Giants of the Faith - A Christian History Podcast

Send us feedback I had Google generate a random number and it served up 198. Turning to page 198 landed me on the subject of today's episode, Alexander Duff. Duff was unknown to me so I'm willing to bet he is to many of you, as well. That, along with his impressive life story, makes him exactly the kind of person this show is intended to highlight. I hope you will enjoy getting to know Duff a little bit.

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Send us feedback I mentioned in the first Arminius episode that we might cover the Eighty Years' War at some point in a bonus episode. That point is today. I hope you enjoy this brief diversion from our typical subjects.

Send us feedback  Today, in episode 86, we are continuing our trek through the Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals by Intervarsity Press. Today we are spending time with a figure who does not always get the attention he deserves, yet his influence on the church in Scotland and on the broader Reformed world is profound. He can be found on page 422 of the Biographical Dictionary. We are talking about Andrew Melville, a man whose courage, scholarship, and unwavering commitment to the authority of Scripture helped shape the identity of Presbyterianism for generations.

Send us feedback This Christmas 2025 episode will focus on the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It is this year's Christmas episode, of course, because Longfellow wrote the memorable poem Christmas Bells - which later became the Christmas hymn I Heard the Bells. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is one of America's most cherished poets, a writer whose moral vision, gentle piety, and lyrical craft helped shape the cultural and spiritual imagination of a nation. His life, marked by both literary achievement and deep personal sorrow, gave birth to works that continue to resonate strongly with Christians and lovers of Christmas traditions around the world. Among these, his poem Christmas Bells is the most enduring, reflecting Psalm 23's truth that faith can persist even through the darkest valleys of suffering.

Send us feedback This episode concludes our three part look at Jacobus Arminius as part of the larger series of episodes taken from Inter-Varsity Press' Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals. In this episode we're discussing Arminianism today. If you haven't listened to the preceding two episodes you should go do that now. 

Send us feedback Today we're continuing our look at Arminius and the storms that followed his death. He died of tuberculosis in 1609 but, of course, his impact continued, and continues, long after his death. Specifically, we're going to focus on the Synod of Dort, one of the most important, and perhaps least understood, events in the history of Christian doctrine. We'll look at what Dort was, why it happened, and why Christians today — often unknowingly — are still living in the shadow of its decisions.

Send us feedback Today we are continuing our random march through Inter-Varsity Press' Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals. My son pulled random number 18, which lead us to page 18 in the book. Page 18 takes us to Jacobus Arminius - the founder of the Remonstrant Movement and the arch-enemy of Calvinists everywhere. That's a bit of a joke but he is the founder of one of the two primary (sorry Molinists) views on the Doctrines of Grace. He was also a pastor, a scholar, a peacemaker, and ultimately, a man who sought to defend the goodness and justice of God at all costs — even when it cost him dearly.

This is Episode 81 and the second in out series of episodes based on the Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals from Inter-Varsity Press. If you remember from the last episode I'm using a random number generator to choose a number from three to 763 and that determines what page to check to find the subject of the episode. It's kind of like a modern casting of the lots. My son Zach chose random number 42 and that has led today's episode to focus on someone wholly unknown to me - early American Evangelical Lyman Beecher. 

This season we're doing something a little different. This season will consist of mostly shorter episodes with inspiration drawn from the Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals by Mark Noll and published by Intervarsity Press. BDE features brief biographies, ordered chronologically, of over 400 evangelicals from John Wycliff to the modern day spread across 816 pages. My plan for each episode is to use a random number generator to select a page and then deliver a brief biography of whomever was randomly selected. This is something of an experiment and we'll have to see how it goes.

This is a special Christmas bonus episode featuring Charles Dickens. Dickens is in many ways responsible for the modern celebration of Christmas - for good or ill. I hope you enjoy this look at this life.

Today's show is about one of the titans of medieval thought - John Duns Scotus. Scotus was one of the most influential scholastics - right behind Thomas Aquinas. In this episode I'm going to go off into the weeds a bit to explain some of the details of the medieval school of thought known as Scholasticism and other topics. Hopefully you find the side-trips helpful. https://whytheology.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/church-history-minute-john-duns-scotus/ https://iep.utm.edu/john-duns-scotus/ https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05194a.htm https://www.jstor.org/stable/23801483

Cornelius Van Til is one of the foremost apologists of the 20th Century. He developed the strand of apologetics known as presuppositional apologetics. His influence on modern Christianity is undeniable. RESOURCES New Netherlands Institute: https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/dutch_americans/cornelius-van-til Banner of Truth: https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2001/cornelius-van-til/ Got Questions? https://www.gotquestions.org/presuppositional-apologetics.html Table Talk Magazine: https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/christianity-and-van-tillianism-2019-08/

Hello and welcome to episode 77 of the Giants of the Faith podcast. My name is Robert Daniels and I am the host of this show where we look back at Christians from the past that have made an impact for the kingdom of God. Today we're looking at the life of Scottish missionary John Paton. RESOURCES Ligonier: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/missionary-john-paton All Nations Interational: https://allnations.international/blog/the-story-of-john-paton-whose-god-made-rain-come-from-the-earth Wholesome Words: https://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/biopaton2.html

In today's episode we're looking at influential modern theologian Karl Barth. This is my third try at writing this episode because I've struggled to be able to present Barth in a way that both appreciates his impact on the 20th century church while dealing with the problems in his personal life. So, to avoid rubber-stamping Barth's status as a Giant of the Faith but to also cover such an influential figure, I'm bumping him to bonus episode status. This might limit the reach of this episode but it will at least assuage my conscience. RESOURCES The Gospel Coalition: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/theologians-karl-barth-adultery/ Rod Lampard: https://rodlampard.com/2018/09/06/three-criticisms-of-karl-barth/ The Torrey Gazette: https://torreygazette.com/blog/2017/6/27/all-the-barth-questions Evangelical Orphan: https://evangelicalorphan.wordpress.com/2015/09/05/meet-karl-barth/ Athanasian Reformed: https://growrag.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/some-of-what-i-know-of-karl-barth-off-the-top-a-self-promoted-test-of-sorts/ Princeton Theological Seminary: https://barth.ptsem.edu/charlotte-von-kirschbaum-and-karl-barth/

Hello, and welcome to episode 76 of the Giants of the Faith podcast. This is the podcast where we look at the lives of Christians from history and examine the impact that they have had for the Kingdom of Christ. I'm your host, Robert Daniels, and in today's episode we're focused on one of the Church Fathers, John Chrysostom. RESOURCES Orthodox Christianity: https://orthochristian.com/43102.html Got Questions: https://www.gotquestions.org/John-Chrysostom.html Christian History Institute: https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/john-chrysostom-did-you-know

 This is the podcast where we profile Christians from throughout the age of the church and look at their impact on the world and our shared faith. In this episode we're profiling the Anglican Bishop J.C. Ryle, who's commentaries and works are still in print and in wide use today.

Dionysius Exiguus, whose name would be translated today as "Dennis the Humble," was a 6th-century monk, scholar, and mathematician. While he may not be as well-known as some other figures from antiquity, his contributions to the world are profound and enduring. 

Welcome to Giants of the Faith, a podcast where we explore some of the great figures in Christian history. I'm your host, Robert Daniels, and today we're going to talk about Mark Buntain, a Canadian evangelist and missionary who founded a hospital and a feeding program in Calcutta, India. This episode is for Tim Svoboda, who won the graphic novel contest from a few months ago by suggesting Buntain. 

 Today, we will focus on the life and work of John Mason Neale, an Anglican priest, scholar, and hymnwriter who translated and adapted many ancient and medieval hymns into English. My initial thought was to relegate Neale to a bonus episode hitched to Episode 71 and Wenceslaus. But when I saw that he was also responsible for the popular English translations of "Good Christian Men, Rejoice" and "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" I had to give him the full episode treatment. Those two songs, along with "Good King Wenceslas" are some of my favorite classic Christmas songs so I really enjoyed learning about Neale. RESOURCES Hymnology Archive. https://www.hymnologyarchive.com/john-mason-neale. The Feast Days: https://thefeastdays.com/0807