Tests Reveal “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife” Not Fake
In September 2012, Harvard University divinity professor Karen L. King made a stunning announcement, revealing the existence of an Egyptian papyrus fragment that contains the first-known explicit...
View ArticleIs the Quest for the Holy Grail Over?
In their newly published book “Los Reyes del Grial” (“The Kings of the Grail”), medieval history lecturer Margarita Torres and art historian José Miguel Ortega del Rio claim the Holy Grail rests inside...
View ArticleFate of the Lost Ark Revealed?
The oldest version of the ancient text called Massekhet Kelim (“Treatise of the Vessels”) was included in the Hebrew book Emek Halchah, published in Amsterdam in 1648. A later version, published in...
View ArticleShroud of Turin Not a Medieval Forgery, According to New Book
For centuries, scientists and historians have pored over the mysterious Shroud of Turin, a bloodstained piece of linen that bears the faint outline of a longhaired man with wounds consistent with...
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10 Things You May Not Know About the Vatican
1. Vatican City is the smallest country in the world. Encircled by a 2-mile border with Italy, Vatican City is an independent city-state that covers just over 100 acres, making it one-eighth the size...
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8 Things You May Not Know About the Papal Conclave
1. The papal conclave has never chosen a pope from outside Europe. Since the first papal conclave in 1276, the so-called College of Cardinals has never elected a non-European pope. Italians have been...
View ArticleTombs of the Apostles
St. Philip Martyrium in Hierapolis, Turkey According to some accounts, Philip the Apostle was executed in the Greco-Roman city of Hierapolis, located in southwestern Turkey, around 80 A.D....
View ArticleShroud of Turin: The Work of a Renaissance Artist?
For centuries, scientists and historians have pored over the mysterious Shroud of Turin, a bloodstained piece of linen that bears the faint outline of a crucified man, hoping to decode what the image...
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Renovations Begin on Jesus’ Tomb in Jerusalem
In 325 A.D., Emperor Constantine the Great, considered the first Christian emperor of Rome, built a basilica on what was believed to be the site of Jesus’ crucifixion (known as Calvary in Latin and...
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Harvard Professor Concedes “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife” Likely Fake
In September 2012, Harvard University divinity professor Karen L. King, a distinguished scholar of early Christianity, shocked an academic audience at the International Congress of Coptic Studies by...
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Discovery Shows Early Christians Didn’t Always Take the Bible Literally
Scholars have long known that early Christians didn’t always take everything in the Bible literally. But the recent discovery and translation of the earliest known Latin commentary on the Gospels of...
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Martin Luther Might Not Have Nailed His 95 Theses to the Church Door
October 31 isn’t just Halloween, it’s also Reformation Day—the anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church in Germany in 1517. His theses challenged...
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Map: Top Templar Sites in Western Europe
Europe during the time of the Templars Aragón was a key Western province for the Templars and the birthplace of several of Grand Masters. It was also a live crusading theatre in the so-called...
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Step Into the Vatican’s Secret Archives
Fifty-three miles of shelving. Thirty-five thousand volumes of catalogue. Twelve centuries worth of documents. Housed in one of the most iconic bastions of religion and culture ever, the Vatican’s...
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The War of Words behind ‘Happy Holidays’
In recent years, the debate over whether to say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” has become as reliable a post-Thanksgiving tradition as the Black Friday shopping craze. Like many issues these...
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How Medieval Churches Used Witch Hunts to Gain More Followers
The Salem witch trials of the 1690s have an iconic place in American lore. But before the Salem witch hunt, there was the “Great Hunt”: a larger, more prolonged European phenomenon between 1560 and...
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‘A Wrinkle in Time’s’ Long Religious Controversy
Since its publication in 1962, A Wrinkle in Time has become one of the most frequently banned or challenged books, for multiple reasons. People have argued that it’s too complicated for children, and...
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Inside the Conversion Tactics of the Early Christian Church
History Reads is a weekly series featuring work from Team History, a group of experts and influencers, exploring history’s most fascinating questions. The triumph of Christianity over the pagan...
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