church history
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DramaA Great Awakening
Drama 2026 / 129 minutes Rating: 8/10 If you like watching movies worth talking about afterwards, you need to go see A Great Awakening –…
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Adult biographiesThe Poetic Wonder of Isaac Watts
by Douglas Bond 2013 / 163 pages Isaac Watts was born in 1674 when the Psalms sung in the English Church were stiff and difficult…
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Church historyThere was a man: Ulrich Zwingli
“Many men are like unto sausages: Whatever you stuff them with, that they will bear in them.” – Russian writer Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910). “Start children…
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DocumentaryTruth Rising
Documentary 2025 / 127 min RATING: 8/10 83-year-old Christian author and apologist Os Guinness has assembled quite the cast for his new free-to-see documentary Truth…
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Adult biographiesLuther in love
by Douglas Bond 2017 / 320 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT Luther in Love shows us the Reformer from the perspective of his better half. The story begins…
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Church historyMarcion: a heretic we need to know
When one asks the most influential thinkers in the modern evangelical church are, one might find names such as Jim Packer, John Stott, and Don…
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AnimatedThe George Müller Story
Animated / Biography / Drama 2019 / 30 minutes Rating: 8/10 In his day, I’d imagine George Müller (1805-1898) was accused of being irresponsible, or…
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Book ReviewsKatie Luther: the Graphic Novel
Mother of the Reformation by Susan K. Leigh illustrated by Dave Hill 95 pages / 2016 Rating: GOOD/Great/Gift My daughter recently asked, “Why aren’t there more…
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AnimatedThe William Tyndale Story
Animated 32 min. / 2005 Rating: 6/10 “The Torchlighters” is a series of animated films created by Voice of the Martyrs to teach children from…
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DramaThe Hiding Place (2023)
Drama / Stage play 2023 / 153 minutes Rating: 8/10 In the parking lot, I could already tell who had tickets to The Hiding Place….
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Movie ReviewsThe Richard Wumbrand Story
Animated / Family 30 minutes / 2008 Rating: 6/10 I knew of Richard Wurmbrand as the man who founded Voice of the Martyrs, an advocacy…
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Book ReviewsHostage Lands
by Douglas Bond 2006 / 235 pages Rating: Good/GREAT/Give “When am I ever going to use this?” It’s a question that comes up frequently in…
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DocumentaryJericho Unearthed
Documentary 34 minutes/2010 Rating: 8/10 The claim has been made that the biblical account of the fall of Jericho’s walls cannot be true because, archeological…
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Adult biographies10 great Christian biographies
A reason to read Christian biographies is to see and be encouraged by what God has done in other people’s lives. They’re a way to…
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Church historyCan two denominations become one? What are the state of CanRC and URC unity talks?
This is an overview of an episode of Lucas Holtvlüwer and Tyler Vanderwoude’s Real Talk, a biweekly podcast under the Reformed Perspective umbrella. It features…
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AnimatedThe Jim Elliot Story
Animated / Family 30 min / 2005 Rating: 6/10 This is a half-hour animated version of a true story your grandparents might still remember hearing…
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Book ReviewsNero
by Jacob Abbott 2009, 202 pages Rating: Good/GREAT/Give How do you make history come alive for teens? Sometimes it means turning to an author long…
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Book ReviewsThe Revolt: a novel in Wycliffe’s England
by Douglas Bond 269 pages / 2016 Rating: Good/GREAT/Give I was never a fan of Church history in school, but I’ve come to realize that…
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HistoryThe Pope who hated black cats
People like or dislike different kinds of animals. I’m a bird person. They fascinate me. Others are cat people. And historically, we know that some…
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AnimatedFree film: The John Newton Story
Animated / Drama 2021 / 30 minutes Rating: 7/10 We know John Newton (1725-1807) as the former slave ship captain who repented and then wrote…
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DramaGod’s Outlaw: The Story of William Tyndale
Drama 1988 / 93 minutes RATING: 6/10 This is a well-produced, well-acted period piece about “the father of the English Bible” and leader in the…
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AnimatedThe John Bunyan Story
Animated 2006 / 29 minutes RATING: 8/10 What is likely the most influential novel of all time was written by a man of little education,…
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Book ReviewsCorrie ten Boom: the courageous woman and the secret room
by Laura Caputo-Wickham 2021 / 24 pages Rating: GOOD/Great/Give For such a short one, this picture book sure fits a lot inside. We meet Corrie ten…
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Book ReviewsContending for the Faith: the story of the Westminster Assembly
by William Boekestein and Joel R. Beeke 2022 / 40 pages Rating: GOOD/Great/Give I love the first question and answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism (“What…
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Book ReviewsLuther: Echoes of the Hammer
by Susan K. Leigh illustrated by Dave Hill 2011 / 144 pages Rating: Good/GREAT/Give I think this is the perfect complement to Luther: the graphic novel,…
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Graphic novelsLuther: the graphic novel
by Rich Melheim illustrated by Jonathan Koelsch 2016 / 72 pages Rating: Good/Great/GIFT I’ve reviewed other “comic biographies” and never enjoyed one more. Luther is scripted like…
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DramaEnd of the Spear
Drama 2005 / 108 minutes Rating: 7/10 This review first appeared in the January 2006 issue How does a Christian group succeed in presenting a…
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DramaFreedom
Drama 2014 / 94 minutes Rating: 7/10 Like many a film “inspired by true events,” this isn’t good history but it is pretty decent cinema….
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DocumentaryBeyond the Gates of Splendor
Documentary 96 min; 2005 Rating: 7/10 In 1956 a team of five missionaries were killed by the Waodani tribesmen they were trying to befriend. The…
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Adult biographiesRadiant: Fifty remarkable women in Church history
by Richard M. Hannula 330 pages / 2015 Rating: GOOD/Great/Give I found this book very interesting and met a lot of fascinating women. Professor Eta Linnemann…
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Adult biographiesTurning it to our good – an excerpt from “Man of the First Hour”
A great reason to read biographies is because they are an antidote to short-term thinking. When you’re caught up in the moment it’s easy to…
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AnimatedTorchlighters: the Eric Liddell Story
Animated / Family 2007 / 31 minutes Rating: 6/10 Eric Liddell is best known for the stand he took to not compete in the 1924…
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DocumentaryA Return to Grace: Luther’s life and legacy
Docudrama 2017 / 106 minutes Rating: 8/10 What makes this a must-see is its unique mix of drama and documentary. Other great Luther documentaries exist,…
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FamilyPatterns of Evidence: Young explorers
Docudrama 190 minutes / 2020 Rating: 7/10 This didn’t grab me on a first viewing but as I wasn’t the target audience, I thought I…
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Book ReviewsGod’s Story: A Student’s Guide to Church History
by Brian Cosby 144 pages / 2014 Rating: GOOD/Great/Give This small book is an introduction to Church history written for students at the high school level….
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Adult biographiesSaint Patrick
by Jonathan Rogers 2010 / 132 pages Rating: GOOD/Great/Give While legends about St. Patrick (385-461) abound, facts about this Irish saint are hard to come by….
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Christian educationWhy study History?
Things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the…
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DocumentaryLogic on Fire
Documentary 2015 / 102 minutes RATING: 7/10 Even if you don’t know Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones (1899-1981) you likely do know some of the people…
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Book ReviewsThe Plot to Kill Hitler: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Unlikely Hero
by Patricia McCormick 184 pages / 2016 Rating: GOOD/Great/Give Dietrich Bonhoeffer was the youngest son in a large, loving, and intellectual family. When he, at a…
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Amazing stories from times pastThe Son of the Clothmaker – a slice of the English Reformation
During the reign of Edward VI (1547-1553), Maurice Abbot, a clothmaker in Guildford, Surrey, England, and his wife Alice, became committed Protestants. And during their…
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Church historyThe Defenestration of Prague
You can download or listen to the podcast version (5 minutes) here. ***** Today we’re going to look at a small event that had big consequences….
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Church historyJenny Geddes: the Reformer who let fly…
Our story is about what should have been a small thing. It wasn’t such an unusual thing. You hear about it from time to time….
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Church historyWhen the Word of God is not preached
Half-truths, little tidbits of information used for one’s own interpretation and advantage, can be harmful, even damnable. Zeal without knowledge can be destructive, extremely destructive….
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Church historyOriginal Sin: Luther’s other life-changing doctrine
Every Reformation Day we remember how God used Luther to teach the Church that we are justified by faith alone, not by what we do. But often…
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Church historyA 2,000 year history of Christian pro-life activity
The pro-life movement began in the early 1970s as a result of the legalization of abortion in Britain (1967), Canada (1969), the USA (1973) and…
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Church historyRome’s Catacombs art was created to encourage fellow Christians
Imagine a vast, underground series of zigzagging passageways covering an area several miles in length, 590 acres in size. Ponder the amount of work that…
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Church historyMacarius: great works vs. grace
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God – not because…
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Book ReviewsFaithfulness Under Fire: the story of Guido de Brès
by William Boekestein 2010 / 32 pages Rating: GOOD/Great/Give “Church history” and “picture book” are almost mutually exclusive terms, but William Boekestein, author (and URC pastor),…
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Adult biographiesShocked by Augustine’s Confessions
There are many classics I mean to read in my life, but I just haven’t yet. Fortunately this summer, while laid up with an injury,…
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FamilyStorm and Luther’s forbidden letter
Family / Drama 105 minutes / 2017 RATING: 7/10 Storm Voeten is the 12-year-old son of a printer, living in 1500s Antwerp. Martin Luther has…
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Movie listsMartin at the movies
All four of these films can be viewed, for free at RedeemTV.com (you will have to sign up for a free account and provide your…
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DramaMartin Luther (1953)
Drama 1953 / 105 minutes Rating: 8/10 What sort of film is Martin Luther? The sort that gets produced by a church, and yet gets nominated…
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AnimatedTorchlighters: the Martin Luther Story
Animated / Family 2016 / 34 minutes Rating: 7/10 The strength of this film is its short length. At just 34 minutes, it can be…
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Church historyKuyper’s legacy: for better and for worse
Abraham Kuyper left behind a lasting legacy. There is, most notably, his indispensable role in the Doleantie of 1886, in which he led an exodus…
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Church historyAbraham Kuyper: larger than life
After John Calvin, Abraham Kuyper is probably the figure who looms largest in our Reformed church history. In some ways, in his lifetime he was…
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Church historyOn the shoulders of giants: how church history helps
Czeslaw Milosz, winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize for Literature, remarked in his acceptance speech in Stockholm that our age is characterized by a “refusal…
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HistoryUlrich Zwingli: Reformer in the shadows?
In 1983 churches all over the world commemorated the 500th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther. Ulrich Zwingli should have gotten the same sort…
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NewsDid the Church fathers take Genesis literally?
In this 49-minute lecture, Dr. Todd Wood answers the objection that “scientific creationism” is only a recent phenomenon. As he shows by going to the…
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Adult non-fictionWhat God has done in Korea
Christianity is originally an Asian religion. It can seem strange to think of Christianity that way now because currently, Christianity has less presence in Asia…
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Christian educationSchool: who should rule?
A few years back I was privileged to join my colleague André Schutten in making presentations to Reformed churches and schools across Canada. We were…
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Book ReviewsThe Quest for Comfort: the story of the Heidelberg Catechism
by William Boekestein 2011, 32 pages, $10 US Rating: GOOD/Great/Give A while back I had the privilege of reviewing a previous children’s book by this author…