The History of the Christian Church - 2000 Years of Christian Thought.
A History Podcast of the Christian Church told through the lives and thoughts of it's greatest thinkers.
Season 1 – A.D. 1 – A.D. 500
Plato and Greek philosophy.
Apostolic fathers
Justin Martyr
Irenaeus
Clement of Alexandria
Origin
Cyprian
Eusebius of Caesarea.
Council of Nicaea
Athanasies.
Ephraim the Syrian.
The Cappadocian fathers.
The Council of Constantinople
Ambrose
John Chrysostom.
Jerome.
Augustine
Cyril of Alexandria.
The Council of Ephesus
Theodor of Cyrus
Leo the great.
The Council of Chelsea and.
The Apostles Creed.
The History of the Christian Church - 2000 Years of Christian Thought.
The History of The Christian Church. Season 3 Episode 3 (Part 31) The Council of Orange (529) The Triumph of Grace.
In the year 529, long after the fall of Rome and amid the turmoil of a fractured Europe, a small gathering of bishops met in the southern town of Orange. Their purpose? To settle one of the most important theological questions in Christian history: Is salvation the work of God alone, or do we play a part in earning it?
In this episode, I explore the dramatic story of The Council of Orange — how it stood between the extremes of fatalism and self-salvation, and how it reaffirmed the gospel of grace first proclaimed by Augustine and Paul.
We’ll discover how this quiet council helped to shape the Western church’s understanding of original sin, free will, and divine grace — truths that would later echo through the Reformation and remain vital for us today.
Key themes:
Grace as the first and final cause of salvation
The ongoing influence of Augustine’s theology
The rejection of Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism
Why the Council of Orange still matters for the modern church
Takeaway:
Even in the Dark Ages, God was at work. The Council of Orange reminds us that grace is not a doctrine to be debated — it’s the heartbeat of the Christian life.
