
The story of Christianity is full of wonderful highs and terrible lows. It’s truly an epic – and it takes around-the-world adventure to tell its story properly.
Meet our guests

Tim Challies is an author, pastor, and pioneer of the blogosphere (his website is in the show notes). He is based in Toronto, and recently completed a round-the-world expedition for his new book Epic: An Around-the-World Journey Through Christian History.
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A transcript of this episode is available here. Please note, that due to software not all exchanges between guests will be completely accurate.
Check out these helpful links below for more info on what was discussed in this episode.
You can find more of Tim’s writing at his website here.
Here’s some extra information on the 12 objects covered in this episode
- The Augustus Prima Porta: Here’s a great overview of the object, courtesy of Smarthistory
- The Pilate Stone: This video lays out why the discovery of this stone was a big deal for the archaeological world
- The Alexamenos Graffito: This awesome (and long!) article from Uncover is a great overview of the historical practice of crucifixion – and how it was perceived by bystanders
- The Dogmatic Sarcophagus: Even JD hadn’t heard of this object: check out this video to learn more
- The Book of Kells: It’s not for nothing that the BBC has posited that this remarkable object might be the greatest treasure of medieval Europe
- The Tyndale New Testament: This article from The Independent explains why, without this object, literature as we know it would be radically different
- The Triumph of Faith over Heresy Sculpture: This piece of counter-reformation art captures the tumult that swept across Christendom in the late Middle Ages
- The Fleet Bible: The Bible that arrived in Australia with the first Europen fleet in 1788 sheds a fascinating light on the collision of faith and colonial expansion
- Amy Carmichael: Continuing on from the last object, the life of Amy Carmichael is a fascinating case study of Christianity reaching the colonial – in this case for the better. Check out this amazing animation that details her story and work in India
- The Slave Bible: This article outlines the sobering history of this object, and the shameful practises of misguided Christian leaders perpetuating the slave trade in the 19th century
- Oral Roberts Praying Hands: This controversial object represents one of the most contested elements of Christian scripture: the prosperity gospel. Here’s the Dallas Morning News obituary on Oral Roberts which goes into more detail
- YouVersion Bible App: Here’s a great piece from Christianity Today on the remarkable success of the YouVersion Bible app, which at the time of writing (2018) had surpassed 300 million downloads!

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