Podcast Review: Communio Sanctorum

Podcast Review

Disclaimer: I have not been in any communication with Communio Sanctorum nor have I been given any compensation for this review. I’m just a fan.

Today’s post is going to be a little different than normal. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a lover of podcasts. I literally listen to Christian podcasts for at least 2 hours every single day. Whether to sermons or history, listening to wise men and women discuss Christian doctrine supplements my quiet time and biblical study. I decided to try to help you guys out with reviews of the different podcasts that I enjoy. I hope to provide at least one review a month to start and perhaps more if you guys enjoy this and find it valuable.

For my first review I decided to tell you about the podcast that I listen to regarding the history of the Christian Church. As you can imagine, textbooks and academic publications can be dry and difficult to understand. I love history, but once you start getting into dates and names I have a tendency to have my eyes roll into the back of my head. Then I discovered a podcast called Communio Sanctorum (http://www.sanctorum.us/) by Lance Ralston, a non-denominational evangelical pastor from California that was able to break up the entirety of Christian history into short and easy to understand podcasts from a Christian perspective. Though Ralston is not a historian, his podcast are meticulously researched and he has a talent to be able to make the 2000 years of Christian history understandable and entertaining. The fact that more people aren’t listening to this podcast is a shame. The production is well done, the history is well researched and Ralston makes history come alive. It is unbelievably recommended.

Many of you might not want to take the time to learn about the origins and history of the Christian Church and might even see it as irrelevant when the truth is as far from that as possible. Many of the modern doctrinal controversies and debates are rooted in history and to understand that history gives us a better understanding of how Christianity arrived to where it is today. Oftentimes we think that bible study or listening to sermons are all that we need in order to have a fulfilled and well rounded Christian education, but understanding our origins is vital for a couple of reasons even if you are not a lover of history.

1) When having discussions regarding our Christian past, especially with non believers, having a firm understanding of Christian history gives you the ability to speak intelligibly and the understanding needed to debate using facts rather than emotion. Whether it is the causes of the Crusades or even the origins of different “universal” Christian beliefs, knowledge is power. The power to explain and teach those who make assumptions that are not based in reality.

2) The history of the Christian Church is miraculous. From humble beginnings to spreading throughout the world in just a few hundred years should be something that helps strengthen your faith. This history is so incredibly unbelievable as to only have been a God thing. The history of the Christian Church was fraught with peril and its very existence hung on a knife edge on more than a few occasions. Whether it was the more than 300 years of persecution at the hands of the Romans and other pagan cultures, the Muslim invasions of the 7th century or the Reformation, the fact that Christianity was able to survive when the odds were ultimately stacked against it should show you that only God could have done this.

I rarely become a fanboy of any one speaker or podcast, but Communio Sanctorum is a must listen for anyone who wants to further their Walk. The best part is that it is broken up into 15-20 minute increments that can be listened to on your commute to work or while at the gym. Do yourself a favor and subscribe.