An educational archive
The Apostolic Church History Archive
Studying the history of Christianity from Jesus Christ and the Apostles to the present day.
How this archive works
This archive is at once an online course, an encyclopedia, a research library and a historical timeline. Every article separates documented historical fact from Catholic theological interpretation and from Orthodox, Protestant and academic readings, and every page ends with its sources.
The eleven sections
A suggested path of study
- 1What Jesus establishedThe Gospels present Jesus gathering disciples, choosing twelve, giving them authority, and commissioning them to teach. This lesson looks at what the texts say and where interpretations differ.
- 2Matthew 16:18 and the role of PeterThe single most discussed verse in debates about Church structure, read with its Greek and Aramaic background and with the main competing interpretations set side by side.
- 3Matthew 18:17, Matthew 28:19–20 and Church authorityTwo passages in Matthew show a community able to judge disputes and a commission to teach all nations. Together they describe authority that is both disciplinary and doctrinal.
- 4Apostolic succession and early Church leadershipHow leadership passed from the apostles to bishops, and what the earliest surviving documents actually say about it.
- 5Acts 15 and the Council of JerusalemThe first recorded assembly of the Church shows apostles and elders deliberating a doctrinal question and issuing a decision for other communities.