A fast-moving history of the western world from the ancient world to the present day. Examine how the emergence of the western world as a global dominant power was not something that should ever have been taken for granted. This podcast traces the development of western civilization starting in the ancient Near East, through Greece and Rome, past the collapse of the Western Roman Empire into the Dark Ages, and then follows European and, ultimately, American history as the western world moved into a dominant world position.
https://www.westerncivpodcast.com
Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 13 days 13 hours 22 minutes
History Ramble Two: The History of Time
Time for another history ramble. (Pun intended.) Have you ever thought about the history of time? How did we, as a species, decide to divide the day? Why did we do that? What does our conception of time tell us about ourselves as a civilization? I...
Episode 197: Reform in Zurich
Last time, we introduced Ulrich Zwingli and walked through his initial struggles with the Roman Church and his transition to Zurich. This time, we follow Zwingli as he changes the Zurich Church, creating arguably the most reformed church in...
The Persians: An Interview with Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
Today I sit down with historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones to discuss his most recent work: "The Persians: Age of Kings". We talk about all your usual topics: Cyrus and Darius the Great, the Persian Wars and Xerxes, and, of course, Alexander the Great. All...
Episode 198: Zwingli's Death and Legacy
Last time, Zwingli rose to prominence in Zurich, creating his model for the perfect Reformed Christian community. For him, this was nothing less than the revelation of a prophecy foretold millennia earlier. The Swiss were to be the New Israelites and...
Episode 199: John Calvin
Today we meet our final early reformer: John Calvin. Calvin was significantly younger than Luther or Zwingli and does not even begin his reformation efforts in Geneva until the latter had died. But John Calvin and his Institutes of the Christian...
Episode 200: The Institutes of the Christian Religion
John Calvin is famous for putting together the first concise and complete doctrine for Reformed Christianity. His Institutes of the Christian Religion laid out precisely what it meant to be Calvinist in a way that Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli...
Episode 201: Back in Geneva
In this episode, John Calvin makes his triumphant return to Geneva where he can all his plans into action. Here he will build his Godly society and found his famous "Consistory": designed to regulate human moral conduct. As you can imagine, it was...
Episode 202: Healing Christ's Body
Now in complete control in Geneva, John Calvin sought to forge a Protestant alliance with first Strasbourg, then Saxony, and finally with Bullinger in Zurich. While dealing with foreign issues, within Geneva itself, things were getting rough. The...
Episode 203: Calvin's Shadow
John Calvin passes his final years still attempting to stitch together a Protestant alliance with Zurich and Germany. Simultaneously, he executes a Reformed Priest for failing to fall in line with his doctrine, earning him universal ire. Calvin's...
Episode 204: The Catholic Response and Reformation Recap
While Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin were leading the charge for reform, the Roman Catholic Church was not sitting idly by. Today we cover the Catholic response: re-entrench and slam the door. The Council of Trent reaffirms Catholic...