Flavius Claudius Julianus

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Episodes

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Pagan wisdom in an era of encroaching Christianity. Flavius Claudius Julianus is a religious history channel with discussions and analysis on the polemics of early pagan critics of Christianity and the counterattacks by Christian writers as well as a critiquing of the early (and real) Christianity of the Christians and Church fathers during the Roman Empire period and beyond. Authors, writers and historians discussed include St. Augustine, Prudentius, Eusebius, Tertullian, Origen and other Church fathers.

Episodes

Moses of Crete, The Jewish Messiah of the fifth Century

Moses of Crete was hailed as the new Moses by many Jews of the fifth Century but instead led his followers to disaster on the island of Crete. He had promised to part the Mediterranean Sea - just like the original Moses had allegedly parted the Red Sea - and lead his people back to Israel. On the day however, the miracle never manifested itself and the followers who obeyed his command to jump off a cliff were either drowned or dashed to pieces on the rocks below the cliff. These events happened ...

Jun 01, 2024•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Early Christian Councils and slavery

Slavery - one of the prime examples of man’s inhumanity to man and something that was obviously practised widely during the period of early Christianity. But what did the early Church have to say about it? Well in this video we’ll take a look at where and how the various Councils and synods organised by the Church during the fourth and fifth centuries and beyond mention the practice of keeping slaves and slavery in general. Many of the most important decisions regarding the future direction of C...

Jun 26, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Slavery and the early Church fathers

The regulation of slavery in the Old Testament and the implicit acceptance of the practice in the New Testament is arguably the most contentious issue in the Bible. You would think Jesus, supposedly God incarnate and who grew up studying the Jewish scriptures, would condemn the practice of slavery outright and in very clear and unmistakable terms considering its pervasive nature in not just Greco-Roman but Jewish society of that time. But in fact, Jesus never condemns slavery at all. However, th...

Jun 02, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Celsus on the 'resurrection'

Celsus criticizes the Bible resurrection stories as well as the crucifixion accounts. Celsus, a second Century pagan philosopher was a strong opponent of Christianity and wrote a powerful critique of the new religion called Logos Alethes or 'The True Word' which was later banned by Christian Emperors. In his book, Celsus commented on all aspects of Christianity. This video looks at what he wrote of the crucifixion and resurrection narratives.

Mar 27, 2023•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Paganism in 12th Century Europe

Paganism in twelfth-century Europe. Not all of Europe was Christian in the twelfth century. The Baltic area populated by the Wendish people, the Pomeranians, Prussians, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Lapps and Finns and other communities still had its own distinct religions, beliefs and culture. It was only after the Northern Crusades to eliminate paganism and force Christianity on these people were successful that Europe became entirely Christian during the 14th and 15th centuries. This vide...

Feb 21, 2023•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Persecution of Catholics by the Vandals. Part 1 Rise of the Arian Christian Vandals

The Vandal persecution of Catholics during the time of the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa. Part 1 charts their rise and migration from German lands to Africa during which time the Vandals converted to Arian Christianity. The Vandals would persecute Catholic Christians in both Spain and North Africa with the persecution being at its peak during King Geiseric's time followed by Huneric his son. The persecution only stopped when Gelimer the last Vandal King was defeated by a Byzantine army under Be...

Dec 04, 2022•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Cosmas the 6th Century Monk on the Genesis story

Cosmas the monk on Genesis. Cosmas Indicopleustes was a 6th Century Byzantine monk who wrote the book 'Christian Topography' in which he defends the concept of a flat Earth agains the pagan theories of a spherical Earth as well as talking about large chunks of the Genesis story from the Bible. Cosmas was well travelled having in his earlier years travelled as far as India and Sri Lanka. Cosmas attempts to explain the flaws in the Genesis story. Why for example was Eve created after Adam? Why God...

Sep 30, 2022•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast

The tree of Thor

The destruction of the tree of Thor and its associated grove, an important pagan centre for worship in Hesse, Germany by St. Boniface was arguably the start of the large-scale conversion of the Germans by either peaceful means or by force by Charles Martel, Charlemagne and others. Boniface was elevated to the status of 'apostle of Germany' for this act and others in destroying paganism in large areas of the country.

Sep 14, 2022•22 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast

Christian critics of Julian the Apostate - Socrates Scholasticus

Julian the apostate, the last Roman Pagan Emperor had a short reign of less than two years but he made a big splash and is arguably the most well known Emperor of the late Roman period. But various Christian theologians, chroniclers and thinkers would be highly critical of him and his championing of paganism after his death. So this article is part of a series on what his critics wrote about him. And in this post I’m going to look at how the late 4th/early 5th century Christian historian Socrate...

Aug 20, 2022•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Why Jesus failed to stop the fall of Christian Rome

St. Augustine tries to explain in his most well known work 'The City of God against the pagans' why the fall of the city was no disaster. The book was written to refute pagan accusations that the abandonment of the Greco-Roman gods had led to the catastrophe. However surely Jesus should have been supporting the Roman Empire now that it worshipped him?

Jul 08, 2022•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Why did Jesus come only 2,000 years ago? Why not earlier? Why wait for the Roman Empire to appear?

Why did Jesus come only 2,000 years ago? If Jesus was divine what did he appear so late in human history and miss the bulk of the human timeline. This video discusses the reasons early Christians like the theologian Paulus Orosius offered to try and explain the obvious weaknesses in a late arrival. Why a young earth means Christians only need to explain Jesus not appearing up to 5,000 years earlier. Why if the Roman Empire was a necessary for his arrival he took so long to engineer it into exist...

Jan 21, 2022•20 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast