released 11/3/2023

In harmony with themes celebrated on All Saints Day, this Feature presents a 1995 interview with Church historian Robert Wilken about his book Remembering the Christian Past (Eerdmans, 1995). In his book and in our conversation, Wilken comments on how much the Church in the late-20th century — and now the early-21st century — has to learn from an ancient cloud of witnesses. Also featured are references to related articles by Wilken published in First Things.

15 minutes

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Related reading and listening

  1. Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 163 — FEATURED GUESTS: Andrew Youngblood, R. J. Snell, Nicholas Denysenko, Nigel Biggar, Robert McNamara, and David Cayley
  2. Cleansing sea breezes — Thomas C. Oden argues that rather than being conformed to contemporary ideological trends, we should be informed by 2000 years of the Church’s wisdom. And Darrell Amundsen corrects some false claims about the early Church’s views on suicide. (27 minutes)
  3. The early Church on asceticism and almsgiving —
    FROM VOL. 118
    Historian Peter Brown explains that in spite of having had access for centuries to the Church fathers’ numerous writings, only recently have we come to understand the social and material context within which they lived. (18 minutes)
  4. Divine demonstration — Robert Louis Wilken on the folly of arguing for God’s existence apart from the reality of Christ
  5. Philosophy and loving the Logos — Robert Louis Wilken on early Christians and the pursuit of a virtuous life
  6. Let saints on Earth in concert sing . . . — In this audio reprint of an article from First Things, Church historian Robert Wilken describes how the lives of virtuous Christians became models for imitation.(46 minutes)
  7. Welcoming one another — Christine Pohl describes the practice of hospitality in Church history and the particular challenges to hospitality we face in our era. (30 minutes)
  8. Religious pluralism & the calling of Christian intellectuals — From our archives, Robert Wilken talks about religious pluralism in Christian history, and Robert Jenson discusses his essay on the calling of Christian intellectuals. (25 minutes)
  9. The Cross in artistic expression — Richard Viladesau examines how the Passion of the Christ has been depicted artistically and aesthetically throughout Church history. (21 minutes)
  10. History of the Church in 100 objects — The Cave of the Nativity, the Holy Grail, and the Wittenberg Door: all objects representing a chapter in the history of the Church. (16 minutes)
  11. Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 124 — FEATURED GUESTS: John Fea, Robert F. Rea, John C. Pinheiro, R. J. Snell, Duncan G. Stroik, Kate Tamarkin, and Fiona Hughes
  12. Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 88 — FEATURED GUESTS: Diana Pavlov Glyer, Michael J. Lewis, Steve Talbott, Darryl Tippens, Everett Ferguson, Alexander Lingas, and Calvin Stapert
  13. Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 79 — FEATURED GUESTS: Carson Holloway, Peter Augustine Lawler, Hadley Arkes, Ben Witherington, III, Christopher Shannon, and Roger Lundin
  14. Sources of Ancient Wisdom — Excerpts from two books about pre-modern Christian understanding: Reading Scripture with the Church Fathers, by Christopher A. Hall, and Retrieving the Tradition and Renewing Evangelicalism: A Primer for Suspicious Protestants, by D. H. Williams. (95 minutes)
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