Two Critical Moments in Catholic History: Early Church and the Protestant Reformation

Two Critical Moments in Catholic History: Early Church and the Protestant Reformation is now available for free at CatholicThinkers.org

The first years of Christianity and, later, the years of the Protestant reformation were especially formative years in the Church. Father O'Connell guides the listener through historical facts with stories, always drawing us into the mindset of the key players and of the time in which they lived. How were the very first Christians viewed by their contemporaries, and why were they persecuted? How did the Church survive the popular heresies that arose while it was still very new?

In the second part of the course, we learn about the humble beginnings of Martin Luther and how his personal theological difficulty became a movement that changed Christendom, one in which a one-time defender of the Catholic faith and the papacy, Henry the VIII, would later reject the authority of the pope and have himself declared the Supreme Head of the Church in England. 

Six 1-hour Lectures

First Centuries

    1. Introduction - Jewish and Roman Context

    2. Apostolic Succession - First Persecution

    3. Persecutions - Councils of Nicaea & Chalcedon 


Early Modern Era

    4. Luther and the Reformation

    5. Tudor Dynasty and Reformation in England

    6. The Counter-Reformation - Council of Trent