...

In the 1500s scholars in northern Italy began questioning the traditional doctrine of the Trinity. Before long the Inquisition forced these burgeoning Italian biblical unitarians to flee, resulting in the spread of their ideas to other parts of Europe. The two most significant groups that emerged were the Polish Brethren and the Unitarian Church of Read more about 121 The Socinian Movement (Five H...

Although sometimes lumped in with enlightenment rationalism, the biblical unitarian movement came to prominence right from the start of the Reformation.  Essentially, as soon as bible translations started getting into the hands of regular people, a great many Catholic doctrines came under scrutiny.  In this episode you’ll learn about three major biblical unitarian trailblazers of Read more a...

In this lecture you’ll learn about the Anabaptist movement and their distinctive beliefs.  We’ll consider the life of Michael Sattler, an important leader of the Anabaptists, and see how he stood firm in his faith even when his life was at risk.  Next, you’ll find out about Melchior Hoffman and how his followers took over Read more about 119 Sattler, Münster, and Simons (Five Hun...

Learn about the Swiss Reformation, spearheaded by Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich as well as the formation of the sect of Anabaptists known as the Swiss Brethren, including Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and George Blaurock. Key events covered in this episode include: 1519 Ulrich Zwingli begins Reformation in Zurich 1529 Zwingli and Luther part ways over Read more about 118 Zwingli and the Swiss Anabaptists...

In this episode, you’ll get a brief introduction to the contributions of Martin Luther and John Calvin to the initiation and spread of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, including these events: 1505 Martin Luther becomes a monk 1517 Martin Luther nails 95 Theses on Wittenberg church door 1524-5 Peasants War 1536 John Calvin Read more about 117 Luther and Calvin (Five Hundred 2)...

500 years ago, there was only one Christian denomination throughout most of the world. 500 years ago, the church and the government killed those who resisted tradition. 500 years ago, no one could read the bible in their own language. How did we get from there to here? Discover the wild and exciting story of Read more about 116 Introduction (Five Hundred 1) […]

Find out what the most commonly misunderstood texts about the kingdom are as well as how to interpret them within their own contexts.  In this final session of the kingdom of God class, we’ll look at these important verses: Matthew 16.28 “Some…will not taste death until they see…the kingdom” Luke 17.21 “The kingdom of God Read more about 106 Misunderstood Texts...

We’ve looked at how and why Christianity lost the kingdom message; in this episode you’ll learn how we got it back.  Over the last five hundred years, three different movements have made significant strides in recovering the kingdom: the Anabaptists (16th century), the Adventists (19th century), and liberal scholars (20th century).  In this lecture you’ll Read more about 105 Reco...

This is part three of a series of three lectures on why some Christians ended up rejecting the kingdom message in the first few centuries of Christianity.  In this part, I work through the major differences between how Jews and Greeks read scripture.  What we find is that the Christians who didn’t like the kingdom Read more about 104 The Kingdom Is Too Jewish (Kingdom of God 13) […]

Last time we saw that some influential Christians rejected the biblical teaching on the kingdom because the idea of living on earth forever seemed crude to them.  This time, we look at how the ancients thought about bodies and bodily pleasures.  As it turns out, from (at least) Plato onward, many philosophers tended to embrace Read more about 103 The Kingdom Is Too Hedonic (Kingdom of God 12) [&#8...