This book is a detailed examination of the sources and protocols John Foxe used to justify the Reformation, and claim that the Church of Rome had fallen into the grip of Antichrist. The focus is on the pre-Lollard, medieval history in the first two editions of the Acts and Monuments. Comparison of the narrative that Foxe writes to the possible sources helps us to better understand what it was that Foxe was trying to do, and how he came to achieve his aims. A focus on sources also highlights the collaborative circle in which Foxe worked, recognizing the essential role of other scholars and clerics such as John Bale and Matthew Parker.

When Emperor Constantine triggered the rise of a Christian state, he opened a new chapter in the history of Constantinople and Jerusalem. In the centuries that followed, the two cities were formed and transformed into powerful symbols of Empire and Church. For the first time, this book investigates the increasingly dense and complex net of reciprocal dependencies between the imperial center and the navel of the Christian world. Imperial influence, initiatives by the Church, and projects of individuals turned Constantinople and Jerusalem into important realms of identification and spaces of representation. Distinguished international scholars investigate this fascinating development, focusing on aspects of art, ceremony, religion, ideology, and imperial rule. In enriching our understanding of the entangled history of Constantinople and Jerusalem in Late Antiquity, City of Caesar, City of God illuminates the transition between Antiquity, Byzantium, and the Middle Ages.

"Jesus never existed." "The Bible is a book of fairy tales." "Accounts of Christian persecution are fables." Christians of today face ridiculous claims of this type on a regular basis. These charges gain traction in the modern world because the average person has practically no knowledge of the Church's ancient past. I Am A Christian: Authentic Accounts of Christian Martyrdom and Persecution from the Ancient Sources aims to remedy this deficiency. The works collected in this book represent some of the most trustworthy first-hand accounts of the triumphs and travails of the early Church that have survived antiquity. These include several authentic transcripts of Roman legal proceedings against Christians, along with obscure but fascinating historical works that are unfamiliar to even the most informed Christians of today. In several cases, readers will be presented with the actual words of the martyrs themselves. In others, they will read accounts penned by eye-witnesses or authors writing within the living memory of the events themselves. Taken together, these works form a glorious record of early Christian zeal and fortitude in the face of aggressive state persecution. When reading them, one notices a common refrain: when questioned, the accused would cry out: “I am a Christian,” which was the equivalent of saying, “I am guilty as charged.” In an era when such an admission carried a death sentence, these authentic testimonies provide a convincing answer to modern skeptics who will find them as baffling as did the ancient Roman emperors, proconsuls and magistrates of nearly two millennia ago.

Called the Christian Cicero by readers ancient and modern alike, Lactantius is best known for his monumental work of early Christian apologetics entitled The Divine Institutes. Though less appreciated, On the Deaths of the Persecutors is a primary source of considerable historical import containing details about the Roman Empire of the early 4th century AD that are found nowhere else. In this unique work, Lactantius created a hybrid of history and apologetics, making an argument for the truth of the Christian religion based on the fates of those emperors who had been the most egregious persecutors of Christians. Based in Diocletian's imperial capital of Nicomedia and later in Gaul at the court of Constantine, Lactantius was perfectly positioned to record these momentous events. As history, On the Deaths of the Persecutors is a key source for Diocletian’s Tetrarchy, the Great Persecution, and the rise of Constantine. It is an invaluable supplement to the broader Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus as well as his panegyrical Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine, taking its place among the most important primary sources for this era of transition, turmoil and consolidation. This new edition features the classic late 18th century translation of Lord Hailes which was utilized in The Ante-Nicene Fathers series in 1905. Updated for a modern audience, the text of the translation effectively mirrors the erudite and lively prose of Lactantius's compelling and occasionally lurid historical narrative. A new introduction and extensive commentary has been added for this new edition to help make the text more approachable for the student or general reader. An index has also been included along with an updated list of references and suggested further reading.

Attila, king of the Huns, is a name universally known even 1,500 years after his death. His meteoric rise and legendary career of conquest left a trail of destroyed cities across the Roman Empire. At its height, his vast domain commanded more territory than the Romans themselves, and those he threatened with attack sent desperate embassies loaded with rich tributes to purchase a tenuous peace. Yet as quickly he appeared, Attila and his empire vanished with startling rapidity. His two decades of terror, however, had left an indelible mark upon the pages of European history. Priscus was a late Roman historian who had the ill luck to be born during a time when Roman political and military fortunes had reached a nadir. An eye-witness to many of the events he records, Priscus's history is a sequence of intrigues, assassinations, betrayals, military disasters, barbarian incursions, enslaved Romans and sacked cities. Perhaps because of its gloomy subject matter, the History of Priscus was not preserved in its entirety. What remains of the work consists of scattered fragments culled from a variety of later sources. Yet, from these fragments emerge the most detailed and insightful first-hand account of the decline of the Roman Empire, and nearly all of the information about Attila’s life and exploits that has come down to us from antiquity. Translated by classics scholar Professor John Given of East Carolina University, this new translation of the Fragmentary History of Priscus arranges the fragments in chronological order, complete with intervening historical commentary to preserve the narrative flow. It represents the first translation of this important historical source that is easily approachable for both students and general readers.

The study of statesmanship is not a subject for leaders in politics alone. It is the study of the whole human being in thought and action. The classics teach us of the difficult choices that must be made, an activity that guides lives and forms character. This collection of writings includes ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, and modern scholarship on statesmanship from Xenophon, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, Erasmus, Niccolo Machiavelli, George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and more, selected and with an introduction by the president of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, John A. Burtka.