Library: Christian Studies by Credo Reference: People & Places

Early Church Fathers

Ambrose (C.340 - 397)
From Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World
As a provincial governor and the son of a praetorian prefect, Ambrose unexpectedly became bishop of Milan when he intervened in a riotous episcopal election and was promptly acclaimed bishop by the crowd.
Athanasius (C.297 - 373)
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Patriarch of Alexandria (328–73), Doctor of the Church, great champion of orthodoxy during the Arian crisis of the 4th cent. (see Arianism).
Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430): Topic Page
Augustine was born and died in North Africa, then part of the Roman Empire. He taught philosophy in Rome and Milan where he converted to Christianity in 387. He returned to North Africa to spearhead the assault on the Manichean religion and the Donatist and Pelagian heresies. He was consecrated bishop of Hippo in 395.
Eusebius (C.260 - 339)
From Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World
Born shortly after 260, Eusebius was metropolitan bishop of Caesarea in Palestine from ca. 313 until his death 30 May 339. Formed intellectually in the tradition of Origen, whose library and voluminous writings he was able to use throughout his life, he was trained as a scholar and biblical exegete, and the style of his historical works reflects these interests.
Gregory of Nazianzus (C.330 - 390)
From Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World
By the 7th century Gregory Nazianzen (ca. 330-ca. 390), known as “the Theologian,” was one of the most studied of all Greek authors.
Gregory of Nyssa (C.331 - 394)
From Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World
While undoubtedly a master theologian of the Greek church, influencing certainly Maximus the Confessor and possibly Gregory Palamas, Gregory of Nyssa came to prominence as a churchman slowly, and even then followed an unusual career.
Irenaeus (C.125 - 202)
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Greek theologian, bishop of Lyons, and one of the Fathers of the Church. Born in Asia Minor, he was a disciple of St. Polycarp.
Jerome (C.347 - 420)
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Christian scholar, Father of the Church, Doctor of the Church.
Origen (C.185 - 254): Topic Page
Christian philosopher and scholar. His full name was Origines Adamantius, and he was born in Egypt, probably in Alexandria.
Tertullian (C.155 - 240)
From The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
Latin theologian, an early father of the Christian church. A layman from Carthage, he laid the conceptual and linguistic basis for the doctrine of the Trinity.

Famous Sites

Cathedral: Topic Page
Church in which a bishop presides. The designation is not dependent on the size or magnificence of a church edifice, but is entirely a matter of its assignment as the church in which the bishop shall officiate.
Chapel: Topic Page
Subsidiary place of worship. It is either an alcove or chamber within a church, a separate building, or a room set apart for the purpose of worship in a secular building.
Galilee
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Region, N Israel, roughly the portion north of the plain of Esdraelon. Galilee was the chief scene of the ministry of Jesus.
Jericho: Topic Page
Town in the Jordan valley, west of the River Jordan and north of the Dead Sea, 24 km/15 mi northeast of Jerusalem; population (2005 est) 19,800. The site of the old city is the center of a fertile district where palms, rose trees, grapes, and balsams are grown.
Jerusalem: Topic Page
The capital of Israel, Jerusalem is an administrative, religious, educational, cultural, and market center.
St. Paul's Cathedral: Topic Page
Cathedral church of the City of London, the largest Protestant church in England, and a national mausoleum second only to Westminster Abbey.
Westminster Abbey: Topic Page
A Gothic church in London: site of a Benedictine monastery (1050-65); scene of the coronations of almost all English monarchs since William I.
Vatican City: Topic Page
An independent state forming an enclave in Rome, with extraterritoriality over 12 churches and palaces in Rome: the only remaining Papal State.

Jesus Christ of Nazareth

Jesus Christ: Topic Page
1st-century Jewish teacher and prophet in whom Christians have traditionally seen the Messiah [Heb.,=annointed one, whence Christ from the Greek] and whom they have characterized as Son of God and as Word or Wisdom of God incarnate.
Galilee
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Region, N Israel, roughly the portion north of the plain of Esdraelon. Galilee was the chief scene of the ministry of Jesus.
Nazareth
From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
City in Galilee, northern Israel, 30 km/19 mi southeast of Haifa; population (2006 est) 64,600. According to the New Testament it was the boyhood home of Jesus.
Messiah
From Macmillan Dictionary of the Bible
A term based on a Hebrew word meaning 'an anointed person', and equivalent to the Greek word christos, i.e. Christ. It usually describes a long-awaited deliverer who would finally establish God's kingdom and destroy God's enemies.
God: Topic Page
Divinity of the three great monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as many other world religions.
Miracles
From Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World
The miracle, an exceptional intervention by God in the world, has held an important place in Christianity since New Testament times. As in other religions, a miracle is a paradoxical event that interrupts the ordinary course of things and may take a wondrous form.
Crucifixion
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Hanging on a cross, in ancient times a method of capital punishment. It was practiced widely in the Middle East but not by the Greeks. The Romans, who may have borrowed it from Carthage, reserved it for slaves and despised malefactors.
Cross: Topic Page
Widely used symbol. In various forms, it can be found in such diverse cultures as those of ancient India, Egypt, and pre-Columbian North America. It also is found in the megalithic monuments of Western Europe.
Resurrection
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Arising again from death to life. The emergence of Jesus from the tomb to live on earth again for 40 days as told in the Gospels has been from the beginning the central fact of Christian experience and a cardinal feature of Christian doctrine.

Paul

St. Paul: Topic Page
Paul (Saul of Tarsus) was the early Christian leader who is often considered to be the person responsible for making Christianity a world religion rather than a small sect of Judaism.
Pharisees
From The New Encyclopedia of Judaism
The spiritual leaders of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel during the greater part of the Second Temple period.
Damascus: Topic Page
Arabic Dimashq or ash-Sham, city (1995 est. pop. 1,500,000), capital of Syria and of its Damascus governorate, SW Syria, on the eastern edge of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains. It is Syria's largest city and its administrative, financial, and communications center.
Apostle
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
one of the prime missionaries of Christianity. The apostles of the first rank are saints Peter, Andrew, James (the Greater), John, Thomas, James (the Less), Jude, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon, and Matthias (replacing Judas Iscariot).
Gospel: Topic Page
In the New Testament generally, the message of Christian salvation; in particular the four written accounts of the life of Jesus in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.