A History of Christianity

Skepticism has transformed Western culture and transformed Christianity. Where did this religious doubt come from?

Evangelical Protestantism is a lively expression of faith that has spread across the globe, marketed with all the flair and swashbuckling enterprise of American commerce. The Evangelical explosion has been driven by the search for a direct emotional relationship with God.

The ancestors of today's peaceful Amish were once seen as some of the most dangerous people in Europe. Early Protestants were radicals who tore apart the Catholic Church.

Christianity is traditionally split into Catholicism and Protestantism, but Eastern Orthodox Christianity flourishes in Russia and the Balkans with over 150 million members worldwide. It's quite unlike Catholicism or Protestantism.

Over one billion Christians look to Rome; that's more than half of all Christians on the planet. But how did a small Jewish sect from the backwoods of first-century Palestine, which preached humility and poverty, become a wealthy and powerful worldwide religion?

Did Christianity really begin when the apostle Paul traveled from Jerusalem to Rome? This episode reveals that the true origins of Christianity lie east and that the headquarters of Christianity might have been in Baghdad instead of Rome.