Church History

Papias wrote five books and Hegesippus wrote five more. None survive. Why so much of the second century vanished, and what that does to the evidence we have.

A letter about the date of Easter, written to defend Asian custom against Rome, is where the claim that Philip is buried at Hierapolis comes from. What it says.

The fullest account of how James the brother of Jesus died comes from a lost second-century book. What Hegesippus wrote, and how much of it can be trusted.

A Jewish general who surrendered to Rome, then wrote the only full account of first-century Judea we have. What he is good for and where he defends himself.

Most of what survives from the second-century church survives because Eusebius quoted it. That makes him indispensable and puts one filter over most of it.

He heard Polycarp, who knew the apostles, which makes him our shortest chain to the first century. He also thought Jesus lived to nearly fifty. Both are true.

A letter from Rome to Corinth around AD 95, and the earliest outside notice of Peter and Paul. What 1 Clement says, and what it deliberately does not say.