Christian History Institute

A brief but fascinating foray into the lives of influential Christians throughout history. 131 Christians Everyone Should Know lacks the dryness that I expected, and is instead filled with interesting details about the people featured and their influence on Christianity, as well as on society.
Some of these Christians were great, others were barely acknowledged in their time. All were flawed, yet in spite of their flaws, and at times because of them, they left a legacy that lingers to today. show more
The Christians featured in this book include theologians, poets, musicians, martyrs and missionaries. Only 15 of them were women, which I personally found sad. But given the limited sphere of influence women have historically held, I guess this is understandable. I have on my shelves another book featuring 10 Christian women. It will be interesting to compare the two books. show less

Lots of interesting information about some basic figures Christians ought to know about. Should be called "131 people Christians ought to know about," as most were Christians only in name.

The video states that Calvin "followed a history of orthodox interpretation" concerning predestination, traced from the Apostle Paul through Augustine of Hippo to Thomas Aquinas and on through Martin Luther. Of course, when the narrator states this, he does not mean the Orthodox doctrine of the Holy Orthodox Church. In fact, it is uncertain what he intends other than to imbue Calvin and his teachings with some claim to orthodoxy. Calvin's teaching on predestination, however, is far from the show more tradition of the Orthodox Church. His manner of interpreting Saint Paul is certainly closer to the interpretations Saint Augustine, but that does not bring him close to the teaching of the Orthodox Faith. The Orthodox teaching on synergy, which finds its basis in the two natures of Christ, Divine and human, is foreign to the theology of John Calvin, In fact, in John Calvin's opinion, the doctrine of Divine/human synergy would be heretical, though it is unclear whether or not Calvin ever came in contact with the Orthodox doctrine of synergy. show less

Great collection of short biographies. The title is correct, these are names of people who have shaped the world as we know it and should be known as a matter of cultural literacy at a minimum. The author admits that some might be considered 'Christian' in name only (e.g. Henry VIII), and certainly, everyone will have their list of omissions, but this is still a great starting place.

This is not in depth--the longest biography is just 4 pages and some are barely a full page, but these are the show more people that you hear of in history and have earned their place there.

Read it for what it is--a brief introduction to some of the greatest names of Christendom, and let it whet your appetite for deeper birgraphies of these people or for more breadth of great Christians. show less