The Faithful Forebearers

On St. Patrick’s Day an average of 13 million pints of Guinness is drunk around the world. Guinness beer is tied to the modern Irish identity. But few people know that the story of Guinness beer began with a man who desired to be faithful to Jesus in all he did. In the late 1700s life was hard in Dublin. But Arthur Guinness, being inspired by John Wesley, decided to use his skill as a brewer and businessman to serve his customers, his employees, his community, and his Lord. And through his delicious beer, his hard work, and his generosity, he succeeded in all of them.

Chick-Fil-A is usually known for two things: great chicken sandwiches, and being closed on Sunday. It turns out that both of these things stem from the founder of Chick-Fil-A’s faith. S. Truett Cathy’s story is certainly one of a determined American businessman, but even more it’s a story of dedication, integrity, and faith that God’s way is always the best way.

Lego is now one of the most recognizable toy brands in the world. Kids and adults around the world play with these plastic bricks, and the company is worth many billions of dollars. While today it is a secular company, it was not always this way. The story of Lego begins with one man who endured many trials, and in all of them trusted his Lord Jesus.

Today we wrap up our series on Ethiopia. We will go back in history 1500 years to the life of St. Yared of Ethiopia. Yared is one of the most influential Ethiopian saints within the Ethiopian Orthodox church, and all Ethiopian churches. He created much of the unique liturgy and music that still defines the church today. Lutherans have Bach, and Anglicans have Handel, but the Ethiopian church has Saint Yared.

Tsehay Tolessa was the wife and widow of Gudina Tumsa (Episode 2.7). She has an incredible story of faith and courage as she holds fast to Jesus in the face of torture and murder from the Communist regime. Today’s format is an interview with author Simonetta Carr. Simonetta has written many books about church history, especially for children, and hosts her own church history podcast: Kids talk Church History: https://kidstalkchurchhistory.podbean.com/ You can check out Simonetta’s other work here: https://simonettacarr.com/ In this episode we speak a lot about a book “The Life, Works, and Witness of Tsehay Tolessa and Gudina Tumsa, the Ethiopian Bonhoeffer”. If you want to know more about this incredible couple, you can get yourself a copy here: https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781506418483/The-Life-Works-and-Witness-of-Tsehay-Tolessa-and-Gudina-Tumsa-the-Ethiopian-Bonhoeffer We recorded this interview in 2023. Sorry for the delay!

It’s has been awhile! Today we will look how Christmas became what it is. Was it just a rebranding of a pagan holiday? Or has it really always been about Jesus? While we won’t talk about just a single Faithful Forebearer, we will see how Christians have celebrated Christmas throughout the centuries. Be on the lookout for new Episodes in 2026!

As Ethiopia entered the 20th Century, there was trouble and hope. After a brutal invasion of the Italians just before World War 2, and after Italy’s defeat in the war, Ethiopia recovered and modernized. But in the late 1970s, a political stagnation led to Communist Revolution. It was then that one of Ethiopia’s great theologians took a stand. Gudina Tumsa, after a short but brilliant career as a church leader, would give his life as a witness of Jesus Christ. Learn how his life and death shaped the Ethiopian Lutheran Church, and gives inspiration to Christians everywhere.

Today the Lutheran Church in Ethiopia is the largest Lutheran Church body in the World.  That is thanks to the service of Onesimus Nesib, and many other faithful missionaries like him.  Onesimus was born in 1856 in a remote part of Ethiopia.  At 4 years old he was captured and enslaved.  He was then bought, sold, escaped and recaptured multiple times.  After being freed by a Swedish missionary, Onesimus would become a Christian at 16 years old.  For the rest of his life he would work to return to his home region of Ethiopia to bring the Gospel to his homeland.

After Ethiopia survived near destruction at the hands of Gragn, a different battle began. Instead of a military battle, it was a battle of ideas for Ethiopia’s identity. Catholic missionaries began to arrive in Ethiopia in the late 1500s. And while some, like a man Petro Paez, legitimately hoped to find unity between Roman Catholics and Ethiopian Orthodox, others simply wanted Ethiopia become European. Walatta Petros was a brave and sometimes impetuous Ethiopian nun who resisted these attempts and helped preserve Ethiopia’s heritage.

While Ethiopia had thrived under Zara Yaqob, it had dark days ahead. Ethiopia, always surrounded by hostile nations, would have to fight for its life as their neighbors grew stronger. Its very existence hung in the balance. But thanks to some new allies, and two kings who would spend their lives defending their nation and the church, Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian church, were saved from total annihilation.

Estifanos (1380-1454) is sometimes known as Africa’s first protestant, even though he lived 70 years before the Reformation. He believed that the Bible should be the measure of all else in the Church, and that salvation was already won fully by Jesus. His radical commitment to the authority of Scripture would cause a serious conflict with Zara Yaqob, the King of Ethiopia from last episode.

With Frumentius and Ezana, the Ethiopian church got off to a great start, but things did not stay that way. After 1,000 years, and centuries of setbacks, the nation and the church made a great comeback. It culminated in the reign of King Zara Yaqob in the mid 1400s. While his legacy is still felt in both the church and the nation, he is remembered both as a reformer and as a despot.

This next series we will be learning all about the church of Ethiopia. This church is far more ancient than most in Europe and has a rich history of over 1,000 years, and yet is almost totally forgotten by the western Church. It all began with a captive turned accidental missionary, and a young prince in the early 300s AD.

Welcome back! Yes, the podcast is coming back! Today’s episode is really just an update. I’ll introduce the new format for the show of “seasons,” and what that will look like. But as a bonus, along with this announcement is a mini episode on the author of the podcast’s official hymn: “For All the Saints,” a man named William Walsham How.

While Rudolph may be the most famous reindeer of all, Nicholas very well might be the most famous saint of all. Except while he’s very famous, you probably don’t know much about him. While he is not all holly and jolly, he certainly was a man who cared deeply for families, and who should be remembered for his humble generosity.

We continue our time in Ireland. Once Patrick was gone, the next generations would carry on his work. And before long, Ireland would be a powerhouse of Christian learning. Soon they would not be receiving missionaries, but sending them out to Scotland, England and the world beyond.

Everybody knows the name St. Patrick, but few people know about the actual man. While there are many legends around Patrick, he was a historical person, and a fascinating one at that. His life is an adventure story. He didn’t drive out any snakes, and there are no mentions of clovers, but he worked tirelessly to bring Christianity to the pagan Irish people.

You have probably never heard of Jean Gerson, and that is a shame. Most students of Church History do not even know him. But you certainly should know about Jean Gerson. Gerson is a towering figure in the 1400s, and in the history of the whole Church. In great part, he was the one able to heal the Western Schism. But because he occupies a space in between modern Protestants and Catholics, he often gets forgotten by both.

The fate of Jan Hus is a great tragedy in the history of the Church. He was an ardent follower of our friend John Wycliffe from last episode, although the two never met. He was opposed to the corruption he saw in the church, and he believed that all people should hear the Bible in their own language. But the church authorities were not willing to listen to the reforms and ideas of Hus or Wycliffe. Sadly at the Council of Constance in 1415, he would be executed for his beliefs. His bravery and his commitment to the truth is an inspiration for many even today.

John is known to some as the “Morning Star of the Reformation,” and to others, as the “Master of Error”. In a lot of ways, he is the forerunner of Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin: the more famous reformers of the 1500s. He believed that the Papacy had become corrupt, and the only pure standard for the church was the Bible. This inspired him to start the first ever full translation of the Bible into English. He certainly caused quite a stir in England and across Europe, and continued to do so even after his death.

It’s fitting this episode comes out the day after Mother’s day, as Christine was a good mother. She was also a poet and the first professional female writer of the Middle Ages. She wrote about a very wide span of topics, from love to warfare, and was not afraid to challenges the ideas of her time. Through her writings she always encouraged virtue and tried to spur people to actually live out what they claimed to believe.

This is the second part of the interview with Christian, so don’t listen to it until you’ve finished Part 1.

Today is a special interview episode! My friend and PhD candidate Christian Guebert will join us to take a look at Guillaume de Machaut, a man who changed church music forever. If you enjoy singing in church that is more than chanting, then at least to some degree you should thank Machaut. He helped bring new beauty and complexity into sacred music. And he was a soldier, priest and poet as well. Note: While there is an abrupt stop at the end of the episode, the next episode picks up directly where this one ends.

This episode we will learn about a king, known as “St. Louis”. Louis IX is one of only a few monarchs to be officially sainted, and I think he deserves it. Louis was a thoughtful, humble and capable leader. But while he was noble, he still had a tragic flaw that would ultimately lead to his early death.

Today we will learn about our most famous forebearer yet: Francis of Assisi, also known simply as St. Francis. He is a man who was devoted to simplicity, poverty, nature, and most of all, his faith. He’s pretty hard not to like, which is why he was so honored then, and still is today.

Today we will discover a woman who defies categorization. Hildegard was a mystic, a theologian, an administrator, a composer, a playwright and a doctor. And she did all of this in the 1100s.

This episode we will discover the 10th Century playwright Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim. She is very distinguished as being both the first known Christian playwright, and the first known female playwright. She is also credited with bringing theatre back into the western world.

This episode we will jump ahead a little bit, to the 1000s. We’ll take a look at a great scholar, Anselm, the first of the “Scholastics” theologians. Anselm enjoyed diving deep into theology, but often was distracted by the new overlords of England, the Normans.

This episode we will look at two missionary brothers in the mid 800s AD.  These two brothers were born in the Byzantine Empire, and would have adventures throughout the known world. Due in great part to these brothers’ efforts, Christianity would spread through the Slavic world.

document.createElement('audio'); https://faithfulforebearers.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/John-of-Damascus-1.1-Normalized-and-fixed.mp3 In this episode we are going east, all the way to Syria.  Here we will meet John Mansur, more commonly known as John of Damascus.  We’ll see how John was a brilliant and brave writer, preacher, and poet.  And we’ll see why he is sometimes called “The Last Church Father.”

This episode we will look at Alcuin, the great teacher of Charlemagne’s court, and the key part of a mini renaissance that took place in the late 700s and early 800s under Charlemagne’s reign.  We will see how he spread the learning from England all across Europe, and became good friends with the king and the whole royal family.

This Episode we will look at a student of the schools and monasteries of Theodore, a missionary named Boniface.  He will be very successful in his work, as he will become known as the “Apostle of Germany.”  He was joined by many other missionaries, including his niece, Leoba, who would become famous in her own right.

This episode we will look at the missionary work that Gregory started in England last episode.  We will see how these 3 men helped England move from paganism to Christianity, and how they turned England from a backwater corner of Europe, to the leader of European scholarship.

In this episode we look at Gregory the Great (540-604).  We’ll see how Gregory led the church from collapsing to thriving, and from the ancient world to the medieval world.