History Episodes

For 1600+ years, the Catholic Church took the gospel to the ends of the earth. But eventually, revolutionary changes in Europe and the Americas (the Protestant Reformation, the Enlightenment, revolutionary ideologies, etc.) shattered the old Christian civilization and the Church's missionary efforts had to cope with hostile modern and post-modern cultures at home. Greg and Cory continue their conversation about the Church's missionary history. Support this ministry so more people can consider C...

Christianity was born in a pagan world. At first, it was an oppressed sect but it came to overcome the religions of Greece and Rome, the Celtic and Germanic tribes, and carried the gospel to the ends of the earth. How and why were Catholic missionary efforts so successful? Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

Marxism has been in the news again lately. Cultural Marxism (i.e., "wokeism," DEI, and radical social justice movements) and various globalist ideologies try to challenge, undermine, and overwhelm historic Catholic Christianity despite every pope since the mid-1800s specifically condemning Marxism and communism. Every Marxist or communist government around the globe has persecuted Christians and the Catholic Church. In this episode, Greg explains why Catholicism and Communism (Marxism) are diame...

A listener named John asks, "What about bad popes who lived immoral lives, etc? How can they lead the Church?" As Greg explains, there have been good popes, bad popes, and mostly average popes, but the office of the seat of Peter is greater than any man who occupies it. Listen to two previous episodes about the papacy: #38: “A Protestant Asks, ”Why Do Catholics Have a Pope?” #39 “More Protestant Questions About the Pope: Can He Just Make Stuff Up?” Support this ministry so more people can con...

Ed asks about the Crusades: did the Catholic Church really launch brutal wars of colonization, invading Muslim ancestral lands with hordes of Catholic knights to rape, pillage, and steal the Middle East? Greg explains that much of what people think they know comes from Hollywood and isn't exactly what happened. Buy Me a Coffee? https://www.buymeacoffee.com/consideringcatholicism Write me an email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com Visit the website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ ----m...

Greg and Ed talk about Halloween. Can Christians participate? Are its origins really in the Catholic Church incorporating pagan Celtic rituals? And has the Church adopted pagan rituals throughout history, including Easter celebrations? Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizations and rely completely on th...

An invitation to take a free online course with Greg Smith about Catholic church history (and some other updates about the podcast). Sign up for the class at LANEcatholic.org The conversation with Cory about knowledge, belief, and faith will resume in the next episode on the regular schedule. Please support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive ...

Greg and Ed sit in the forest and continue their conversation about the Bible--its sources, how it was compiled, the difference between the Catholic bible (a.k.a. "the Bible") and Protestant bibles--by asking who wrote the New Testament and how it was put together. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

Protestants have been told that Catholic Bibles are wrong and weird and that medieval popes snuck suspicious extra books into the Catholic Bible! Which is tampering with God's Word, right?! Ed asks Greg about this while they sit in the forest, and Greg explains that the correct question is not why Catholic Bibles have extra books but why Protestants took books out that had been there for 1,500 years. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.considerin...

Supposedly, during the dark ages, the Catholic Church threw the brave scientist Galileo Galilei into a dungeon for discovering that the earth revolved around the sun because the Church wanted to keep the people in intellectual darkness. Greg and Cory explain that this is a myth, and probably everything you think you know about it is wrong. Support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a very small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and de...

Many assert that Christianity, and Catholicism in particular, is opposed to science. Greg and Cory explain why that's not strictly true, but that some people misuse the word "Science" to describe something that is, by definition, opposed to all the world's religions. Support the podcast: https://givebutter.com/BaUAnz We are a very small non-profit ministry dedicated to educating and equipping people to live, share, and defend the historic Catholic faith. We receive no support from any organizat...

One of the monumental works of Catholic poetry is St. Francis of Assisi's "Canticle of the Creatures" (the "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" poem). Greg and Cory reflect on what this poem really means in light of the Resurrection.

Greg just got back from a pilgrimage to Israel, the Holy Land, and describes what insights into the Gospel can be gained from seeing Jerusalem firsthand. This podcast is a nonprofit ministry. Please consider supporting its production: DONATE

Greg just got back from a pilgrimage to Israel, the Holy Land, and describes what insights into the Gospel can be gained from seeing the Sea of Galilee firsthand. This podcast is a nonprofit ministry. Please consider supporting its production: DONATE

Greg and Ed review one of the most well-done Catholic films of all time: the 1986 Academy Award-winning masterpiece "The Mission," starring Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons. This podcast is a nonprofit ministry. Please consider supporting its production: DONATE

Greg and Cory explore one of the biggest barriers in dialogue between Catholics and Protestants: Tradition vs. Primitivism. Support this ministry so more people can consider Catholicism! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com

Along with the decorations, every year the same myths get brought out about how the Catholic Church was corrupted by the ancient pagans, and invented its Christmas celebrations by borrowing pagan festivals. So, it's time for Greg and Cory to swat down this nonsense and tell the truth about why and how the Church celebrates the Feast of the Nativity on December 25.

Greg and Cory explore the differences between Lutheranism and Calvinism, and how the road to Rome differs depending on whether you begin in Germany or Geneva.

Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory and Shusaku Endo's Silence both tell the story of a persecuted Catholic priest forced to choose between martyrdom and apostasy. In this installment of Book Club, Cory and I explore how the two novels are mirror images that explore the same theme with inverted characters and plots.

Part 2 of a two-part episode exploring how and why the Catholic Church in America has shrunk and Catholicism has lost influence over the last half century. (Episodes 26-27.)

Over the last half century, the Catholic Church in America has shrunk and Catholicism has lost influence. Why? Part 1 of a two-part episode.