Winner of a 2020 Catholic Press Association book award (first place, best new religious book series).

Church history is a lot like the tale The Emperor’s New Clothes, according to Catholic historian James L. Papandrea: No one wants to seem unenlightened, so they pretend to see what’s not there.

In The Early Church (33-313): St. Peter, the Apostles, and Martyrs, Papandrea refutes fourteen fashionable mythconceptions about early Christian history and enables believers to make sense of the Church’s beginnings.

The first Apostles spread the message of Jesus Christ and were willing to suffer and die for their faith. The next generations of believers followed their example with zeal, producing inspiring martyrs including Sts. Justin and Perpetua, and great thinkers such as Irenaeus, and Tertullian.

In this book, you will learn:

No money or power was attached to being a bishop or priest in the early Church. Christian holidays were not adaptations of pagan celebrations. Christians have never believed in an eternal life for souls without bodies. The doctrine of the Trinity was not forced upon the Church by Constantine, but rather was a belief from the beginning of Christianity.

Books in the Reclaiming Catholic History series, edited by Mike Aquilina and written by leading authors and historians, bring Church history to life, debunking the myths one era at a time